In relationships, Omari Hardwick places a high value on communication and respect. The actor claims that both characteristics had a crucial role in his 11-year marriage to Jennifer “Jae” Pfautch.
Hardwick was recently interviewed by the publication, who touched on aspects of a successful partnership. In reaction, he dissected the word “relationship,” equating a romantic alliance with a ship’s crew.
According to Omari, if the personnel in charge of a ship or boat don’t execute their job, the vessel will sink. In a “relation-boat,” he claims, things aren’t all that different because “it’s a ship.”
“If it’s romantic, you’ve got to really be about the ship, and the best way to relate to each other on the ship is to communicate so those nights you don’t want to do that or those mornings you don’t want to do that, you get a bit of a hallway or bathroom pass if you will. You get a pass because you’ve done it enough. You’ve tallied up your numbers at communication enough.
Hardwick and Jae wed in 2012, but they had been dating for a while before to that. In 2008, they lost their first child in a stillbirth. The couple wed in April and welcomed their second child, a daughter called Nova, in November 2012. In March 2015, they had a son, Brave, as their second child.
Omari Says Communication And Respect Are ‘Next-Door Neighbors’ In A Relationship
The actor, whose latest film Mother is streaming on Netflix, says communication and respect allow you leeway in a healthy relationship.
“You can probably get away with it as long as communication and respect would be next to it. Respect is the next-door neighbor,” Hardwick told PEOPLE. “You just got to really respect the person you’re in that relationship with. Once that’s gone, it’s really hard to get that back.”
Omari’s opinions on long-lasting marriage are in line with those of another married pair. Recently, Kirk and Tammy Franklin rejected the moniker of “perfect couple” in an interview with Essence. Perfecting a marriage “makes something that is outside of the context of reality,” Kirk claimed. According to Tammy, there is also a current fascination with the “length of a marriage as opposed to the health.” Their 27-year marriage is based on their faith, their friendships, their therapy, and the idea of being proactive rather than reactive.
In April, Omari’s wife Jae gave her advice on dating and marriage, listing growth as “one of the most important things.” She spilled in a captioned selfie of her and hubby Hardwick.