Sterling K. Brown Warned His Wife About ‘Paradise’ Shower Scene Months After Revealing Jennifer Lopez Drama That Nearly Ended Their Relationship
Some fans of Sterling K. Brown have recently seen him like they never have before.
The actor who played the beloved character Randall Pearson in the NBC series “This Is Us” is back on screens with a new show on Hulu. Brown now plays Xavier Collins, lead Secret Service agent for the president of the United States trying to uncover the truth behind the president’s death.
But during his quest, he looks to a therapist, Dr. Gabriela Torabi, portrayed by his co-star, Sarah Shahi, who also developed the city they all live in after the world they all knew was destroyed. As Xavier and Collins spend more time together in the post-apocalyptic world, they get closer.
At the end of episode 3, Collins and the doctor engage in a steamy kiss which later leads to a wet meeting in the shower. But he had to make his wife of 18 years, Ryan Michelle Bathe, aware of matters on set — such as a sex scene.
“You have to tell her before,” Brown said in an interview with Access Hollywood. “You can’t just have her watch and be like ‘You didn’t tell me, your whole behind … your whole behind was gone be on there…In Black History Month! And I took it a little too literally, you want Black history…ta-da!”
Ahead of his 49th birthday on April 5, Brown said he felt “honored” that Dan Fogelman — creator of “Paradise” and “This Is Us” — “feels like people want to see my black booty.”
Brown and his wife Bathe met as college students at Stanford University in the late 1990s. They stayed in the same dorm and starred in a play together but didn’t become official until much later when they eloped in 2006.
Just last week, the proud parents of sons Andrew, 13, and Amaré, 9, won Outstanding Podcast in the Lifestyle/Self-Help Category at the 2025 NAACP Image Awards for their “We Don’t Always Agree with Ryan & Sterling” podcast.
The celebrity couple have never been attached to any public scandals within their marriage, but one time Jennifer Lopez’s booty caused them to break up for three years.
“I feel terrible,” said Lopez during an “Atlas” movie press junket with “Access Hollywood” in May 2024.
Send this to the accounts saying Sterling K. Brown doesn’t like jlo…
His wife has been side-eyeing him for 20+ years over his love for Ms lopez lol pic.twitter.com/MnsN5IhplR
— Ben’s plaid shirt💚 (@BensShirt) May 29, 2024
During their September 2024 appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” Brown explained how Lopez — years before she became his co-star — nearly severed his relationship with his wife.
After a night out in NYC, Brown and Bathe came back to their place and watched the premiere of the “Love Don’t Cost A Thing!” video on MTV starring JLo, whom Brown was a “big” fan of.
“And I was watching the video and I knew my young 21-, 22-year-old girlfriend was looking at me watch the video, and I know I’m not supposed to have a reaction, and in trying not to have a reaction, what had happened was my eyes began to water,” he told Hudson.
His wife chimed in with her recollection of the moment as Bathe said, “I turn around and my boyfriend is weeping, tears like big fat [tears] And I’m looking and she’s just a shaking and a shimmying and he’s just crying. I said ‘Oh no, I got to go.’”
Brown then tried to get his then-girlfriend to stay but she refused because he was “crying over somebody else’s booty.”
With one more episode of “Paradise” on its way, his character, Xavier, who thought his wife died, just found out that she might be alive.
When asked about that part in the script, Brown said, “I remember when I read it I was like ‘Oh, Xavier you gon’ have some explaining to do. Because if you run into your wife and she anything like Ryan Michelle Bathe and you done hooked up with this doctor in this place…’ That’s the first thing I thought about. Black women are gone be like ‘Hey, bruh.’”
“Paradise” has already been renewed for season 2. The finale of season 1 airs on March 4 on Hulu.
