January 15, 2017
Tony Award-winner Billy Porter Marries Husband Adam Smith in NYC Saturday
READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Tony Award-winning actor Billy Porter and his long-time parter Adam Smith tied the knot on Saturday. The "Kinky Boots" star and his new hubby got married at the home of friends in New York. Porter's sister, who got her minister's license online, officiated the ceremony according to the New York Times.
People reported that the grooms wore Thom Browne and Prada suits and exchanged platinum Cartier bands. The small private gathering was attended by 45 close friends and family.
It's been seven year walk down the aisle for the pair who met in a Hell's Kitchen restaurant in 2009. Porter, 47, proposed to Smith, 35, an eyewear executive two weeks ago in London. For Porter and Smith, it was important to get married before Trump's inauguration.
"We were discussing, and Billy had actually brought up to me that it's important for us to get married [Barack] Obama is still President�and before January 20," Smith told People of their relatively quick marriage. "So we sat down and figured out when we could make it work before the 20th."�
"We both grew up in households�where who we are is labeled an 'abomination,'" Porter told People. "The thought of marriage, there was no context for it - there was no dreaming about it because there was no context to dream; it was unspoken and very clear that the sanctity of marriage was not for us. So to see that come around, to see that tide turned, it still takes my breath away; I'm still trying to find the words to describe it. I didn't think I needed it. I lived with this idea that it just wasn't for us. So when we went to get our marriage license the other day, the act of that was so powerful in a way that crept up on the both of us, and it just grounded that moment.
A renowned actor, singer and playwright, Porter won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his work in "Kinky Boots." Other notable performances include stints on Broadway in "Grease," "Smokey Joe's Cafe," "Five Guys Named Moe," and "Miss Saigon."
