LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 19: Eboni Nichols and Queen Latifah attend the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena on March 19, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
Queen Latifah seems to be in a really happy place in her life, and her family is a big part of that. That’s probably why the Oscar nominee is so protective of them and her personal business. But more and more, Latifah, has decided to share a little bit more of a glimpse into her life, stepping out publicly with her partner Eboni Nichols and her son, Rebel. And it all started when she publicly acknowledged them while accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 BET Awards, saying, “Eboni, my love. Rebel, my love,” before adding, “Happy Pride.”
When Angie Martinez asked her about this during an appearance on her Angie Martinez IRL Podcast, where she called Eboni “your wife,” Latifah joked, “It was the damn Pride, we in LA!”
But then the star got real.
“I was getting a Lifetime Achievement Award, and I didn’t want to leave out the people who were part of the lifetime,” she said. “That’s about it. It’s really that simple. It’s not more complicated than that. And it’s funny because it’s not always that deep.”
She continued, bemoaning the obsession people have with knowing others’ personal lives.
“People are just so fascinated about people’s private lives. Like so fascinated by what you’re doing with your private life. Why? Is it because you’re curious, is it because you’re intrigued?” she asked.
For Latifah, that fascination has moved her to be private.
“I mind my business. It’s ok to mind your business and handle your business,” she said. “I realize that a lot of people like talking about other people’s business. Even before it was all the pages and everything, when it was like The National Enquirer, people would bring those things to me or bring gossip to people near me and around me. And I’m like, what is the point of that? Why are you telling me this? What do you think you’re doing by telling me that you read something about me somewhere? Then I gotta look at the person who’s bringing me the message. What do you get out of this? Do you care about me?”
She continued, “There’s nothing positive that’s going to come from me having this knowledge right now. So really this is for you, this is not for me. So I told everybody around me, “Don’t bring that sh-t to me. If you read it, you read it…I don’t what to hear that sh-t. Keep it where you at.” So some of it and some of my ability to keep things to myself is me also respecting other people’s privacy. I know a lot about a lot of different people, but it’s not really my place for me to share their business necessarily because many of them, like myself, we’re all growing up. We’re not perfect and I make mistakes, and other people make mistakes too.”
But Latifah is clear that she’s not hiding anything. When she is ready to make a statement, whether verbally or with her family by her side, there’s no mistaking the message.
“When I need to say something about something I’m clear about it…But I don’t have to say everything about everything, and I don’t need to say everything about my private life because it’s my private life, and I love the people that are in my life,” she said. “I talk to the people I know who actually care about me. I don’t go to people who are strangers who don’t necessarily have my best interest at heart. I talk to the people who actually care about me and try to navigate my life with them, and they also try to do the same with me.”
Latifah and Nichols have been linked since about 2013. They welcomed son Rebel in 2019.