Adrienne Bailon, darling of daytime TV, masked singer and cheetah girl, has a resume as varied as her talents. And, in 2016, Grammy-winning Christian singer-songwriter Israel Houghton added his aptitude to Bailon’s arsenal. Here are five things to know about Bailon’s husband of four years:
1. He’s a Grammy-winning Christian musician.
Houghton, who was born to mixed-race parents, gets his passion for music from his mother, a former concert pianist. It was his mother’s struggles with drug addiction that led the pair to the church, Madame Noire reported. Church and music ultimately became Houghton’s saving grace. Houghton, who performs as Israel & New Breed, got his start writing and producing for other Gospel acts. The 48-year-old has now released three of his own albums and has been awarded six Grammys for his work.
2. Houghton has four kids with his first wife.
According to The Real host, Houghton and his ex-wife Meleasa filed for divorce under their initials, making it hard for the media to verify when the singer was officially on the market. Naturally, the rumor mill has grounded out countless tales — many of which cast Bailon as the reason for the divorce. Oprah Magazine reported Houghton is a father of four, all products of his first marriage.
3. Houghton and Bailon married in 2016.
After just six months of dating, and against the glittering backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, the Bailon-Houghton union was made official on November 11, 2016. Nevertheless, The Gospel Herald reported that the two were far from strangers. They met in 2013 on the set of Christian film I’m in Love With a Church Girl,
co-executive produced by Houghton.
4. Bailon refers to Houghton’s oldest daughter as her sister.
Mariah, Houghton’s eldest daughter, made her debut on her stepmom’s Youtube channel, All Things Adrienne, earlier this year. The two allowed Bailon’s 1 million subscribers into their special relationship — one they say is often misconstrued. Bailon and Mariah laughed as they recalled times when strangers mistook them for sisters.
Mariah, 23, who is the same height and shoe size as Bailon, said the two “like the same things,” a sentiment echoed by her dad.
“He would say ‘oh my god, my daughter just told me that's in style,'" Bailon said of an instance when the 36-year-old showed him pieces she liked.
While Mariah says she was “totally fanning out” when Houghton first introduced her to Bailon, the stepmom says she was the nervous one: “I just wanted you to like me.”
5. Bailon described Houghton’s run-in with her ex-fiancé as “kind and cordial.”
On a segment of The Real aired earlier this year, Bailon and her co-hosts discussed the drama that befell Nicki Minaj and her husband after their department store run-in with Minaj’s ex, rapper Meek Mill. While The Real co-host Jeannie Mai expressed the potential for awkwardness — and, in Minaj and Mill’s case, explosive tempers — Bailon maintained that she and Houghton don’t have those problems.
“If things ended really bad or there’s beef there, then it might be uncomfortable. But if it's not, then it shouldn't be,” Bailon explained to her co-hosts. “My husband has absolutely seen my ex, and they are very cordial to each other and very mature,” she said. “It just takes maturity to be kind and cordial.”
The couple began dating just months after Bailon called off her engagement to Roc Nation executive Lenny Santiago.
