Tia Mowry-Hardrict's Love Story Is a Real-Life Fairytale

From Country Living

Tia Mowry and her twin sister Tamera are best known for their time on Sister, Sister, which ended its run in 1999. Tia has since starred in many TV shows and movies, but her new Hallmark film, A Gingerbread Romance, might be her sweetest yet. Though her character, Taylor, finds herself wrapped up in a relationship with a handsome local baker, Tia's real-life love story with her husband, Cory, is even more of a fairytale. Here's everything to know about Tia's adorable life with Cory and their children.

Tia and Cory had a long courtship.

Reading about Tia and Cory’s early relationship will pretty much restore your faith in romance. “We courted each other for about a year,” Tia has told OK! “We didn’t go on dates with just him and I, there were other people around. We waited a year to kiss.”

The story of Tia and Cory’s first meeting is also pretty adorable: Cory told Essence that he met Tia when he was working odd jobs in Los Angeles, while she was just coming off the success of Sister, Sister on ABC. “Her sister and her drove by, they saw me waiting and asked to give me a ride,” Cory said. “I was embarrassed. I was downtown. They gave me a ride and we were friends ever since."

After dating for six years, the couple got engaged on Christmas Day, 2006, and were married in Santa Barbara on April 20, 2008. They have two children together: son Cree Taylor Hardrict, who was born in 2011, and daughter Cairo Tiahna Hardrict, who was born in 2018.

They have an equal partnership.

Tia and Cory divide parenting and household responsibilities equally. “We don’t put gender roles on our marriage and our relationship. If I’m working a lot and Cory’s home, he will put Cree to bed, and if dishes need to be washed, he will wash them,” Tia told HuffPost Live in 2015. “So it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m going to wait until my wife gets home and she’s going to be doing all that.’” Having Cory’s support in both emotional and practical ways has helped Tia to make the most of her career, she added: “I have goals and aspirations, and I believe that you can go after your dreams and it can work if you have someone there that’s supporting you.”

Equally, Cory has come a long way from his odd-job days and is now a successful actor in his own right, appearing in movies like American Sniper and Gran Torino. So Tia sometimes has to be the one to step up at home. “I had to take on those responsibilities that a father would do,” she said. “I was out in the backyard teaching my son how to kick a ball. It’s a team effort, and at the end of the day it’s winning and however we get there, that’s what we do.”

Faith plays a major role in their marriage.

The couple celebrated 18 years together this year, and Tia recently opened up in her new YouTube series, Tia Mowry’s Quick Fix, about what keeps their partnership so strong.

“Cory is a man of faith and a man of God,” Tia said. “He’ll put something on the board and he’ll say, ‘Tia, I know that that’s going to come to pass’, and I’m like, this dude is crazy. Then it comes to pass and not only that-he taught me how to believe in myself more than I believe in myself. He is, like, my biggest supporter and biggest fan.”

Tia’s faith in Cory was also a major factor early in their relationship. “I knew Tia was the one for me when she was in my corner when I moved to LA… I was dirt poor, I didn’t have anything and she appreciated everything for what it was and she loved me for me," he said. "And I knew once I could get in a financially better situation, I’m going to buy her a ring and that’s going to be my wife.”

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