Yvette Nicole Brown reveals her wedding to her fiancé, Anthony Davis, may be a little bigger than she imagined.
“I am not someone who would want a big wedding, but at the same time, there’s so many people that have prayed for me and wished for me who want to celebrate me,” Brown, 53, exclusively told Us Weekly at the 2024 HollyRod Foundation DesignCares Gala on Saturday, September 28, at at Rolling Greens Los Angeles. “And I feel like if I’m gonna have a big party once in my life, celebrating love is the time to do it. So it might end up being a little bigger than I thought it would be.”
Brown, who announced her engagement to Davis in December 2023, went on to talk about what her love story means for her after getting engaged at 52.
“Probably 10 years ago, I was on The Wendy Williams Show, and she asked me — and it’s not a dig against Wendy. It’s just where it happened. She asked me, ‘You know you’re running out of time, and when are you gonna get your guy and your kids?’” Brown recalled to Us. “And I was like, ‘Wow. It’s not like I chose to go through life without a husband and children. It just didn’t happen.’”
The Community alum noted that there’s “nothing wrong with being a single woman without children” and that she’s glad she “didn’t settle” for someone and waited till she met Davis.
“The idea that I was able to build a full career and then God still had someone for me is kind of a nice feeling because I didn’t settle,” she explained. “I didn’t choose someone because I felt like the music was ending.”
Brown shared that she “waited for the right one” who her “heart loved.”
“I think that every woman should do that,” she added.
While Brown is celebrating her engagement, so is her father, whom she has been a caregiver of for 11 years since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“My dad loves [Davis],” she gushed. “He’s got to the point where he’s pretty much nonverbal, so we can’t talk about it, and he won’t be able to attend [the wedding]. But I know in his heart that he’s happy for me.”
Besides planning her wedding, Brown is also busy with her new podcast, “Squeezed,” which talks about the caregiving experience.
“It’s kind of like a warm hug, a safe space for caregivers when they’re in the midst of care or when they’re driving somewhere trying to get their mind right, they have something they can listen to tell them that [they’re] OK,” she shared with Us. “The whole thing is, before we leave here, we’re either going to be caregivers or receive care ourselves and some people are going to do both.”
Brown also supported her friends Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete at their 2024 HollyRod Foundation DesignCares Gala to raise awareness for their organization that focuses on raising awareness for autism and Parkinson’s disease.
“I just love that they took something that could be a personal struggle in their lives and made it something beautiful for their family and for everyone else,” Brown explained to Us. “I love that they selflessly give every year. I love that they find someone to celebrate and support every year. I just love everything about it.”
With reporting by Mike Vulpo