Just two months after they wed, Lena Waithe and wife Alana Mayo split
The couple did not offer an explanation behind their decision to end their marriage but asked that their privacy be respected
Screenwriter Lena Waithe and wife, Alana Mayo, are calling it quits.
Two months after they secretly wed in a San Francisco courthouse, Waithe and Mayo released a joint statement to media outlets announcing they had split.
“After careful thought and consideration, we have decided to part ways,” the couple said in the joint statement first reported by E! News. “We have nothing but support for one another and ask that you respect our privacy during this time.”
READ MORE: Lena Waithe reveals she secretly (and spontaneously) wed fiancée Alana Mayo
In November, Waithe, 35, came on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and revealed to host John Legend that she and Mayo had just tied the knot.
“We snuck and did it,” Waithe told Legend. “We didn’t really make any announcements. We got married right in front of (late gay rights and political activist) Harvey Milk‘s bust.”
Waithe said she and Mayo made a spontaneous decision to get married at the courthouse but that it was Mayo’s initial idea “as all good things are.”
“And she was just driving and she saw the courthouse and she said, ‘We should get married there,’” Waithe told DeGeneres. “And I said, ‘Cool, I’m down.’ ”
READ MORE: Lena Waithe on the “ballsy” choices she made for ‘Queen & Slim’: “Hopefully this works”
Waithe said getting married in front of Milk’s bust carried a special significance for her. Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected in California.
“It really was a humbling day to marry someone so amazing, but also to really appreciate all the work that so many people have put in for us to be able to do that, so it was good,” Waithe said.
Waithe and Mayo had dated several years and got engaged in Tokyo in 2017.
Waithe has had a great run of successful show series, including “Master of None,” and the Showtime series, “The Chi.” She has also written films including “Ready Player One” and the fall, instant classic “Queen & Slim.”
In 2017, she became the first Black woman to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the Thanksgiving episode of “Master of None.”
Mayo works as the president of production for Michael B. Jordan’s production company, Outlier Society.
