Jon Batiste was certainly a celebrated talent during the last Oscars. After a staggering 11 nominations for his We Are album, the artist went home with five wins. Aside from the accolades, Batiste apparently still has a lot to celebrate.
Batiste recently married his partner, Suleika Jaouad, in a secret ceremony. The two met at a band camp and then dated for eight years before getting married, with about four people in attendance.
The proposal came after Jaouad was diagnosed with leukemia a second time; However, that wasn’t the main reason behind the seemingly rushed ceremony. The lovebirds had to change the normal wedding setting, using bread bands instead of wedding rings and exchanging vows amidst medical staff.
Jon Batiste married Suleika Jaouad in a secret ceremony
Grammy winner Batiste tied the knot with longtime partner Jaouad in a secret wedding. The wedding took place in February after the ‘Between Two Kingdoms’ writer was diagnosed with leukemia for the second time.
In an interview with CBS on Sunday morning, the cancer memoir author revealed the decision was well thought out and in no way rushed. “We got married the day before I was hospitalized to have my bone marrow transplant,” she said.
“We knew we wanted to get married, I think from the first week we started dating. That’s when Jon first approached me about marriage,” Jaouad continued. “Well, we had eight years. This is, you know, not a hasty decision!”
Batiste said Jaouad’s diagnosis was not the reason for the proposal
While discussing the wedding, Jaouad clarified that her recent diagnosis didn’t influence the musician’s decision to propose to her. According to the Grammy winner, the diagnosis “wouldn’t interrupt the plan that we have. It’s just a bump.”
Batiste added that their marriage was “an act of defiance.” According to Jaouad, it took him a full year to design her engagement ring, much earlier than they were diagnosed.
She revealed: “He said to me, ‘I just want to be clear, I’m not proposing to you because of this diagnosis. It took me a year to design your ring. So just know that timing has nothing to do with it. But I want you to know that this diagnosis doesn’t change anything.”
“It just makes me all the more clear that I want to stand up for it and that we want to be together.” The couple exchanged vows during the “tiny window before the bone marrow transplant.”
Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad used bread binders as wedding rings
MEGA
Due to the rush of their wedding, the couple had to make some pretty unusual adjustments to the ceremony. They quickly got their marriage license while the author was still lying in the operating room with a catheter on her chest.
“It was absurd!” said Jaouad. “There were nurses around, there were surgeons around. We had this computer. I was in a hospital gown. But we did it.” She added that they entered the transplant unit “on cloud nine” because they were so happy.
Her wedding outfit was bought “at the last minute” the night before. They also used bread bands instead of the traditional wedding bands. “But it wasn’t, you know, what we had in mind. There were maybe four people present. It was private. It was tiny. And it was perfect,” she said.
Show Me the Way was about Batiste and Jaouad
During an interview with People last year, the Grammy winner opened up about his album We Are and the process of making it. According to Batiste, the track “Show Me the Way” illustrated his relationship with his wife Jaouad.
At the time, the musician said: “It speaks a lot about me, how I grew up and also about our relationship. It’s a beautiful thing to have cut out that bit of our relationship on the album.”
At the recent Grammy Awards, Batiste picked up five awards for his album We Are, following his first eleven nominations. Awards included Best Music Video and Best Album of the Year. He beat big artists like Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X, Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and Olivia Rodrigo.