'My wife was already engaged when I expressed interest in marrying her' - Boris Kodjoe

During an appearance on The Kenny Burns Show, Boris Kodjoe opened up about his relationship with Nicole Ari Parker before they became romantically involved, and her reaction when he told her that they were going to get married one day, though she was engaged to another person at the time.

Kodjoe, 53, and Parker, 55, are remembered for their roles as a couple on the family drama series, Soul Food. Kodjoe, in the interview, touched on his relationship with Parker while on set for the series and their first meeting.

“We met at the table read on the first episode, and she gave me a hug. And she was super sweet, great heart. Right away, I knew that she was going to be in my life. I didn’t know in what capacity,” Kodjoe, who was born in Austria to a Ghanaian father and a German mother, recalled, per PEOPLE.

Kodjoe credited Parker for playing an “instrumental” role in the early stages of his career, as she helped him with insight about the profession.

“This was my first job. She helped me break down the script. She helped me translate the script, ’cause at the time I still was going back and forth. She taught me everything about the different colloquialisms and how to stress certain words because it’s a different culture,” the 53-year-old said.

Kodjoe added that he and Parker were “friends and were working together.” “Clearly, it was chemistry and everybody realized and noticed that, even the crew,” he stated.

And though Parker and her ex Joseph Falasca were engaged at the time, Kodjoe said he still went ahead to tell her that they were going to get married one day.

“At the end of the first season, I think it was. I went to her trailer one day and I said, ‘Hey, I just want to let you know that one day we’re going to be married with two kids.’ And I closed the door,” Kodjoe recalled.

Parker, however, took issue with what Kodjoe told her. “She was mad. She was mad for two weeks. Wouldn’t talk to me because she thought it was so disrespectful,” said Kodjoe.