Inside Gabourey Sidibe's Relationship With Brandon Frankel
"I am the only consistent person in my life and so I better like myself," Gabourey Sidibe revealed on The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet in 2015. Since then, the Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominee has managed to find another consistent person in her life, her beau Brandon Frankel.
Sidibe, who shot to overnight fame as the titular troubled teen in Lee Daniels' harrowing drama Precious, hadn't previously been linked to anyone romantically in the press. But after meeting the entertainment power player, the New Yorker has become a fixture of the tabloid magazines and showbiz sites due to her eventful love life.
So who exactly is the man who captured the actor's heart? How did they get together? And why have we already seen him near-naked? Here's a look at the ins and outs of the relationship that has left the sound of wedding bells ringing in Sidibe's ears.
They got together in 2019
It's not known exactly how or when Gabourey Sidibe and Brandon Frankel started dating. But the latter first got tongues wagging in May 2019 when he uploaded a selfie of the pair on his Instagram account. And the marketing man seemed to make things official later when he shared a more intimate snap captioned, "One of my favorite humans in the world ... I'll stop so y'all don't throw up over the cuteness."
In July that same year, Frankel made things even more crystal-clear when he posted a picture of a beaming Sidibe alongside the words, "How can you not love this face? MY SUNSHINE gf." The Precious actor, however, had chosen to keep schtum about her new relationship on social media until New Year's Eve.
But it appears as though Sidibe's resolution for 2020 was to be as gushing as possible about her new man. In the comments section of another Insta photo Frankel had uploaded of the pair on December 31, 2019, she responded, "You're my favorite love song. You're the cherry on top of this last decade and the foundation of the next. I'm excited for all the matching hoodies, Mickey/Minnie outfits to Disneyland, and your favorite shirts that somehow become MY favorite shirts. You make me happier than I've ever been. I'm so glad we found each other and I'm gonna point and yell "DOG!" for you, when I see one in public forever."
She only found Brandon Frankel after declaring she would be 'meaner to men'
So it seems like the" treat them mean, keep them keen" approach to dating paid dividends for Gabourey Sidibe. In a 2020 interview with Daily Beast to promote her appearance in the provocative horror Antebellum, the actor revealed that she'd recently decided to change her attitude toward the opposite sex.
The Brooklyn native said, "I was not going to care what they wanted from me. I was never going to offer them anything. I would not cook for men or take care of men." After giggling at the goal she set herself, Sidibe added, "It's like a dumb thing I did for myself." This dumb thing obviously worked in her favor, though, as the Oscar nominee then admitted, "And then very quickly after that I had a boyfriend." By this point, the star had been dating Brandon Frankel for approximately 16 months.
Sidibe also explained how her character in Antebellum inspired her to be more confident when it came to men: "I love Dawn so much because Dawn is in charge. Dawn is the one that's in charge of her dates and sexuality. Of course someone's looking at her from across the bar. She's gorgeous! She owns herself. She owns her space. And she has agency in a way that I had to learn to get."
They got engaged in 2020
In November 2020, approximately 18 months after he began dating Gabourey Sidibe, Brandon Frankel decided to put a ring on it. And unsurprisingly both parties were keen to share the happy news that they were now an engaged couple on social media.
Alongside a brief video of his new fiancée flashing some notable jewelry on her finger, Frankel told his Instagram followers, "I asked my best friend to marry me, and she said 'YES!' So excited to spend the rest of my life with the most amazing, hilarious, beautiful and inspiring woman I've ever known. I couldn't imagine a life without you. We make the best team, and we make everything fun and memorable."
On her own Instagram account, Sidibe posted the same clip while describing Frankel as "the funniest man I've ever met" and "the sweetest human to exist." The Difficult People actor also revealed that some people already assumed they were married before adding, "I guess our hearts and intentions for each other are just that clear to see."
Gabourey Sidibe is prepared to fight for her man
Woe betide anyone who tries to come between Gabourey Sidibe and her beau Brandon Frankel. While posting a message on Instagram to celebrate the latter's 37th birthday, the American Horror Story actor also took the opportunity to warn off any followers thinking of sending him a flirtatious message.
According to Extra, Sidibe started off rather sweetly, addressing the birthday boy directly, "You are the funniest, kindest, toughest, most protective man in the world ... Anyone could be the Clyde to my Bonnie but you are the Kel to my Kenan, the Romy to my Michele and the Bert to my Ernie! I can not wait to drag you into adventures for the rest of our lives! Happy Birthday My Love!"
But just in case anyone wasn't clear that Frankel was now attached, the Golden Globe nominee then changed from well-wishing mode to woman not to be messed with, sharing on her story a screenshot of a message from a woman aimed at her beau: "If you DM him, you DMing me too. I would beat the breaks off this b***h and that p***y ain't gon be worth s*** if it's in a full body cast."
Gabourey Sidibe is proud of what she's got
Brandon Frankel appears to have used several different methods to ask for Gabourey Sidibe's hand in marriage. In one snap shared on his Instagram account, he got one of their cats involved in the proposal with a charm that reads, "Will you marry my daddy?" And another shows that he placed various giant balloons on a rose petal-strewn bed that spelled out "Will you marry me?"
But judging by the since-deleted photo that Sidibe uploaded to celebrate her fiance's birthday a month later, there was more to the latter than met the eye. And it involved nudity. Yes, in this surprisingly candid pic, Frankel can be seen without any clothes on holding two strategically-placed balloons that helped to finish his bedroom proposal.
According to Daily Mail, the Empire star captioned the image, "You are the funniest, kindest, toughest, most protective man in the world. You're always down for all of my hair-brained schemes, from painting your nails, to eating rice noodle rose water ice cream, to ridiculous photo shoots like this one!"
They are both cat lovers
If you scroll through Gabourey Sidibe and Brandon Frankel's Instagram accounts, you'll notice that they both post more photos of their feline friends than each other. Yes, the pair appear to be cat crazy, regularly referring to their pets as their "children."
Sadly, in early 2020 the American Horror Story actor lost one of the moggies she'd had before she met Frankel, as she informed her Instagram followers alongside several photos: "With a heavy heart, I say goodbye to this sweet, dainty lady, Peaches. Our pets aren't around for long, to remind us to love them, each other and ourselves entirely while we still can. Thank you Peach for your protection and your perfection. You are missed by your dad and me and of course, Aaron who is doing his best to console us. We love you Peaches."
Aaron is the other cat that the star adopted in 2017, and he was later given a new friend to play with, the brilliantly-named Derrell Jermaine Dupree Sidibe-Frankel. The two are constantly showcased on social media, and if you can handle the cuteness overload then check out this adorable video of one being teased with some pasta and this equally cute snap of the other being carried around in a translucent backpack.
Brandon Frankel will always defend Gabourey Sidibe
In December 2020, Gabourey Sidibe was publicly shamed in an online meme shared by rapper Twista on his Instagram account. In the photo — as reported by Independent — the Oscar nominee and model Bernice Burgos are unwittingly pitted against each other with the former's picture captioned "make $30 an hour, own house, own car and no kids," and the latter's "staying couch to couch, no car, 12k followers on Instagram, three kids, three beds." Followers are then asked to choose between option A and option B.
Sidibe soon got her own back, though, by throwing an expert bit of shade in the comments section: "Wow. I um ... gee. I only like you as a rapper I forgot about in 2005. But good luck with option B!" The Tower Heist star didn't particularly need any help in putting Twista in his place. But she still got some back-up from her fiancé Brandon Frankel, who chimed in, "C YOU NEED A JOB."
Following this two-pronged attack, the "Slow Jamz" hitmaker expressed remorse for sharing the tasteless meme, telling The Shade Room that it had been "an honest mistake." The rapper, who also decided to delete the post, added, "My apologies to anyone that took offense to it. I was traveling most of the day when I saw the mistake, I immediately had it taken down. I don't know her directly but my sincere apologies to her."
Brandon Frankel can hook Gabourey Sidibe up with the latest swag
So we all know what Gabourey Sidibe does to bring home the bacon but what about her fiancé Brandon Frankel? Well, his LinkedIn profile states that he's been a senior talent executive at personalized video firm Cameo since the summer of 2020. Frankel also owns marketing and brand partnerships agency Contra Inc. and has previously worked for the likes of Sony Music Masterworks, Paradigm Talent Agency and Atlantic Records.
In fact, in 2017, Sidibe's beau was listed as one of the world's branding industry's key players in a Billboard piece which read, "Frankel has racked up frequent-flyer miles in pursuit of branding opportunities for his clients, traveling to Mumbai with Major Lazer for the opening ceremonies of the Indian Premier League cricket finals and to a mall in Moscow with Yung Lean for a Calvin Klein campaign."
And it looks like Frankel has no qualms about using his contacts to get his girlfriend the latest swag. In 2020 Sidibe showed off a new outfit from Beyonce's Ivy Park range on her Instagram account which she revealed had been procured by her other half: "My mans @brandontour sent an email and bibbidy, bobbidee BOOPED me some @weareivypark and now I don't know how to act. Puttin all this in the prenup. Thank you @adidasoriginals and obviously @beyonce cuz I'm mos def finna do squats in these brown joints!"
They enjoy teasing each other
Gabourey Sidibe and Brandon Frankel may appear to spend every waking hour gushing about how much they love each other. But they still have a sense of humor when it comes to their picture-perfect relationship, as they're also keen to share on social media.
After being asked, "Does your man have a name?" by one particular nosy fan in the Instagram comments section next to a pic of Frankel cooking, Sidibe replied, "I assume so but at this point in the relationship, I'm too embarrassed to ask him." On another occasion, the Antebellum star revealed on Twitter that Frankel had gifted her a rose bouquet and a tutu-wearing unicorn named Olive Yu for the most romantic day of the year, before adding, "My Valentine is a dork and I couldn't be happier to have him."
But Frankel can also dish out the faux-insults, too. "My man said I look like a 'really cool Bratz doll,'" his fiancée revealed in an Instagram selfie. "That's all I ever wanted."
They enjoyed quality time during lockdown
Quarantining together during the coronavirus pandemic has made or broken many relationships. Luckily for Gabourey Sidibe and Brandon Frankel, their lockdown time appears to have fallen in the former category.
The pair hasn't stopped waxing lyrical about how much they've enjoyed being in each other's company since taking refuge from the outbreak in early 2020. In an Instagram throwback snap of the pair attending an NBA game, Frankel wrote, "Hoping you have yourself an amazing quarantine mate like I do. This time has been weird, yet nice when you get to hide away with someone you love."
Sidibe also opened up about their experiences of living together in an interview with People magazine in which she joked that Frankel was "very lucky to have me." She added, "He'll eat anything I put in front of him, which is really sweet. I'm always making him drink, like, sweet potato juice and then I work out in our gym. I know I sound like Gwyneth Paltrow, but I swear I'm not."
They both celebrate each other's achievements
As you would expect, Gabourey Sidibe and Brandon Frankel are just as supportive of each other when it comes to their work commitments. After his fiancé picked up a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the NAACP Image Awards for her role in Antebellum, the latter offered his congratulations on Instagram: "I'm constantly proud and amazed at what a hard working, dedicated person she is with anything she does. She took this character, made it her own, improvised and NAILED IT! You deserve this and more, love you to death."
This wasn't the first time that Frankel had raved about Sidibe's performance as Dawn in the acclaimed horror. After viewing the film for the first time in September 2020, he took to Instagram to gush, "Not only does she shine bright and bring the laughs, the new norm for "clapping" at a drive-in movie is honking. Let's just say, she got A LOT OF HONKS! You looked gorgeous, you are gorgeous inside and out, and I'm so thankful for you."
Sidibe hasn't been quite as effusive about her husband's work yet — although there was one particular achievement she was mightily impressed with. Alongside an Instagram photo of Frankel holding up a platinum disc, she wrote, "Fun Fact: I didn't listen to anything [Brandon] said before he told me he earned a platinum plaque from [Lil Kim's] La Bella Mafia. That's when I decided to give him some. Standards."