Billy Porter of KINKY BOOTS Fame Marries Partner Adam Smith

In an exclusive interview with People Magazine, Billy Porter announced his marriage to longtime partner Adam Smith.

"We're looking forward to understanding and learning how to share your life with somebody," Porter was quoted. "I'm really thrilled to figure out what that means - together, with my soul mate!"

The pair was engaged for only two weeks prior to the wedding, a choice Smith says had a great deal to do with Porter and the current political climate.

"We were discussing, and Billy had actually brought up to me that it's important for us to get married while Obama is still President and before January 20. So we sat down and figured out when we could make it work before the 20th."

Porter gave a touching description of how much this union means to him given his experiences growing up saying, "We both grew up in households where who we are is labeled an 'abomination. The thought of marriage, there was no context for it - there was no dreaming about it because there was no context to dream; it was unspoken and very clear that the sanctity of marriage was not for us. So to see that come around, to see that tide turned, it still takes my breath away; I'm still trying to find the words to describe it. I didn't think I needed it. I lived with this idea that it just wasn't for us. I finally found - we finally found - the thing that has been so elusive, and I'm so excited to share that."

Billy Porter is the 2013 Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Lola in the Best Musical Tony Award-winning Kinky Boots. His one-man show Ghetto Superstar (2005 GLAAD Media Award nomination, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Performer of the Year 2003-2004) debuted at The Public Theater in conjunction with City Theatre of Pittsburgh. He was recently seen on Broadway in Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. His directing credits include The Colored Museum at the Huntington; Company; HAM: A Musical Memoir with Sam Harris; The Wiz; Being Alive: The Soul of Sondheim; Twilight In Manchego; Once on This Island (NAACP Theatre Award winner for Best Direction); The Soul of Richard Rodgers; Five Guys Named Moe; Altar Boyz; Rent (Associate Director, Off Broadway revival); Patina Miller Live at The Delfonte Room (London); and Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Music of Stevie Wonder (starring Chaka Khan). His Broadway album, Billy's Back on Broadway (Concord Records) was released in April of 2014. His new album, Billy Porter Presents The Soul of Richard Rodgers will be released in April of 2017. As a playwright, he was represented Off-Broadway last fall with the premiere of While I Yet Live starring S. Epatha Merkerson (Primary Stages). A Pittsburgh native, he received his BFA in drama from Carnegie Mellon University. He is also a graduate of UCLA's professional program in screenwriting.

Best wishes to the happy couple!

Read Jeff Nelson's People Magazine article here.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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