Tracing Tika Sumpter’s Love Life Since Divorcing Her Husband Hosea Chanchez

Tika Sumpter is an incredibly talented woman, acing every role that she has taken up both in films and in TV shows. She wears multiple hats as an actress, model, director, producer, and writer. From hosting The N’s reality series, Best Friend’s Date, Sumpter slowly worked her way to the top to small parts in TV shows and films. These days, she is best recognized for her role as Candace Young in Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots. As her fame has soared, so has the public’s interest in her life beyond her profession. Sumpter has a history of being tight-lipped about her personal life but since she became a bigger star, has been more open to sharing information about that part of her life. After her marriage to fellow actor Hosea Chanchez ended in 2012, she went on to date Nicholas James.

Tika Sumpter Met Nicholas James On The Set of The Haves and the Have Nots

Initially tight-lipped about the new man in her life, Tika Sumpter eventually revealed who her mystery man was and it turns out he was not so mysterious after all. He is Nicholas James, her co-star on the Haves and the Have Nots. When she finally revealed that he was the one, fans of the Tyler Perry show wondered if it was the show that brought them together, this eventually turned out to be the case.

Tika Sumpter describes meeting Cage as love at first sight. She had booked the part of Candace Young, one of the series regular roles on the show that premiered in 2013. James did not join the show until 2016 when he began playing the role of Officer Justin Lewis. In her words, she had become immediately attracted to James when she saw him and became interested in knowing him better. As they worked on set, they got closer, Sumpter revealed how she found him so funny, and soon they were locking lips.

Sumpter and James have since remained solid, sharing the progress of their romance to their fans through their respective Instagram account. Between the couple, James is the lesser-known actor. He has started acting professionally in 2006, making his debut in the sex comedy film, Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds. He also had small roles in Prom NIght and Fired Up!, before focusing more on the small screens. He scored small parts in shows like NCIS, Jane by Design, Hollywood Heights, The Client List, and Revenge before landing his firsts series regular role in The Haves and The Have Nots.

The Couple Welcomed A Daughter In 2016

• Name: Ella-Loren
• Born: October 8, 2016

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A post shared by Tika Sumpter (@tikasumpter)

Tika Sumpter’s romance with Nicholas James was a whirlwind one; not long after they began dating, Sumpter became pregnant. Her pregnancy sent tongues wagging as many wanted to know who her baby daddy was and if she had secretly gotten married. Regardless, Sumpter kept mum, only granting an interview to Fit Pregnancy where she revealed that the reason she kept her pregnancy secret was because of how harsh social media can be and that she did not want people bombarding her with questions of who the father is. She also revealed that she waited before telling some of her friends. She told the publication that she was a mama bear who is all about protecting her family.

Sumpter only revealed her baby daddy’s identity after their daughter, whom they named Ella-Loren was born. The actress made the revelation in a touching father’s day message posted on social media.

Sumpter Revealed Her Engagement To Her Co-star In 2017

In January 2017, Tika announced that she is engaged to her baby daddy Nicholas James. She made the revelation during an appearance on The Real saying that the engagement took place during the holiday season of the previous year, roughly two months after the birth of their daughter Ella.

The actress revealed that James put some thought into his proposal. She had gone on a little tour in the house and realized that he was going to propose. However, James still found a way to make the proposal surprising by including their daughter Ella. James wrote a sweet letter to Sumpter which he hid with Ella and had her present it to her before popping the question. Sumpter described the moment as simple and just awesome.

In early 2021, Sumpter told ESSENCE magazine that she was finally ready to get married after being engaged for four years. However, she did not reveal the reason behind her waiting for so long. She said the Covid pandemic had made her realise that she wanted to get married and could not wait to party with family friends. She revealed that the wedding would take place in the next year.

Tika Sumpter at a Glance

Sumpter’s Marriage to Hosea Chanchez Was Very Private

Before hunky James came into Sumpter’s life, she was previously married to yet another hunk, Hosea Chanchez. Many would remember him for his recurring role on For Your Love, as well as the quarterback football player Malik Wright on The CW/BET sitcom, The Game. Though it is known that they were married in 2009, there is no detail as regards how the two met or even for how long they dated, but their marriage did not last a long time before it came to an end following a divorce in 2012.

According to Chanchez’s interview with ESSENCE in 2012, it appears as though the show, The Game, where they acted as each other’s love interest, tried to rekindle their love. In the interview, he said that he had rekindled with an ex whom he had known for 9 years and was residing in New York City (Sumpter lived in New York at the time). It would appear that they could not work things out as they soon parted ways. The two had no child together. Chanchez continues to pursue his acting career, details of his personal life have been hidden from the public.

Sumpter Had A Crush On Rapper, Drake

Apart from Nicholas James and Hosea Sanchez, Tika Sumpter has not been romantically linked with any other man, at least not to the public’s knowledge. It did however emerge that she had a crush on Canadian rapper Drake. Their meeting and first date happened thanks to her first-ever gig as host of Nickelodeon’s Best Friend’s Date.

A single date was all it took for Sumpter to realize that Drake was really cool; she revealed that he told her that he had already begun working on his music at that time. This was before he became popular as Drake and Sumpter referred to him as Aubrey. She had described the rapper as being just “super sweet” and “super nice” at the time.