Love is a beautiful thing, especially when you’re watching it from the sidelines. In this column, we’ll explore celebrity couples who inspire hope for our own love lives and see what lessons we can take from their well-documented relationships.

Nothing warms my heart more than a Hollywood spouse who believed in their partner long before fame came knocking. That’s why I’m so captivated by the real-life love story between Black Panther director Ryan Coogler and his wife, Zinzi Evans. Married in 2016, they’re now parents to two children—with a third on the way—fulfilling one of Coogler’s longtime wishes. “I found I want daughters real, real bad,” he said in 2018, and honestly, the world might be better if more expectant fathers envisioned their family dreams so clearly.

Before they were red-carpet regulars—promoting films like Creed and Black Panther—they were just a college couple making it work. Coogler once recalled those early days: “I was trying to write screenplays in Microsoft Word, which is impossible because formatting matters. I was broke, scraping by on football scholarship money. Then my wife saved up and bought me Final Draft, the software you actually use to write movies.”

Having spent over five years in LA, I can confirm just how romantic that gift truly was. This town is packed with aspiring screenwriters, and when you’re grinding to build a career, having someone who believes in you makes all the difference—which Evans clearly did. That software isn’t cheap! Only a true ride-or-die would spring for the latest version.

Now, both their careers are thriving. He’s won 10 NAACP Image Awards and earned Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy nominations. She’s an accomplished ASL interpreter, assistant director, and producer, with credits on Creed III and Judas and the Black Messiah. Together, they co-founded the multimedia company Proximity Media in 2021.

I love when celebrities collaborate with their real-life partners (why be with someone if you don’t trust their vision?). Seeing Evans credited as a producer on so many of Coogler’s projects proves they’re not just life and parenting partners—they’re creative ones too. Their story is a beacon for struggling writers everywhere: Keep going, keep writing, and hold out for that person who believes in you enough to gift you Final Draft without asking to split the bill later!