Magic & Cookie Johnson's Relationship Timeline Spans Over 40 Years

Magic and Cookie Johnson may have one of the longest-lasting relationships in Hollywood. The NBA star and businesswoman, who met in college, have been together on and off for over 40 years and share two children together. Ahead of HBO’s new limited series Winning Time, which chronicles the rise of the Showtime Lakers in the ‘80s including Johnson’s signing to the team, look back at his and Cookie’s relationship.

1977: Cookie & Magic Meet

While promoting her memoir Believing In Magic in 2017, Cookie spoke to Mocha Man Style about the first time she met Magic. “We met in college as freshmen [at Michigan State]. I went to a club. One of the only clubs on the campus. [Magic] was standing there by the doorway when I walked in with a friend of mine,” she said. According to Cookie, Magic didn’t ask her to dance. “The lights came up and I happen to be walking by where he was sitting and I said it was nice to meet you. He said, ‘Yeah, by the way, give me your number.’ I’m like what? Cause he never said anything to me the entire night,’” she explained. Both of them were set to go home for Christmas break the next day. “I told him I’m not giving you my number because you’re not even going to remember me in a month. He said, ‘Yes, I will.’ I gave him the number and literally the day I set foot back on campus he called me.”

1978: Cookie & Magic Have Their First Date

In the same interview, Cookie recounted her first date with Magic. At the time, he was a big man on campus, and all of the girls in her dorm room were peering out of their windows waiting for him to pick her up. “He took me on a real date. Like a date, date. I thought he was going to take me to Arby’s,” she said. Instead, they went to a steak house. “We had a great time. We had a wonderful conversation. You know sometimes when you meet people and you have to make conversation until you really get to know them? It was like we were old friends,” she continued. “That was the beginning of when I fell in love with him.”

1979: Magic Gets Drafted

With the first pick in the 1979 NBA draft, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Magic, bringing him to Los Angeles.

1981: Magic Welcomes His First Son

During a period when Magic and Cookie weren’t together, he dated a woman named Melissa Mitchell, with whom he had a son, Andre, in 1981. “There was a lot of breaking up and getting back together, a lot of ups and downs. We’ve been through everything together,” Cookie later said of she and Magic’s relationship, per Essence.

1991: Cookie & Magic Get Married

Magic and Cookie married in LA in September 1991. He wore a white tux and she a white gown and large tiara. “I told you and my parents after three months of dating that you were going to be the one I was going to marry,” Magic recalled in a 2019 Instagram post. “By far, marrying you was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

He reflected on their marriage again in a 2021 tribute. “Cookie, our 30 year marriage has been the best time of my life,” he wrote on Instagram. “Ever since the day I laid eyes on you in 1978 I knew you were the one for me. I thank God every day for you and for bringing you into my life! You’ve made me a better man, person, husband, father, and businessman.

1991: Magic Steps Away From Basketball

Magic’s departure from the NBA remains one of the most shocking moments in sports history. After receiving the diagnosis that he was HIV positive, Magic announced in a press conference that he was leaving basketball in order to dedicate his life to "battl[ing] this deadly disease."

In a 2021 interview with Gayle King on CBS, he explained how his decision and diagnosis weighed on his relationship with Cookie. "It was hard because I loved her so much and I hated to hurt her," Magic said. "I've played against some of the best basketball players in the world, right? I've been in championships. I've been in nine [NBA] Finals, so I know pressure. But there was no greater pressure than driving home to tell her." Cookie recounted her exact emotions when Magic told her in a 2016 interview with Good Morning America. “It scared me to death,” she said. "We both fell on our knees and we started crying."

1992: EJ Johnson Is Born

In 1992, the Johnsons welcomed their first child, E.J. Now 29, he’s gone on to work in fashion, and starred on the E! reality series Rich Kids of Beverly Hills as well as his own spinoff EJNYC in the 2010s. He currently has a voice role on The Proud Family reboot Louder And Prouder.

1995: Magic & Cookie Adopt Elisa Johnson

The Johnsons adopted their daughter, Elisa, when she was three days old. “As a young girl I was proud because I thought my dad was a super hero, but as I got older I started to realize who he really was and it made me gain an even greater appreciation for him,” she told CR Fashion Book in 2016.

Like her brother EJ, Elisa is interested in fashion, and launched her own sunglass line in 2021.

2001: Magic & Cookie Briefly Separate

According to Cookie, Magic’s ego reached outsized proportions in 2001 after his name was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She wrote in her memoir that things came to a head at an industry party, when Magic wasn’t interested in dancing with her. “It was like, ‘I don’t want you dancing with me. I want to dance with these people over here,’” she said. “That kind of got to me, because it had been boiling, boiling, boiling, boiling anyway. And I lost it.” However, their separation only lasted two weeks.

2021: Magic & Cookie Are Still Going Strong

Two decades later, Magic and Cookie are still married. In her interview with Mocha Man Style, Cookie revealed how they maintain their spark. “We do simple things. We’re very simple. We started this in college. We always went to the movies once a week,” she said. They’ve continued the tradition long into their marriage, making time for a date each Friday night. “We go to the movies. We get popcorn. We have a good time.”

The couple also enjoys spending time at their beach house together. “Sometimes we’re going in different directions and it’s so important for marriages to find that time to reconnect.”

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