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As both an actor and musician, Donald Glover, whose rap moniker is Childish Gambino, is one of this generation’s most diverse stars. But his career isn’t the only thing he should be proud of. The 40-year-old also shares three beautiful children with his wife, Michelle White. Donald’s Mr & Mrs Smith costar Maya Erskine recently spilled the beans that he and Michelle were secretly married and he didn’t hesitate to confirm it.
Despite the exciting news, not a lot is known about Michelle though, but we’ve done some digging and here’s what we can tell you about her.
Who Is Michelle White?
Michelle White is a white Asian-American woman, and she was reportedly born on May 18, 1989. It’s not totally clear how Donald and Michelle met, how long they’ve been dating or what she may do for work, and that’s because they’re a notoriously private couple. However, Donald has previously spoken about her in interviews. For example, in 2018, he said that she was doing the “hard stuff”, following the birth of their second child.
“I sleep four hours a night! I mean I don’t dream as much, I just miss dreaming! I think my partner, she does all the hard stuff, to be honest,” Donald told PEOPLE at the time. “She’s just very supportive. I haven’t really had to change anything. But it’s given me definitely another perception on what life is. It gives me a lot of context.”
He has also applauded her in a number of his acceptance speeches at various award shows, but we’ll get to that later.
Michelle White and Her Children
Michelle White shares three children with actor and musician Donald Glover. Their first son, Legend, was born in 2016, and their most recent child, who was named after the actor’s late father Donald Glover, Sr., was born in May 2020. Donald revealed that bit of news during a conversation with Michaela Coel for GQ, when he spoke about George Floyd, the black man who died after a Minneapolis officer held his knee on George’s neck for eight minutes.
“I was in the hospital bed. My son had just been born, like, an hour before and I was watching the George Floyd video,” he said. “It was such a weird moment. It was such an intense, weird moment, because I’m watching that video and it’s like eight minutes long, so you’re sitting there and I had just had this amazing, joyful, expanding moment”.
“I don’t even know what, really, the word is to describe it,” he continued during the emotional interview. “It was just expanding: the empathy and compassion and the terror and the joy of it.”
Later in the interview, the Solo: A Star Wars Story actor revealed that he and Michelle are already thinking about expanding their family. When Michaela said that she’s freezing her eggs, he replied, “That’s great. I feel like it’s gonna become more and more [common]. Because I’ve actually had that thing where I’m like, ‘Maybe I should just get a vasectomy and just freeze those assets.’ Because adopting kids, my family adopting kids … And we actually have been talking about [it], because we have three boys so I’m like, ‘Oh, it might be nice to be get a girl in there.’ So I think all those are great options. But it is hard.”
Donald and Michelle’s second-born son, who was welcomed into the world in Jan. 2018, is named Drake. Donald rarely posts photos on his Instagram account, and out of the nine pictures he has shared, none of them include his children.
Michelle White’s Relationship With Donald
Since Donald and Michelle are a notoriously private couple, not a whole lot is known about their relationship. However, they had their first child in 2016, and that’s actually when she first became known to the public. But even though they’re super private, Donald still gushes over Michelle whenever he can.
During his acceptance speech at the 2017 Emmys, when he took home the award for Outstanding Actor In A Comedy, the Lion King star said, “I want to thank Michelle, my partner. You love me even with how crazy I get. I want to thank my baby, my son, for just being the joy in my life. I want to thank my unborn son, we’re listening to Stevie tonight.”
Then, during his 2017 Golden Globes speech, when he won the award for his portrayal of Earnest “Earn Marks” on Atlanta, he shared the same sentiments. In fact, he took the opportunity to honor and thank both Michelle and his first son, Legend. “I really want to say thank you to my son and the mother of my son for making me believe in people again and things being possible, so thank you,” he said while on stage.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Donald said he disliked the idea of marriage. “It doesn’t serve the purpose that I would want it to serve,” he said. However, during a 2019 press tour for The Lion King reboot, in which he voiced Simba, he used words that suggested his feelings may have changed since then, as he referred to Michelle as his “wife”.
While remembering how confused his son, Legend, was upon hearing his voice come from Simba’s lips in the movie, Donald said, “He kept looking and my wife was like, ‘Oh, he’s getting it. He’s getting it,’”. So funny!
In a February 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Donald confirmed he and Michelle are married when his Mr. & Mrs. Smith costar Maya mentioned it. “He got married during the show. (Turns to Glover.) I can say that, right?” Maya asked during the joint interview.
“Yeah. There was a day where I don’t think we had to be on set until noon or 1, so, I was like, ‘Can we get married today?’ I got married in the morning,” he revealed. “We had a real wedding afterwards, too. [That night, though,] we went to our favorite restaurant and then her parents and my mom were waiting for us at the house.”
Donald went on to share why his opinion on marriage changed. “I think what happened was, well, number one, I didn’t know what I was getting out of it. I felt like I knew what she was getting out of it, and I didn’t feel like she was being honest, necessarily, about what she was getting out of it,” he explained. “I was thinking about it in such a silly way, which I see now. Now I realize, yeah, maybe she’s gaining some stuff, but she’s also losing a lot of stuff. And we eventually had an honest talk and she was like, ‘I’m a traditional woman.’ And when she said that, some part of me was like, ‘And I want to help you be that.’”
“Whatever she needs me to be, that makes me happy,” he added. “Especially nowadays, finding trust is so hard, and the fact that we have this and that we can even argue about it and still be like, ‘But I love you’ — I mean, how many people have that?”
Facts About Michelle White
So in hindsight, Michelle White is currently 34 years old. We’ve also learned she’s a white Asian-American woman, who has been in a relationship with Donald for several years. She is the mother to his three children, and she loves the actor and musician dearly, according to a few of his heartwarming acceptance speeches in the past several years. To be honest, she sounds like an ideal partner and we think Donald is lucky to have found her. And from what he’s said about her, he seems to think so, too.