It goes without saying, but veteran actor Jaleel White will forever be a household name to many — well, maybe he goes by the name “Steve Urkel” in your home, but the face is nonetheless one of the most recognizable in Hollywood.
Although he’s long abandoned the geeky persona that brought him TV stardom, save for last year’s holiday release of the animated Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie!, the Family Matters standout has been able to successfully branch out into a variety of roles over the years and sustain a respectable career, even prepping for a role in the upcoming Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. He’s even tapped back into his voice acting days — yep, that was him in the Sonic the Hedgehog animated series! — with many roles that range from Teen Titans Go! and American Dad! to a fun appearance as the “Urkel Bot” in a 2019 episode of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
It also appears he’s now experiencing similar success in his love life as well following his big wedding day this past Saturday (May 4). However, many people seeing his bride for the first time were a bit surprised to see that he really isn’t the same as Steve Urkle; his new wife, tech executive Nicholetta Ruhl, is a stark difference from Laura Winslow.
The new Mrs. White is that in every sense of the word, from the color of the dress she wore and the flowers she held while walking down the aisle to the very apparent color of her skin. This is in no way to say that makes a difference either way, but it does add an interesting perspective to Jaleel’s overall relation to the Black community in recent years. A decades-spanning feud with his former Family Matters cast aside, many seemed to feel like the man who fawned to ad nausea over one of the finest chocolate ’90s crushes — major props still to Kellie Shanygne Williams! — would end up with, well, something a bit more similar in real life. However, when looking at his past dating history from Step by Step actress Christine Lakin to the mother of his now-teenage daughter, it’s clear the man has a preference and is not looking to feel any shame about it. While we salute his right to ‘go bright,’ we can also understand where some of the more decorative reactions are coming from across social media following the wedding pictures exclusively debuted by PEOPLE Magazine (seen above).
“To White, getting married meant committing himself to Ruhl in every aspect of their lives, he told PEOPLE in May 2024.
‘We’ve each committed ourselves to loving and helping one another achieve the best possible outcome in anything we set out to do both personally and professionally,’ White said.
Ruhl added, ‘We don’t rush anything and we always have honest intentions for one another. We both fully believe that when you force something, it won’t result in the best outcome and because of this we’ve seen a lot of blessings in our life together thus far.’”
The married couple, who met during the pandemic while running track together in Los Angeles, made their relationship public on New Year’s Day 2022 and have been building up to the big day this past weekend.
Race debates and critiques from the culture aside, we just hope the brother is happy and providing a great life for daughter Samaya to grow up in.
