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Naturi Naughton is shining a light on high blood pressure in the Black community by teaming up with the American Heart Association on a campaign to increase awareness.
“I am just very, very excited to be able to use my celebrity for things like this," the Queens star told on-air personality Jazmyn Summers. "To have people look up to me. It means a lot to me. That gives me joy. That gives me purpose.”
She continued, “I have teamed up with them to make sure we get our communities and our people aware first of their blood pressure and secondly what to do about it. One of the things that’s great is to make sure that we do movement. You can do self-measuring at home: get it, slip it, cuff it, check it which is the 4 steps to this awesome movement. Talk to your doctor and share your numbers. One of the things that made me excited is there are ways you can manage your blood pressure and dancing and movement is one of the ways you can do that."
A dance created by Naughton and the American Heart Association called “get it, slip it, cuff it, check it” underscores the message to check your blood pressure She hopes it will become a Tik Tok challenge.
“I’m challenging all of you guys," the Power actress said. "This is a dance movement. Get the people that you know older, young no matter what age. You can upload your video to your social media. Make sure you hashtag #getdownwithyourbp.”
Naughton is also busy planning her wedding to fiancee Two Lewis, a prominent manager in the music and entertainment industry, who was introduced to her by Omari Hardwick, her Power co-star.
“My TV husband introduced me to my future husband,” she shared. “It’s pretty awesome to this day. He says, ‘see Tur, I told you [you’d find love].’ He gets a lot of credit. I’m so happy he changed my life in more ways than one.”
Just five ago, Naughton endured a painful breakup with her daughter Zuri’s father and penned “Stay Too Long,” a song about their relationship. “Three months after the baby was born, your love for me was gone. How could you flip the script on me. Love makes you foolish and stay way too long,” she sings on the track.
“Everything I’ve experienced I try to use as my testimony,” Naughton told Summers. “I kinda wear my heart on my sleeve and talk about things openly because there’s no shame in being heartbroken. There’s no shame in being hurt. There’s no shame in being in a bad situation. We have to get people to talk about things that seem a little taboo whether it’s mental health or physical health. I’ve been through a lot in my life and I’m just grateful to make it to 2022.”
She says she has found true love and happiness with Lewis.
“Omari spoke so highly of [him] to me. I don’t even know that he was trying to hook us up,” Naughton recalled. “I think he was just trying to put us together musically. I don’t think it was intentional. But to this day Omari’s like, ‘I knew this was what you needed!’”
She added, “I can be a challenge and he knows Two’s the man for the challenge.”
Lewis previously told Essence he had a one-year rule that entailed getting to know Naughton on a deeper level before making things official as boyfriend and girlfriend.
“I have that one-year rule where I want to build a friendship and build something I could see lasting for a long time,” he said. "I was very impressed that she waited this time out. We learned each other, prayed with each other, went to church with each other, and just developed this real foundation and connection and friendship.”
The one-year rule additionally called for Naughton and Lewis to not have sex during the year.
“I had to accept that the same way women have standards. Men, especially a good man, does too,” Naughton told Summers. “The way he emphasized our relationship with God, our relationship with ourselves, just being able to do things that weren’t about the physical, sex or things like that, it let me know he wanted to dig to a deeper level and get to know me on a spiritual and an emotional level. That was how I got more comfortable because I started to see, Wait a minute. This ain’t just for boyfriend time, this is a setup for a husband.”
By Christmas 2020, Lewis put a ring on it not only proposing to Naughton but also to her four-year-old daughter.
“I wanted to make sure Zuri knows how she should be cared for and loved for the future,” he said. “Naturi always says I do over-the-top things and I always tell her I try do over-the-top things so [Zuri] knows not to settle for the bare minimum. I want her to have her standards high when she gets older so knows what to accept.”
Montell Jordan will officiate the couple’s wedding this spring while Naughton's Power co-star, Hardwick, will serve as Lewis' best man.
“Omari has become the big brother in my real life," Naughton said of Hardwick. "Just a good person, a great actor. He made Ghost iconic from his walk, his suits, from his look, his skin; the man is fine, very fine but he is a good friend and to this day we talk and he’ll send me a voice note. He’s so proud of me. I’m so proud of him. Working with him was amazing and we started something being this power couple on television, on cable. It means the world to me and he brought me my love."
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