Film producer, minister and author DeVon Franklin is learning a lot from the end of his marriage to Harlem star Meagan Good. One of those things is the importance of taking things moment by moment as he handles all the overwhelming changes that have come since walking away from their relationship.
“I wouldn’t wish divorce on anybody. It’s a weird thing,” he shared in a new interview with The Breakfast Club. He joined the program to promote his latest project, the movie Flamin’ Hot. “You’re used to being with somebody just on a friendship level, every day. And then you’re like, I don’t even talk to this person. It is the strangest, most difficult thing to navigate.”
He’s also gathered the importance of learning from the past versus having regrets about it. During the conversation, he was asked if, in retrospect, he regretted co-authoring the book The Wait: A Powerful Practice for Finding the Love of Your Life and the Life You Love since the woman he thought was the love of his life is now his ex-wife. They wrote the work in 2015, detailing their journey from courtship to marriage, which included abstaining from sex until they shared vows. That choice was, in theory, supposed to have led to a lasting union. He laughed at the idea that he would have any regret about the New York Times bestseller.
“No! Of course [not]. Of course I don’t regret that,” he said in response. “The value of delayed gratification is always going to be a message that’s going to help somebody and we put that message into the world from a place of love. That’s where we were. And I think that’s the challenge of life — to look in the rearview instead of the front view.”
The two were married in 2012 and made it almost 10 years before finalizing their divorce in 2022. In the March digital cover story with ESSENCE, she said it took some time for her to understand the breakup as a woman of faith.
“That was rough because my biggest fear was what happened between my mom and my dad would to happen to me, which is you’ve been with your husband for 10 years and you break up. I would say, ‘I’m never getting divorced. I’m in it forever, good, bad, whatever it is, I’m never going to give up. You’re my person, I’m your person, that’s it,’” she recalled.
“It took me a long time to understand that God didn’t do divorce,” she added at the time. “DeVon and I both have free will. So, I had to accept that God didn’t lie when he told me that was my husband. That was my husband. But he didn’t say we’d be together forever. God’s word remains true no matter what happens to you and if anything changes, it’s because sometimes life deals you cards you don’t expect or anticipate, but He’ll still bring you through it and He still has an incredible plan for your life.”
As for Franklin, in the present, he says that while they may not speak in the way they did when together, they still get along. And though he admits “there are feelings” about her moving on from the marriage and dating actor Jonathan Majors currently, they’re not hard ones.
“If she’s happy, that’s a blessing,” Franklin said, noting that he wouldn’t wish anything negative on her new flame. “If I had that perspective, whatever I’m putting out, that’s what’s coming back. I don’t have any ill will toward anyone in that regard because I don’t have any ill will towards myself in that regard. There’s no hate.”