Celebrity wife talks life as a Black Hollywood couple

However, for the Gary, Indiana native, and mother of five, the money, accolades, and popularity that her husband received as a result of his career never reflected their experience while living the Hollywood life.

A fraction of their reality came ahead last year when her husband spoke out about being sexually assaulted by talent agent Adam Venit, back in 2016, on Good Morning America. The incident gained a lot of attention, not only because her husband is a star, but his announcement came during the height of the #MeTooMovement.

As a witness to the incident, Crews says Venit was standing next to his wife when he walked up to Terry and groped his genitals. Subsequently, Terry pushed Venit through a sea of people causing him to fall backward.

“I’m like he’s going to pound this guy in the floor because I’ve seen my husband pound people in the floor,” Crews said. “You know every Tom, Dick, and Harry that wants to try you because you’re the biggest guy in the place, come up on my husband because they think he’s goofy and funny. Well, Terry has never been a pushover.”

Crews says that apparently, Venit didn’t get the hint and tried grope Terry again after getting up from the floor. However, Terry was able to yell out to his friend Adam Sandler to get Venit.

With Venit being the head of talent at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME), Crews says that she and her husband were intimidated. Venit was a man who could affect decisions that concerned Terry’s career.

After the incident, the couple rushed out of the party drove home. The next day Terry reported the incident to the “powers that be” at WME. Needless to say, nothing happened, and according to Crews, the couple endured ostracism and a little bit of blackballing.
Crews says that she began to hear rumors about executives threatening people in Hollywood not to work with Terry or else.

Despite the gossip, the two continued with their regular lives until the day that Terry shared his story on GMA.

“He came out in solidarity with the women and the funny thing is he didn’t name names. Not the agency, not nothing, but within 24 hours they were calling us,” Rebecca said. “Terry said, ‘why are you calling me if you didn’t know nothing because I didn’t mention your name?’”

As a result, Venit was put on leave for 30 days while the Los Angeles Police Department investigated the claims. He was eventually cleared of the charges and still had his job.

Shortly after, the Crews filed a lawsuit in December of 2017 and the following March, Venit apologized to Terry via a letter.

Venit did not directly address the incident, the letter did state, “I know that you didn’t ask for any of this… Again, I take responsibility for us being here now, together in this situation. I am sorry for all of it.”

The letter also stated, “I want to use this moment to be a positive influence with you and not just another Hollywood story that becomes the narrative of who we both are. We both are so much more and have so much more to offer.”
“I even hope that someday we can come together and go forward with compassion and understanding, and be an amazing force for positivity and change in our culture.”

Venit has since left WME, Crews’ lawsuit was settled, and charges against Venit were dismissed.

While Terry received did receive an apology from Venit and a satisfactory ending to the whole ordeal, he also received critique from comedian and radio host D.L. Hughley, rapper 50 Cent, and more prominent figures who Terry felt was mocking his sexual assault.

“A lot of people who are uncomfortable with what happened to my husband, are of the opinion he should have beat the guy up,” Crews said. “And yet, they would not have been strong enough to withstand the urge to beat down a man with that kind of power, twice as wealthy, and has White privilege.”

Crews says that the sexual assault incident is only one issue that the couple has had to face since being married. And while it was a huge blow, they’ve dealt with more serious things such as Terry’s pornography addiction, which affect the intimacy in their marriage.

“He was practicing a secret layer life watching porn at his office or on the computer,” Crews said.

According to Crews, Terry’s addiction to porn had been an issue for most of his adult life. It wasn’t until she finally put her foot down and threaten to leave that he decided to get a hold on his addiction.

Now 53-years-old, Crews has decided to return to her first love, music. She had set her dreams of being an entertainer aside when she married her husband, but has recently found the passion to pursue them.

Last Year, Crews released a record titled “Destiny,” inspired by her first-born and learning how to become a first-time mother.

“I put ‘Destiny’ out last year because it’s all about how I made this misstep,” Crews said. “I was having premonitions about this bad relationship. I talk about how destiny can be so hard to find.”

“I’ve had a lot of good and bad experiences along the road, but God gave me favor with these last few songs that I did. I did one called, “I Keep Holding On,” which was about my marriage and about hardship in the marriage and how I still had hope for us even though I couldn’t quite see the end of the road,” she said.

Crews says that she is currently working on an EP and album that she intends to release in the fall. So, far she’s produced six singles, four of them under the stage name Regina Madre

“It’s adult music, a little melancholy. It has gospel, rock, and a little bit of pop,” Crews said.“I’m hoping I’ll get more national radio play, go broader with the distribution and bigger with more videos, and partnering with a label.”

This article originally appeared in the Atlanta Voice.