The real-life relationships between the cast of The Jeffersons are very similar to those on the TV show.
The iconic family sitcom, which aired for 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985, went down in history as one of the black shows that revolutionized television, depicting an upper-middle-class black family and interracial marriage. Audiences often identified with the characters, which in part allowed them to achieve such success.
“We always wanted it to reflect America,” show creator Norman Lear told PEOPLE in July 2022.
In many cases, The Jeffersons cast members’ real-life love stories were similar to those on the TV show. Roxy Roker and Franklin Cover played Helen and Tom Willis on the show, making history as television’s first interracial couple. In real life, however, Roker was married to Cy Kravitz for more than 20 years, and her family initially opposed the interracial marriage.
Meanwhile, Isabel Sanford, who played family matriarch Louise Jefferson, had a similar dynamic in her marriage to William “Sonny” Richmond.
“When I was with my husband, I was the boss. I mean, what I said would stand! He may have thought he won, but I won every argument, and so did Louise,” Sanford told Ebony magazine in September 1980. “She’s the one who keeps George grounded. That’s how it was with my family.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the real-life loves of the Jeffersons cast.
Isabel Sanford
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Sanford, who played Louise “Weezy” Jefferson, the beloved matriarch of the Jefferson family, has three children with ex-husband Richmond: Warli, Sanford, and Pamela.
However, the two decided to separate while their children were still young.
“It wasn’t a good marriage. We agreed to disagree,” Sanford told Ebony in September 1980. “We couldn’t agree on many things, so I decided I wanted to raise my children on my own.”
After working four jobs in New York to support her children as a single mother, Sanford moved her family to California in 1960 to continue her acting career. A month after moving in, Sanford told Ebony that her ex-husband died in a fight.
Sanford never remarried, telling Jet Magazine in 1979, “There just hasn’t been enough chemistry that I would want to be involved with.”
“I think a lot of people get into relationships for the sake of being in a relationship,” she added.
According to the New York Times, Sanford died on July 9, 2004 at the age of 86. She is survived by three children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Roxy Roker
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Roker, who played Helen Willis, the Jefferson family’s neighbor, was married to Kravitz for more than 20 years.
Roker made history as part of TV’s first interracial couple – her character Helen was married to cover character Tom – but her real-life relationship also mirrored the show. In 1962, Roker married Kravitz, a news producer for NBC in Los Angeles. Kravitz met while working on 30 Rock.
Ms. Roker told Ebony magazine in September 1980 that her mother was initially skeptical about interracial relationships. “Initially, my mother was very cautious about marriage,” she told the outlet. “But my father wasn’t interested in that. He was more interested in who She was as a person.”
The couple had a son, singer and musician Lenny Kravitz, in 1964. Renee wrote in her 2020 memoir, Let Love Rule, that her father’s family was also unsure about interracial marriage and refused to attend the wedding. Ultimately, Lennie writes, “It took my birth to take them.”
Roker and Kravitz told The New York Times in September 2020 that they divorced in 1985 after Renee discovered her father was having an affair.
Roker died of breast cancer on December 2, 1995 at the age of 66. In February 2024, Renee told PEOPLE that she would rewatch The Jeffersons once she was gone.
Franklin Cover and Mary Bradford Stone
Ron Galera Collection (via Getty)
Cover, who played Tom Willis in The Jeffersons, was married to his wife Mary Bradford Stone for more than 40 years.
Cover and Stone, a former ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera Company and American Ballet Theater, married on January 30, 1965, according to the New York Times. Years later, the couple welcomed two children together, son Bradford and daughter Susan. The two lived in New York, but Ms. Cover traveled back and forth to Los Angeles for work.
Cover told Ebony in September 1980 that his job in California was tough on their marriage. “When I’m at home, I’m really at home. But it’s even harder for my wife, because when I’m not there, she’s always a mother and a father.”
According to the New York Times, Mr. Cover died of pneumonia on February 5, 2006, and was survived by his wife and two children.
Zara Curry and James Brown Sr.
CBS (via Getty)
Zara Curry, who played George Jefferson’s mother, was married to James Brown Sr. for more than 50 years.
According to Currie’s local paper, Worcester Magazine, Currie married Brown in 1914, and her sister Hannah married Brown’s younger brother. The couple had four children, sons Emerson and James Jr., and daughters Diane and Zara Gail, and lived in Los Angeles.
Mr. Brown died in 1968. Ten years later, on February 28, 1978, Curry died of cancer at the age of 86, according to the New York Times. In addition to her children, she had four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren at the time of her death, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Berlanda Tolbert and Bob Reed
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Berlanda Tolbert, who played Helen and Tom’s daughter Jenny, married her husband Bob Reed in 1979.
According to Ebony, Tolbert met Reed, a journalist and producer for CBS Weekend News, in Atlanta in 1979. At the time, Tolbert was taping a TV show and Reed was working at NBC.
The couple married just 11 days after first meeting in Rhode Island on Valentine’s Day 1979. Ebony said Tolbert’s work kept her on the West Coast and Reed’s work kept her in New York, and the two went back and forth to see each other over the years, often spending months apart at a time.
In 1986, Tolbert and Reed finally began living together in New York. “We decided this wasn’t the best way to go about it,” Tolbert told Ebony that year. “Some people make a fuss and start fighting after being together for a few days, but breaking up gives them a cushion. That’s not the case with us. We want to spend all our time together.”
Tolbert and Reed have private lives. According to IMDB, Tolbert stopped acting in 2013. Tolbert recently made headlines for helping save a popular elementary school in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the Charlotte Post.
Mara Gibbs
Mara Gibbs/Instagram
Marla Gibbs, who played the Jeffersons’ maid Florence Johnston, split from her ex-husband Jordan after they welcomed three children together: daughter Angela and sons Dorian and Joseph.
The two divorced but remained friends. In May 2019, he also shared a photo honoring Jordan’s service in the Korean War on Memorial Day.
In a May 2024 Instagram post, Gibbs shared a throwback photo of her late ex-husband, who passed away in 2001, and wrote in the caption, “Our marriage didn’t work out, but we’ve grown to be friends again. Rest in Heaven.”
Gibbs spends a lot of time with his children, and they often attend events together. In February 2025, Gibbs and Angela attended the American Black Film Festival Honors, where Angela received the Hollywood Legacy Award.
