Story by: Brenda Alexander
There’s always the one that got away. For Hollywood screenwriter Michael Elliot, known for classics like Brown Sugar and Just Wright, letting go of Adia Zuri May was one of his biggest regrets. The couple dated for six months before they split. 13 years later, they are now husband and wife. And Adia says that in their case, time, wisdom, and readiness were the ingredients needed to make their love a winning recipe.
“I think one of the things that stood out to me was that, at the time, he wasn’t in a place to receive me,” Adia reflects about the first time they dated in her interview with Black Bride. “He wasn’t looking for a serious relationship, and he did tell me that a relationship with him was not on the table…So that was a clear line for me that we weren’t on the same page with that.”
Once their relationship ended, Adia says she took her heartache and ran with the intention of never looking back. “I didn’t consider him at all as a potential partner after I let him go. I said goodbye,” she remembers. “I had to heal my heart, and I had to learn more about me. I knew that I saw myself getting married one day, even though as time went on, I often felt forgotten and afraid it wouldn’t happen.” But Michael had other plans.
Because they both worked in the entertainment space, with Adia as an entertainment attorney, their paths would often intersect. Every time there was an interaction, Michael shot his shot. Adia wasn’t having it.
“If I heard from him, I would wish him well, but I’d closed that door long ago. I was angry about how it ended,” she admits. “I didn’t like that he wasn’t trying to do anything more than hang out when we dated the first time around. I took it personally, to be honest.”
With main character energy as seen in his films, Michael was persistent. “He kept trying. He was relentless. I’ve never had a man be that relentless with me,” she asserts.
During the time that Adia and Michael were separated, she went on what she calls her healing journey. Focusing on becoming the best version of herself, she journaled almost daily, primarily in the form of affirmations. She also grew strong in her faith.
Adia quickly realized that Michael was accountable for his actions from their previous time together. He was regretful, remorseful, and confident that he wouldn’t mess things up again. He told her, ‘I intend to marry you. I’m not here to play around with you.’ “And then he demonstrated it. He was consistent. So that caught my attention. And I said, ‘Oh, this is not the same man that I dated 13 years ago,’” Adia notes. She decided to give him a second chance, and within a year of dating, they were engaged.
“I was thanking God in advance for taking care of me and blessing me, and thanking him in advance for what he has for me. But specifically, I would affirm myself as the wife I knew I wanted to be,” she says. “And I was specific in the type of man I desired to be my husband: someone spiritually grounded, someone kind – those were my two non-negotiables. Then the third one was that he loves family. The other one was that he adores me, and that he is emotionally intelligent. Those things stayed in my mind. And when I reconnected with Michael, those things were present.”
Being a bride of a certain age, do you feel that your age and experience have better served you in this relationship the second time around? How would you say that you’re different now?
It’s no question that the timing of this coming later in my life has served me much better. It has served me well at my age because I have wisdom. And wisdom is different from experience, because wisdom means that you’ve learned some key lessons that will help you be your best. And so I’ve had a lot of lessons along the way from my time dating other guys and just seeing what was out there. And as I have mentioned, the circus activity – the clowns and lions and tigers and bears and all of them – they’re out there. It allowed me to develop better boundaries over time. When you’re younger, your boundaries can be weaker; you’re more accepting of things. But when you get older, you have more clarity about who you are as a woman.
My confidence didn’t waver. And so those things helped me become my best self. But I think in my 30s, and even in my 40s, I was still discovering who I was. But it’s absolutely helped me because of the wisdom that I carry with me, and I weigh things differently. I think more about what I’m doing before I do it. I also think more about what I’m saying before I say it. And so I have better control of my emotional self, and I know how to manage situations better than when I was younger.
Many women, especially in today’s dating landscape, don’t give second chances. Every situation has to be examined, but what advice would you impart to either an individual or a couple trying their chance at love the second time around?
I think the best advice I can offer is that if you feel like you should give them a second opportunity, give them a real opportunity, because they need to be able to show you clearly who they are and where they are in terms of their mind and the spiritual space that they’re in. And the only way to really understand who they are is to allow them to show you. And you really have to allow it, and not have the past be in the front view mirror. The past is in the rear-view mirror. So stay focused on the present and allow them to show you who they are. And guess what? They’re going to show you, and it will come through crystal clear. And you will be able to determine: Is this someone I do want to continue with, or is this someone that I should keep it moving?
Michael is known for his storytelling, specifically Black love stories. How would you say that your love journey is similar to a Black rom-com?
Oh, he would love that question. I think it’s similar because it’s romantic, but there are a lot of twists and turns. It’s like these moments that we shared over time, and when we were separated, it’s funny how he would continue to email me, and he would do anything he could to stay on my mind because he was thinking of me. Me, on the other hand, I was living my life. I was not thinking about him. I was set on finding my guy. So that’s the funny part.
So it is like a rom-com. Now that we are married, we have a friendship. I think friendship is important to have in a relationship. Obviously, you have to have love, but I think you also have to be friends – and really like the person, enjoy spending time with them, because there are times that you may be annoyed by them or whatever it is. But if you genuinely like them, then you can communicate through things. And you can really have a dialogue there. And I think that helps tremendously. And we can laugh together and joke and just walk down the street, and it’s fun just doing nothing.
That friendship is why we do these daily walks and talks. And we call them walk and talks because we are walking, but we’re talking, and we’re talking about all different kinds of things. It could be light, it could be heavy, it could be funny. And we talk about crazy stuff. We don’t plan it. It’s our form of emotional intimacy. And I think, with our wisdom and our age, it’s important that we also have emotional intimacy in our relationship. So that’s helped a lot.
What are you looking forward to most as a married couple?
I’m really looking forward to what we’ll do together and what comes out of our marriage. I’m looking forward to working together. We would love to do some projects together. We joke and say that our actual wedding was our first project together, but we’d love to work together on some things. And it’s funny because he’s so creative, and he comes up with ideas. And so I hear about them all the time, and he has great ideas, and he really uses me as a sounding board. He runs things by me and asks me what I think, and I tell him, and I try to inspire him to be his best, and he inspires me to be my best.
As Rob Base says, “It takes two to make a thing go right.” And I think now we can really make a thing go right. I was making it go right alone, but I think now we could really shake and bake over here. So we’re excited about that.
In a world where most wouldn’t spin the block with their ex, Adia and Michael are proof that sometimes love works the second time around. Black Bride wishes them a lifetime of walks, talks, and laughter!
Bride: Adia Zuri May, 50, Entertainment Attorney, @azmesq
Groom: Michael Elliot, 59, Screenwriter and Entrepreneur, @iammicahelelliot
Photography: Anna Anikina Photography @annaanikinaphotography
Videography: Torosyan Videography @torosyanvideography
Day of Event Coordinator/Wedding Planner: Tricia Smith Brown @triciasmithbrown
Place of Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Wedding Date: 6.26.26
Wedding Location: Cielo Farms, Malibu California @cielofarms
Wedding Theme/Motif/Inspiration: Elegant, clean, sophisticated, white on white textured, romantic vineyard, timeless
Catering: Chef Alisa Reynolds @thechefalisa
Cake: Shirin Bakery @shirinbakery
Hair: Angela C. Stevens @angelacstyles
Makeup: Starlynn Burden @savvystarbeauty
Wedding Dress: Sergio Hudson @sergiohudson
Reception Dress: Sankara Xasha Toure @sankaraxt
Men’s Tux: Todd Snyder @toddsnyderny
Honeymoon Destination: Providenciales, Turks & Caicos @turksandcaicos_official
