Aryn Drake-Lee: Biography of Jesse Williams Wife

Most people say that when it comes to relationships, once you lose faith and trust in your partner your relationship is ultimately doomed.

What seemed like one of the Hollywood most stable couple, Grey’s Anatomy actor Jesse Williams and his reputable estate broker wife Aryn Drake-Lee ended up being confronted by such relationship struggles which ultimately broke their family of four apart.

So, who is Aryn Drake-Lee exactly?

Early life and career

Aryn Drake-Lee is a black American woman born in Los Angeles, California, United States and belongs to a mixed ethnicity. Her exact age has not been revealed yet. She is said to have attended French American International School in San Francisco for her early educations. As for her college degree, she attended Barnard College, which was built in 1889 so that women could receive a comparable education to the men of Columbia University.

Though Columbia later became co-educational, Barnard remained an independent women’s liberal arts college. Since the graduates from the college receive the certification from Columbia, it can be established that she is one the Ivy league graduates.

It has also been revealed that Drake-Lee is trilingual speaking Spanish, French, and English fluently. She has a black curly hair and a decent height that suits ideally to her character. She is a self-made successful New York real estate broker who began her career at a historically black real estate management company, Webb, and Brooker in Harlem. She is now one of the most successful brokers in the Brown Harris Park Slope according to her bio on her company’s website.

Life with Jesse Williams

aryn drake lee

Aryn and Jesse met in New York way when Jesse was still working as a history school teacher. In 2010, Williams told USA Today, “I was a teacher when I met her, so she’s been with me through all different facets of my career. She’s stuck with me through thick and thick and thick and thin. We know each other in and out.” 

When Jesse’s acting career finally started to take off, she happily agreed to move to California with him. They dated for more than 5 years before finally tying the knot in an intimate ceremony in Los Angeles on September 1, 2012. Only family and close friends were among the attendees. Soon after this, they welcomed their first daughter Sadie Williams in December 2013 and a son named Maceo Williams in October 2015.

Over the course of their marriage, Aryn remained a very private person, rarely making an appearance with husband in red carpets but still, they looked madly in love whenever photographed together. They were married for almost 5 years during which Jesse showed a lot of admiration and affection for his wife like during his acceptance speech at the BET Humanitarian Awards, giving her a shout out and thanking her for changing his life.

Drake-Lee Williams Divorce

Jesse Williams and Aryn Drake Lee

What once was a sweet romance story that seemed like could stand the test of time in Hollywood, took a sour turn and a divorce was filed in 2016 after being together for almost 13 years. The reason for the divorce was speculated to be infidelity from Jesse. However, this is strongly opposed by Williams as he shut down cheating rumors Jay-Z’s “Footnotes” video for his “4:44” track.

“I was in a relationship 13 years, 13 real years, not five years, not seven years, 13 years,” Williams said in the video, “and all of a sudden motherf–kers are writing think-pieces that I somehow threw a 13-year relationship — like the most painful experience I’ve had in my life, like with a person I’ve loved with all of my heart — that I threw a person and my family in the trash because a girl I work with is cute.”

Their separation was confirmed in September 2017. But it was the custody battle for their children that turned their relationship into a battleground. It was confirmed that Drake-Lee has requested for sole custody of the children, Sadie and Macio citing reasons like Jesse’s unpredictable work schedule, a dangerous driving incident and his alleged dating around habits as he was linked with a lot of women including Friday Night’s Live actress Minka Kelly. However, in previous court documents, Williams has claimed that Drake-Lee has declined his requests to spend more time with the children.

“Aryn restricts my time with the children and decides when, and for how long I may have them,” Williams claimed in the June documents obtained by Us Weekly. “She has rejected, without any reason, each and every request I have made to have the children sleepover at my residence. On the few days that I have the children, Aryn has insisted that my time with the children be limited during the week to approximately two-and-a-half hours per day, despite my requests for more time, including overnights with the children.”

After a lengthy battle, both parents were provided with 50-50 custody of their children with Williams paying $50,695 for spousal support. Williams and Drake-Lee will alternate custody of the kids for major holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Easter Sunday, and the Fourth of July. And hence, one of the Hollywood longterm relationships collapsed.

Fun Fact

Did you know that Drake-Lee is a proud African woman who is confident in her natural hair? You will rarely see this beautiful woman without her hair in its all natural curls and coils no matter the event or situation.

Did you also know that Aryn Drake-Lee was one the great minds behind the Ebroji App?

When Drake-Lee and Williams were still together they debuted their ‘Ebroji’ GIF Keyboard App which is specifically designed to enhance the way we already communicate. The GIFS are categorized to sound and look like the user no matter the user is black, brown, trans or anyone.