The Upshaws actor Jermelle Simon and social media personality Obio Jones have captivated audiences with their authentic love story—one grounded in honesty, vulnerability, and a deep commitment to visibility. It started with a DM from Jones, and then Simon, revealing their relationship last fall as he publicly participated in National Coming Out Day. Now, the couple is engaged, as announced in May.
In a media landscape where Black queer love is still rarely depicted with care, their story feels both refreshing and necessary. Nevertheless, being so open hasn’t always been seamless.
“It was hard, if I’m being honest,” Jones says. “Because I think when you involve people in the ride, sometimes they get in the driver’s seat and you don’t even know it. So for us, it was more so making sure that we stay in the driver’s seat no matter how much we share. No matter how much people feel seen and heard by us, we have to maintain the driver’s seat.”
As people online laud the pair, even commenting that “They are single handedly keeping the hope alive y’all!” Simon says the response has been surprising to him. “I think I was shocked at how it was translating. We’re literally just being ourselves,” he notes. “And people are feeling the love from that. And I think because it’s not a performance, I’m almost floored at people being invested in it because it’s not like I’m doing a thing. I’m used to acting and I’m performing. I’m doing a thing and people are like, ‘Oh, I love you.’ I have to go home, and I have to study, and I have to do all these things. But with him, it’s like, I’m just chilling at the house.”
Jones jokingly replies, “You still got to study, though. You still got to study me [laughs].”
Their decision to share their relationship with the world wasn’t part of a strategy. It unfolded naturally. “I don’t know that we thought we were going to take anyone outside of ourselves on the ride,” Simon says. “I think we just both share our lives on the internet. Obio is clearly one of the things that I’m passionate about. And I think it’s the story from there.”
Jones says that while visibility matters, so does joy—and that’s what he aims to lead with.
“There’s a push for visibility because I’m Black and I’m queer online. I put an extreme emphasis on the parts of me that experience joy. Because I think so much of our experience with Black people, explicitly, is our anguish, our trauma responses. I wanted to also couple that with showing you there’s some parts of me that are already better, and he was one of the better parts,” Jones shares.
When it came time for the proposal this past April, with Jones getting down on one knee in their new home, the couple chose intimacy over spectacle. They announced their engagement afterward with a photo shoot.
“I know people would have loved to see the actual process and the actual moment,” Jones says. “But at the same time, I know that he would have liked it to be private, and that was more important than packaging it for public consumption.”
One thing that could have been great to share though, was the involvement of Simon’s three children, from a previous relationship. Each child handed Simon a note expressing love and congratulations, culminating in Jones presenting his love with a diamond-encrusted Cartier ring.
“He had them from oldest to youngest. And so by the time I got to [my son] Jacob’s letter, [Obio] was already positioning himself. He was now coming in front of me, and I was in real-time realizing what was happening. It was so much at once,” Simon recalls. “But I think my emotions came in waves. We went downstairs and we had a little apple cider toast and cheers. And I had to leave and go to the other room to have another moment because there were just so many things to take in. I don’t think I’ve ever been that happy. I was just filled with certainty. Like, oh, this is exactly where I’m supposed to be in my life.”
As for what’s next, he says, “For me, it’s expanding the family. I think that’s my biggest dream with us, is expanding the family.”
Jones shares that vision, and hints there may be more opportunities to present their story in the future. “Something is going to happen professionally. But I think there’s a podcast, there’s a book, there’s something in there that’s brewing, and we’ll see what shakes,” he says.
As they continue navigating love in the digital age, Jones offers this advice to fellow content creators: “My rule of thumb these days is ‘Did I believe in it?’ And that’s just my internal reference point for everything that I put online. If we’re going to be dragged, at least drag us for our truth.”
The couple’s journey is a reminder that love—in all its forms—has power. As Jones so put it: “Love doesn’t really have a sexuality and orientation and religion. It’s just love.”