Source: David Livingston / Getty
If you were wondering about how things were going between screenwriter Mara Brock Akil and her producer and director husband Salim, they seem to be good. Really good, actually.
The 49-year-old behind shows like Girlfriends and Being Mary Jane shared an image of her husband of more than 20 years on her Instagram on Thursday and made it clear she still loves her some him.
“LOVE IS… always him,” she wrote.
That public declaration comes after Salim was sued by an actress and director, Amber Dixon Brenner, who claimed that she had been in a “physically and sexually abusive relationship” with Akil for about a decade despite also being married. In the 2018 suit, she claimed that during that time she wrote a script about their relationship and Salim used it for other projects without offering her credit. She claimed that elements of her 2015 script for a project called Luv & Perversity in the East Village could be seen in the OWN series Love Is ___ that he and wife Mara were behind and that was based on their relationship. She filed a separate lawsuit against Salim, Mara and OWN looking to keep them from profiting off of her work and seeking damages.
While Salim denied the allegations, with his attorney calling them “deeply upsetting” and “totally untrue,” OWN still decided to cancel the series after one season and renewal of a second following an investigation into his alleged conduct. Mara said that she was “saddened” that those behind the series wouldn’t get to continue on with their work, but that’s as far as she went in terms of speaking on the situation. Salim is still showrunner of the CW hit Black Lightning, which Mara is also an executive producer of. Also, the lawsuit against OWN and the Akils was dropped by Dixon Brenner, but the abuse lawsuit is still ongoing, and he’d like to see it thrown out, according to The Blast.
Back in December, Mara shared a photo of herself and Salim on Christmas where she called him the Mr. Claus to her Mrs.
That was the first hint that things were moving in a positive direction for the couple despite the drama of the year before. As for this new image, it inspired a fan of Mara’s to say of her now defunct OWN series, “That show made me happy,” to which she responded, “me too.”
The Akils have been married since 1999 and share two sons. They met while both working on the set of Moesha.
