DeVon Franklin hopes to have children with fiancée Maria Castillo, and he’s counting on being able to talk with them in more than one language.
The bestselling author, producer, and now actor, caught up with theGrio about his latest life chapter, which includes new projects, “Ruth and Boaz” on Netflix, acting in BET’s “Divorced Sistas,” a forthcoming one-man show called “Be True,” and new love with his fiancé, a celebrity trainer, who just so happens to be Dominican.
When asked if he’s planning to teach his future babies Spanish so they’ll be bilingual, Franklin says yes- and more.
“Leave it to her, it’s going to be trilingual because she loves French,” he told theGrio. “So I’m pretty sure she’s gonna make it a mandate that our children speak English, French, and Spanish.”
According to research, the percentage of bilingual children in America is increasing, as people recognize the value of speaking multiple languages. It can be hard to maintain being multilingual—between pressures to assimilate or the reality of language loss with new generations—but many families feel it’s worth the effort.
Franklin says he’s actually been learning Spanish since high school. It’s come in handy for the Oakland, Ca., native as he gets to know his new love’s culture and family.
“It was really cool when we started to get to know each other, and she’s fluent in Spanish and French. It was great to be able to communicate in Spanish, and then when I met her grandmother, I was able to talk to her a little bit in Spanish,” Franklin tells theGrio.
“I’ve learned a lot about the Dominican culture. I didn’t know about the history of the DR, and you know just the history of the DR and Haiti, and how it all came to be,” he explained. “It did motivate me to do a lot of research. We’re planning on making a trip there so I can meet her family there, so it’s amazing.”
This will be a second marriage for Franklin, whose divorce from actress Meagan Good in 2021 dominated headlines given how public-facing the couple had been during their nine-year nuptials.
However painful the separation has been, Franklin says he’s learning from it and has channeled the emotion into his forthcoming one-man show “Be True: My Journey From Breakdown to Breakthrough.” The play will take place at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theater in New York City, July 17-18. Franklin says healing first made way for his newfound happiness, which includes his relationship with Castillo. He proposed to her on a vacation in Maui in December of last year.
According to People Magazine, the couple met through a mutual friend and went public with their relationship in October of 2024.
“I just never would have thought that I would have met Maria and had love again. I do believe if you look in the dictionary you see the word ‘love’ you’re gonna see her picture because that’s how loving she is. And it’s also really cool that she’s also Latina.”
Watch our full interview with DeVon Franklin in the video player above.
