Amid CNN’s departure, Don Lemon is engaged to his longtime real estate agent partner. Here’s everything we know about his love life.
News of Don Lemon being fired from CNN broke out on April 24, 2023. He was stunned at how he had no prior notice before the network cut ties with him. Interestingly, his departure came at the same time sources began reporting that Tucker Carlson left Fox News. While it is ironic to have two of the biggest names in broadcast journalism leave (or be forced out) of their positions at the same time, it isn’t clear what drove CNN to fire Lemon or who the network plans on replacing him with.
In his tweet, Lemon wrote, “I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some large issues at play.”
Every fan of Lemon knows he is openly gay and realised that when he was a child.
In 2009, Ebony magazine named Lemon one of the 150 most influential African Americans in the world. He has also been listed as one of the most influential LGBTQ people in the media and the U.S. by LGBTQ publications The Advocate and Out.
Don Lemon spends most of his time traveling with his three beloved pups, as well as his fiancé, Tim Malone. The journalist became engaged in April 2019, when his boyfriend of almost four years popped the question.
But who is Don Lemon’s future spouse and fellow dog dad? They are, as the kids say, couple goals, and if you don’t know much about their relationship or how one wooed the other, then read on to find out.
Who is Don Lemon dating?
Lemon openly admitted that he has known he was gay ever since he was a small child. He has also spoken publicly about being sexually molested as a child by a teenage boy who lived in his neighborhood.
Although Lemon knew he was gay for years, he came out publicly in his 2011 memoir, Transparent. He dedicated the book to Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University student who committed suicide after his roommate outed him online.
“If I hadn’t been asked to write a book, I think I would have come out publicly anyway, sooner or later. I was already out in my personal life and in my professional life too with those I had a personal connection with. I just hadn’t said or written the words publicly,” Lemon told PinkNews.
Currently, Lemon is in a relationship and will soon tie the knot with his partner. Lemon has been engaged to real estate agent Tim Malone since 2019. The couple has been together since 2017.
Tim Malone began his career as a journalist too, but completely pivoted in 2018.
Tim Malone originally hails from Water Mill, N.Y., where he graduated from high school in 2002, according to Blavity. He went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in history and journalism from Boston College, and after graduating in 2006, he relocated to New York City to kick off his journalism career. He started out as a production assistant on NBC’s Today, and later moved to NBC Universal’s sales team for their USA and Syfy networks.
Between 2013 and 2018, Tim bounced around between various senior positions at Billboard and Jukin Media, before completely changing his career path in 2018, when he decided he wanted to pursue real estate. These days, Tim is working as an agent for Corcoran Group in New York City, where he’s totally slaying the premiere real estate game.
Don Lemon and Tim Malone’s love story is seriously one for the books.
According to Heavy, Don and Tim were introduced at a Long Island restaurant, but at the time, Tim was in a relationship with someone else. After realizing his heart lay somewhere else, though, Don started dating Tim during the summer of 2016.
They didn’t go public until April 2017, when they became “Instagram official” on Don’s feed.
Three months later, according to O Magazine, Tim Instagrammed a loved-up photo as well, and shortly after that, they made a public debut at the 28th annual GLAAD Media Awards.
The two shared a seriously adorable New Year’s kiss to ring in 2018, which was caught by cameras on CNN, and a little more than a year later, after three years of dating, Tim got down on one knee with two customized dog tags that read, “Daddy will you marry Papa?”
There were rumors that Don Lemon’s “first wife” was Stephanie Ortiz.
For many years, Don kept his sexuality a secret and was rumored to be secretly married to actress Stephanie Ortiz, according to Amo Mama.
However, the rumors of his alleged first marriage appear to be entirely baseless, and Don ended up coming out in his first published autobiographical book, Transparent, which ultimately inspired him to advocate for the LGBTQ community.
He later appeared on an episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk to discuss what it’s like being an openly gay Black man in the U.S. “Historically, Black men have stayed in the closet,” he said. “You have to decide on your identity. ‘Do I want to be Black or do I want to be gay?’ And sometimes some of us say we’re too Black to be gay. Or we’re too gay to be Black.”
We don’t know yet when Tim and Don will finally tie the knot, but we couldn’t be happier for them. Cheers to the happy couple!
Does Don Lemon have children?
Not only is CNN anchor Don Lemon set to be married, but he’s even thinking about starting a family with fiancé Tim Malone, a real estate agent with Douglas Elliman.
The couple who met at a gay mixer event in Bridgehampton, N.Y.—a Hamptons community close to Malone’s hometown of Southampton, started dating the next year, and are now, they’re engaged and considering adding children to the mix.
At the moment, Don Lemon is not a father hence he doesn’t have any kids of his own. He had no children from his previous relationship either.
Was Don Lemon sued for sexual assault?
The same year Lemon and Malone got engaged, Lemon was accused of assault and battery by New York bartender Dustin Hice.
Hice reportedly filed a lawsuit against Lemon for an alleged “demeaning, unprovoked, and offensive assault” in the Sag Harbor tavern where Hice worked. Lemon denied the accusations and, on March 31, a federal judge ordered Hice to pay Lemon over $77,000 in attorney fees and costs.