NEED TO KNOW
- Cookie Johnson opened up to PEOPLE about her 34th wedding anniversary with husband Magic Johnson
- The longtime couple had an intimate celebration with friends at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles
- The two first met in college and later got married in 1991
Cookie Johnson and Magic Johnson rang in their 34th anniversary with love and close friends!
The couple, who have been together since college and got married in September 1991, celebrated their special day with an intimate setting.
“We just got a few of our closest couple of friends, and we just had a brunch at the Bel-Air Hotel,” Cookie tells PEOPLE at the Elizabeth Taylor Night of Compassion on Thursday, Sept. 18. “Sunday was such a beautiful day, and just sitting around with family and friends.”
Cookie also documented the couple’s anniversary celebration on Instagram. “Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!! Can’t believe we are celebrating 34 years together, where does the time go!!?” she captioned photos from the event shared on Monday, Sept. 15.
She added, “I love how our love is authentically our own, I enjoy every moment together and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Here’s to our forever love!! We had a beautiful lunch at the Bel Air Hotel with our close friends, it has been a wonderful day! ❤️❤️❤️”
In the photos, Cookie wore a denim dress and heels while Magic, whose real name is Earvin Johnson Jr., rocked a zebra and cheetah-print stain shirt. The couple shared a kiss and had a white cake that read, “Happy Anniversary Cookie & Earvin!”
In his own post about the event, Magic thanked the “incredible friends” who attended with them, including “Dave and Tonya Winfeld, Sugar Ray and Bernadette Leonard, Leonard and Lita Richardson, Dennis and Gina Gage, Tony and Vanessa Calloway, Eula, Tamiko, Linda, and Jennifer.”
“Awesome food, awesome presentation, and the outside patio was fabulous! It made our 34th anniversary something to remember!” he added.
Magic has long credited Cookie with saving his life amid his HIV diagnosis. He originally announced the news and his retirement from the NBA on Nov. 7, 1991, nearly two months after getting married.
He told PEOPLE in 2016 that he gave Cookie the option to walk away from the relationship — something that Magic recalled was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. However, she remained by his side, with the basketball legend crediting her loyalty for saving his life.
“I think that if Cookie had left, I’d probably be dead now — no question about it,” he said at the time. “The reason I live today, and the reason I work as hard today, is for my wife and my family.”
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The Elizabeth Taylor Night of Compassion was put on by the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation to help raise money for AIDS research and awareness.
“It’s very important to me because I’ve been an advocate for years,” Cookie told PEOPLE about supporting and attending the event. “My husband and I, 1991, when my husband was diagnosed, we started our own foundation. Things have changed.”
“You come a long way with medications and different things like that, but what’s going on now is young people are not afraid of it anymore, so we still got to talk about it. We got to let them know that you need to take your precautions, and this is very real, and it can still kill you. And then there’s older people that are getting it now, so there’s lots of conversations that needs to happen,” she continued.
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