‘It Hurt Me’: Comedian Kym Whitley Shares the Crushing Words That Ended Her Romance with Gerald Levert
Fans of Kym Whitley are familiar with her comedic roles that don’t stray too far from her real-life personality.
Her bold and unapologetic persona shines bright as an actress and comedienne, and her dating life is just as complicated.
Whitley addressed a decades-old rumor about her past with late singer Gerald LeVert.
The two had a history spanning years, but the nature of their relationship has been a mystery to some.
Whitley opened up about why they never officially dated in a July 1 interview on “Deon Cole’s Funny Knowing You.”
After the 63-year-old told Cole that she met the “Casanova” singer in high school.
They attended Shaker Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio, with Whitley graduating in 1979 and Levert in 1984.
Whitley grew up down the street from Levert. Although she can’t recall exactly when they met, she said it was before his music career took off.
Levert brought Whitley to Hollywood, where he introduced her to the set of “Soul Train.”
There, she connected with people from “227,” which later landed her a job as Jackée Harry’s double.
By then, Whitley and Levert had already started dating. Seeing her interest in entertainment, he discourage her from pursuing the industry.
“‘There can only be one star in this family,’ she recalled him saying to her.
“And it burned,” said the “Act Your Age” star. “But it made sense to me and I understand it now. It hurt me then. And we went kind of went our separate ways.”
She said, “But he knew that that’s what I wanted to do. He could tell. I was doing it.”
“But he needed a wife,” Whitley told Deon, “He need somebody at home to come to. I understand that now. My ass be in the streets.”
Even though it hurt, Whitley said Levert “knew his vision” and she knew she was going to move to L.A. So she packed her things in Cleveland and moved to a Los Angeles apartment. Their friendship remained, but they never got deep with their love affair.
In 2006, Levert died at age 40 in his Cleveland home from a fatal combination of prescribed medications and over-the-counter drugs.
Reflecting on his death, Whitley said her knees buckled when she learned the news and said today the world is missing voices like his and legendary singer Luther Vandross’.
Clarifying their relationship she said, “We were young, so it’s hard to say. Was I his girlfriend? No. Was I somebody he hit? Yes.”
Whitley joked that she was “a casualty” of Levert’s.
Fans reacted in the comments next to an Instagram clip from the interview with more jokes about Whitley’s story.
One person said, “Gerald was putting it down!!!”
Someone else wrote, “Love her! Ain’t no shame in her game!”
Another person typed, “We knew you loved teddy bear.”
“She was his bustdown,” joked a third person.
A fourth person who seemed to get it wrote, “I understand, Kim. That was Gerald.”
Another fan wrote, “Gerald Levert was the man no question.”
“I heard he was a playa,” said another person.
Someone else said, “Gerald was out there too.”
Levert was known to have several women in his life. Outside of Whitley, he had an on-again-off-again relationship with singer Miki Howard in the mid to late 1980s.
Comedienne Mo’Nique also had interest in Levert and once asked Whitley, who was her friend at the time, for permission to date him. It’s not clear how far their romance went, but they never got into an official relationship.
The last person Levert was known to have dated was Xscape singer Kandi Burruss. She was 27 and had her daughter Riley Burruss from a previous relationship. Levert was about 10 years her senior. They were together for about two years shortly before his tragic death.
Like Levert, Whitley never got married. In 2021, she said on her “Two Funny Mamas” podcast with Sherri Shepherd that she and Levert made a pact to marry each other if they were still single at 50.
She’s a mother to one son, Joshua Whitley, 15, whom she adopted in 2011. “The Young and the Restless” star Rodney Van Johnson is a father figure to him after the two entertainment veterans had been friends for 25 years.