From ESPN to NBC, Maria Taylor has become one of the biggest faces in sports TV coverage. The personality and host leads NBC’s football and basketball coverage, and helps assist in other areas that the network needs.
Behind the scenes, though, Taylor has noted that her personal life has involved certain challenges while her career took off. However, Taylor is happily married and has started a family in the time that she became a key part of NBC’s sports coverage.
Here’s what there is to know about Taylor’s marriage.
Is Maria Taylor married?
Maria Taylor is married to Jonathan Lee Hemphill, who is a businessman and art dealer. Taylor explained that the couple have known each other since high school, and she credits him for supporting her throughout her demanding career.
“According to him, he told his best friend after he saw me in high school that he was going to marry me,” she said.
Taylor said that in 2020, she called Hemphill to express her feelings for him, and they spent the year together during the pandemic before getting married the following year.
“I just called him out of the blue and was like ‘Hey, I’m moving back to Atlanta and I just want you to know that you’re probably the one and always have been, and I know you’ve always known that,'” she said. “We kind of spent out Covid together and realized we wanted to do this thing, and we got married.”
Taylor explained that her husband hates social media, so there isn’t much information on the internet regarding him.
“Just know that my husband exists, and he’s amazing and I love him,” Taylor said. “No relationship is perfect but we are certainly happy that we came back around on our journey together.”
@mariataylortoks Replying to @sharonharris4953 ♬ original sound – Maria Taylor
This is Taylor’s second marriage, as she was previously married to Rodney Blackstock for two years.
Maria Taylor and Jonathan Lee Hemphill relationship timeline
2020: Despite knowing each other since high school, Taylor and Hemphill didn’t get together until the pandemic, when they spent 2020 together in Atlanta.
Feb. 2021: Taylor and Hemphill get married on Feb. 12, 2021.
July 2023: Taylor announces that, after years of trying with her husband, she was pregnant with her first child, due in January. In an Instagram post, Taylor explained the challenges she faced just to get pregnant.
“The last 3 years have been some of the most physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging years of my life,” she wrote. “My journey to motherhood has not been a straight path. It’s been diverted by surgeries, multiple egg retrievals, and failed IVF cycles. There were times when I felt like my body was betraying me, that God didn’t want me to become a mom and that I ultimately didn’t deserve to be a mom. There were times when all I could do was cry and ask ‘why?'”
Dec. 2023: Taylor gives birth to her first child, a son named Roman Ryan Taylor Hemphill. When she announced he birth of her son during the holiday season, she had a simple caption.
“The best gift,” she wrote.
Taylor told PEOPLE.com how much this moment meant to her.
“My journey to motherhood has not been a straight line. It has been long and difficult, and there were several times I thought I would never become a mom,” Taylor said. “But when my son was placed on my chest, our hearts were overwhelmed with love and gratitude.”
