Actress / Comedian / TV Host Aisha Tyler (Criminal Minds, Friends, Archer) and Canadian actress Emily Bett Rickards (Arrow) have been very close affectionate friends for a few years now, but Aisha really took these sapphic shenanigans next level this weekend by posting a photo strip of the two women looking like VERY close friends, labeling the photo “True Love.” This has inspired several reputable sources to declare the two an official couple of non-heterosexual orientation and we would not be doing our job if we did not do the same!!!
The former The Talk co-host recently took to Instagram to share with her followers that she is currently in a healthy, swirly, same-sex romance with Arrow actress Emily Bett Rickards.
In July, 48-year-old Aisha celebrated Emily’s 27th birthday with an Instagram retrospective of their very close friendship, which appears to involve spending as much time together as humanly possible.
“Happy happy birthday @emilybett!,” she wrote. “I could go on here about how much you mean to me, but I am going to tell you directly into your lovely face instead like an actual living human being. Suffice it to say these pics are only a partial visual summary of this incredible year, and but a preview of good things to come. You’re aces.”
Tyler was married to attorney Jeff Tietjens for 25 years before their divorce in 2016. She’s long been an advocate for LGBT rights, and said on The Talk in April 2016, “I personally think that everybody is a tiny bit gay. I do. I think that everyone is on a spectrum. Some people are very gay with a little bit of straight some people are very straight with a little bit of gay.”
“Every once in a while I will see a very beautiful girl and think she looks like she would be nice to kiss,” Tyler added, which she concluded makes her “a little bit gay.” She joked, “we all got drunk in college and made out with our girlfriends,” only to be one-upped by co-host Sheryl Underwood who wanted everybody to know, “I don’t have to be drunk to do that. I do that sober.” Okay Sheryl!
In 2014, on an episode of Professor Blastoff with Tig Notaro, Aisha Tyler told Tig, “I liked boys very early…My sexual spectrum is much broader now. I was a heterosexual at like, 4, and now I’m like, I like everybody.”
According to a May 2018 ScreenRant post on who Arrowverse members were dating, Emily was single and kept her dating life very private, although it was noted that many suspected she was dating her Arrow co-star Coloton Haynes in 2013 (he’s gay and married celebrity florist Jeff Leatham in 2017) and also had a “quick relationship” with model Lucy Pinder. ” It was strictly rumored and never fully confirmed by either person,” wrote ScreenRant about this Lucy business, “but something seemed to be there, at least in the eyes of certain tabloids.” According to the internet, Lucy Pinder won “Best Breasts in the World” in 2007 and I have no idea why anybody ever thought she was dating Emily.
“Emily Bett Rickards has pinged for me FOREVER,” said noted Arrow expert Valerie Anne. “So I wouldn’t be surprised, but I could also see her being the type to kiss her friends in photo booths.”
To be fair, Emily is absolutely physically affectionate with her friends in a numerous amount of photographs.
Emily and Aisha worked together on the indie film Axis in 2016, which Aisha directed and funded through a Kickstarter campaign.
This potential romance is big news for me specifically because I have loved Aisha Tyler for so long, starting with when she hosted Talk Soup on E!, does anybody remember that? Do you remember when she was the only Black person to ever get a recurring role on Friends, a show that allegedly took place in New York City? Aisha Tyler is very tall. I love a tall woman!
Anyhow, additional evidence that the two are a union includes an instagram pic of the duo by Emily labeled “Bae day” from April, Aisha calling Emily “my <3” in September, this obvious date, Aisha being friends with all of Emily’s friends, the duo walking a number of red carpets together (e.g., Golden Globes After-Party, Comic Con, the Vulture Festival, the CW UpFronts, the Barnstable Brown Kentucky Derby Eve Gala) during which the mouth of one has often tended to find its way to the skin of the other,
The case against: Aisha referring to Emily as her “bestie” in this very rude picture from Sundance, Aisha referring to activities with Emily as “friendship magic.”
Do you ever feel like you’re watching someone go through the phase of a relationship where you don’t want the other person to get freaked out that you’re being too serious too quickly so you do a bunch of social media posts to make it seem like you’re definitely not serious at all? I haven’t done this obviously, I just know people who have.
In conclusion, if these two women are not dating, they are clearly in love and therefore definitely should be. Go for it! It’s 2018 and we only have like five years of clean air left.
i knew felicity smoak was secretly queer!!
Get you a boo who will wear fancy hats with you.
Can I say goals? Is that the thing people say?
I believe the kids say #relationshipgoals ;)
Aisha Tyler is 48?! She hasn’t aged in 20 years!
Right!!
BUT ALSO i feel like her age is very strong evidence for the “they AREdating” category because I feel like a woman like Aisha — 48, incredibly successful, brilliant — is more likely to be dating a 27 year old than being best best friends with one.
Riese next time someone asks me to define queer culture i’m going to just point them to this comment :p
AM I WRONG THO
impeccable reasoning here
LOL yeahhh that’s the winning argument right there.
I just browsed through Emily Bett Rickards’ instagram real quick and have we considered that she might actually just be dating every single one of her friends?
Yes, please investigate this whole situation. They look like they’re all in love!?! Amazing and inspiring truly
Exactly! LOL. I just did the same. Who has she NOT kissed, hugged up on or called bae? Lol. I’ve noticed the most recent generation of cis straight women are all about being lovey dovey with their female friends…including kissing them on the mouth. So I need (and definitely hope for cause she’s such a cutie) definitive confirmation that Emily is in fact queer please.
I know!!! They need to stop this madness, it makes it really hard to do our jobs
Why??? I was sure these two were dating. Now I’m sure Emily is Shane of instagram and her dogs are adorable.
PS: Can someone explain what’s going on here?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnzE0NXDSft/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
yeah wtf https://www.instagram.com/p/BlhI0r5HFBd/?hl=en&taken-by=emilybett ??
I’m convinced they’re both queer, but they feel like two queers in platonic love to me.
Oh boy, the comment section of that photo strip ig is a trip. Seems to be a lot of insistence that they are just friends, BUT friends can still smash so honestly who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
When I started being out and wanted to update my look to match my feelings, I modeled my look off early Felicity Smoak (industrial piercing! lipsticks in 10 pinks/purples/pastels!) and now I feel incredibly vindicated in doing so.
So glad that we got input from noted Arrow expert Valerie Anne! But I’m also really hoping that noted body language expert and intrepid Vapid Fluff beat writer Stef Schwartz weighs in on Aisha’s possessive hand work in the Golden Globes and Vulture Con pictures.
We never do know until folks make a clear statement, but I hafta say I am incredibly happy for these two in whatever bond they have, because they are glowing <3
Oh I hope this is true. Aisha is GORGEOUS.
Maybe Aisha is just planning to move to Canada if the Dems don’t at least win the House. She is just planting seeds of a relationship for a fake marriage.
BET today is reporting the same thing and yesterday morning another publication madamenoire said the same thing. https://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2018/10/30/aisha-tyler-found-true-love-with-a-woman.html
I edited her wiki page to reflect this, and linked both the Autostraddle article and the talk interview, but it was undone and marked as possible act of vandalism. Like really, two links about her not being straight and pointing to her Instagram posts isn’t enough? cis-het people am I right?
“Possible acts of vandalism?”
What are you vandalising-except hetero-normativity?
I was thinking the same thing. I edited again with links to her Instagram, and got the message, “everted possible vandalism again – Tyler has not come out as gay or bi and Wikipedia is not the place for conjecture and gossip.” I had the same problem with Emily and Teddy, with undo’s saying wikipedia is not the gossip collum. I guess Instagram page of Emily and Teddy saying I love my gf is now gossip or cis-straight people assume it could mean their friend. Ugh
Emily Bett Rickards is my fantasy wife and my crushing on unavailable straight people disorder is doing double and triple takes right now.
I love Aisha Tyler and I knew her and Emily has been friends for a while. She actually interviewed her for her podcast Girl on Guy a while back. I’m not saying it’s not true but I would need it confirmed by one of them first. Aisha is affectionate and overtly expresses love for and about her friends. Hell Julie from The Talk kissed her full on the mouth on tv when she said goodbye to her. Aisha has spoken about why she is so affectionate with her friends and expresses love so openly.
I would also like to submit Exhibit B, an instagram post dated 4/16/18 by one @emilybett featuring her and one @aishatyler (tagged), both donning glitter and denim, captioned (verbatim) “Bae Day”?!?!?!?!
(Sidenote that “Girls Are Awesome” baseball cap????)