Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age

Colman Domingo’s Craigslist love story with husband Raúl has the internet swooning

As Colman celebrates the 2025 Oscars, his 20-year love story, sparked by a Craigslist post, is stealing hearts online
By
Crystal Bell
 on 
Colman Domingo and his husband at the 2025 Oscars.
Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

At the 2025 Oscars, no one had more fun than Colman Domingo, who took every opportunity to get up from his seat and dance. During a commercial break, he even took to the stage to encourage fellow attendees to join in on the fun, all while sipping champagne. Although the Best Actor nominee didn't leave the Dolby Theatre with an Academy Award in hand, he did have his husband, Raúl Domingo, by his side.

The couple turned heads on the red carpet, with Colman celebrating his nomination for Sing Sing. Their appearance sparked renewed interest in their love story — one they’ve shared publicly once before.

In February 2024, during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Colman revealed that he and Raúl first met in 2005 through a Craigslist "missed connections" post. While visiting Northern California, Colman noticed a "beautiful" man outside a Walgreens in Berkeley but missed the chance to approach him. A few days later, while browsing Craigslist, he came across a post titled "Saw you outside of Walgreens — Berkeley," written by Raúl just hours earlier.

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They met three days later, and Colman felt an immediate connection. "At 4 o'clock in the morning, I couldn’t sleep. I said, 'I think I love you, and you’re about to change my life.'" Nearly 20 years later, their love continues to thrive.

Despite their long-term relationship and shared production company, the couple keeps the rest of their private life under wraps. Colman explained to The Times, "We knew people would ask about my husband, so we thought, 'We'll give you one simple story. But only one.'"

Topics Oscars

An image of Crystal Bell's face
Crystal Bell
Digital Culture Editor

Crystal Bell is the culture editor at Mashable, overseeing the site's coverage of content creators, digital trends, and internet culture with a focus on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online — and offline — identities. She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms. You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, and elsewhere around the internet.

She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and give you anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie.


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