Sterling K. Brown's Wife Ryan Michelle Bathe Talks 'Unkind' Unnamed Star

After working in Hollywood for decades, spouses Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathe are reflecting on the ups and downs of life in the spotlight — including Bathe’s apparent experiences with an unnamed and “very unkind” celeb.

“They only treat me differently vis-a-vis you … there was one person in particular though, who never spoke to me and was always very, very unkind to me,” Bathe, 48, said on a Wednesday, Nov. 6, episode of We Don’t Always Agree with Ryan & Sterling podcast.

Brown, 48, jumped in and asked if the person was “a Black woman in Hollywood.” The First Wives Club actress refused to name names, replying, “I will not say.”

Bathe said she noticed a “night and day” difference in how she was treated at industry events after This Is Us star Brown reached new levels of success with the role of Christopher Darden in Ryan Murphy’s The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, which won Brown his first Emmy.

Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathe's Relationship Timeline

“[This person] typically never acknowledged my presence. And one time I walked into a space where this person was, and the person waved. And without irony, I looked behind me. Because I knew, I just was like, ‘Oh, let me get out of the way so this person can see,’” Bathe said while Sterling laughed. “Because I had been so poorly treated. But it was clear that they were [now] speaking to me and I was like, ‘Oh, this is interesting.’”

The college sweethearts, who have been married for nearly 20 years and share two sons, say they want to use their new podcast to engage in “hard conversations” and learn how to respectfully disagree.

At another event years ago, they ran into someone from their old agency who was “very shady” and “very Hollywood” to them, according to Bathe. But once the industry was “buzzing” about Brown’s performance in the O.J. series, Bathe noticed a “different reception in the room.”

Brown responded by saying there are “good and bad” things about being a celebrity.

“If I have any sort of complaints or things, like, I understand that they are champagne problems or what we call white people problems to a certain extent,” Brown said. “And so, [the] first white people problem is sort of creating boundaries. Creating boundaries for myself and for my family.”

One of those boundaries Brown has established is having a “no picture rule” when he’s with his family because of a bad fan encounter that occurred at church.

But Bathe also acknowledges that because of their fame, they enjoy such perks and privileges as attending red carpets and having the money to seek help from the best dermatologists.

“It gives access to being able to have all of these opportunities,” Bathe said. “That’s always what the push-pull is.”

We Don’t Always Agree with Ryan & Sterling first launched in September 2024, with episodes dropping every Wednesday.