Being married to a household name and three-time Grammy winner thrusts you into the spotlight whether you like it or not. But Chance the Rapper's wife, entrepreneur Kirsten Corley, doesn't seem shaken by her husband's fame as an artist and the newest coach on NBC's The Voice. Let's take a closer look at Kirsten Corley and learn more about the long-time love behind one of music's greatest success stories.
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She's Chance's Childhood Crush
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Corley knew Chance way before he was Chance the Rapper. He previously tweeted a series of screenshots that told the story of how these two first met when he was just 9 years old at his mom's office Christmas party.
"My mom worked at a real estate agency with her mom," Chance recalled. "Her daughters love to dance so they did a choreographed dance at this real estate party that I was at when I was 9. I saw her dancing and I was like, 'Let's get married!'"
According to him, Kirsten and her friends were doing a routine to the Destiny's Child classic "Independent Woman Part 1" when he first saw her. "Now I'm locking eyes with the prettiest girl I ever seen in my almost-a-decade of life on Earth. I really shouldn't even say locked eyes cause really, I was just staring at her," he said, adding that his dad encouraged him to join the dancing. He refused because he didn't want to steal her spotlight.
"It's 'cause I knew I was gonna marry that girl and I ain't wanna jump the gun," Chance wrote. "So I shook my head with anxiety, moved to the back of the crowd, and never even introduced myself."
Thankfully, that wasn't where their story ended. The pair reconnected nearly 10 years later during a film festival in Austin, Texas, in 2012 and have been together ever since.
She's A Mom To Their Two Kids
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In 2015, the couple announced that Corley had given birth to their first child, Kensli. After enjoying a few years of new-parent bliss, Chance proposed to Corley during a Fourth of July backyard party in 2018. They were married a year later in Newport Beach and welcomed their second child, Marli, a few months later.
She revealed in a 2022 Essence interview that she struggled with postpartum depression after having both of her children. "It was very eye-opening and I really had never learned about self-care in that way because I had always been just me doing whatever I wanted," she said. "Then, when I became a mom, it really made me have to sit down and be with myself."
"I'm glad that I went through it because with my second [daughter Marli], I was able to be more aware. I had postpartum with my second, too. I'm pretty sure I was depressed during my pregnancy, but I think being aware of it helped me to go through it and be able to say, 'Okay, this is just a period. I need to make space for rest and restoration and I'm going to be okay at some point.'"
She's An Entrepreneur
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Her experience with motherhood led to her launching her children's clothing brand World of BOBY, which is said to be "born out of the desire to see more representation and inclusivity in the kids' apparel space." Corley started the company in 2021 and has said that the community-building aspect of her brand is what really inspires her.
"A huge part of what I wanted to do when I started BOBY from the conception was all about real-life experiences and community," adding that she's done a few pop-up shops to engage with her customers in real life. "That community and mental health aspect are all about building that support system, being in community with each other, and being able to talk about things that are weighing on us, or talk about things that we're excited about. It's all intertwined into each other."
The name for her company is actually a nickname that Chance uses for their oldest daughter, Kensli, who Corley says is a huge inspiration for the brand. "He came up with it when she was like a baby and it's a play on that," she said. "It was literally inspired by her because she was my daughter, I only had her at first and I have always been kind of in this fashion world. I worked in retail since I was 15, so I really wanted to create something that was just for her."
Prior to starting BOBY, Corley modeled for Alexander Wang and Shelby Steiner. While she had previously studied fashion merchandising, she ultimately dropped out to study psychology. She received her bachelor's degree from DePaul in 2014.
"Psychology has helped me so much with my mothering a little bit too much, because I'm consciously aware of the effects that my parents had on me.," she told Essence. "Applying that has been super helpful and being able to be patient with myself and have grace, too. Knowing that I'm not going to be perfect all the time, but I try my best."
You can keep up with all of Corley's endeavors on her Instagram, where she often posts about BOBY and shares cute snaps of their growing family.
