On February 9, 2025, Jon Batiste will sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LIX. While continuing to make his mark in the music industry, he is also standing by his wife, Suleika Jaouad, as she battles cancer for the third time. Here\u2019s a look at their love story.How Batiste Met, Fell in Love, and Married His Wife amid Her Second Diagnosis
\nDuring the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Batiste\u2019s wife shared on Instagram how they met. In a post accompanied by photos of the couple, Jaouad revealed that she first met Batiste when she was 13 and he was a year older. They met at a place she finds embarrassing\u2014band camp.<\/p>\n
Over the years, she has learned more about the creative process from him than from any degree or craft book. Reacting to the post, one fan commented, \u201cI didn\u2019t know that! How cute!!\u201dBatiste fell in love with music at an early age, starting to play the drums at eight. By 12, he had moved on to the piano, an instrument he quickly mastered. He has since become a renowned vocalist, composer, actor, arranger, and \u201charmonabord\u201d player.In 2011, Jaouad was diagnosed with cancer for the first time, and doctors gave her only a 35 percent chance of survival. However, she defied the odds. After falling in love with Batiste, the couple married in February 2022\u2014shortly after the then 33-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia for the second time.<\/p>\n
The \u201cWe Are\u201d artist and his wife tied the knot in their new home after eight years together. The couple\u2019s intimate wedding, attended only by close family, symbolized a fresh start. Batiste described their home as a sanctuary, a space that reflects both of them and serves as a place to recharge.<\/p>\n
It took them three years to renovate, carefully selecting and building furniture, and adding details to make it perfect. Their marriage was a last-minute decision, making it even more intimate. The singer explained, \u201cIt was one of those things that we did the day before her bone marrow transplant, it was a very deep time in our lives, obviously for so many reasons.\u201dThe couple decided to go ahead with their wedding after realizing they had a small window before her transplant. Jaouad, the author of the bestselling cancer memoir \u201cBetween Two Kingdoms,\u201d revealed that her diagnosis wasn\u2019t what prompted Batiste\u2019s proposal. The Grammy-winning musician had spent a year designing her engagement ring.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that her illness had no impact on his proposal and that her diagnosis didn\u2019t change his feelings. Instead, it strengthened his resolve to commit to their future together.Laughing, Jaouad recalled, \u201cWe have known that we wanted to get married, I think, from the first week that we started dating. That\u2019s when Jon first brought up the topic of marriage to me. So, we\u2019ve had eight years. This is not, you know, a hasty decision!\u201dA few months later, Batiste shared an update on his wife\u2019s condition, saying she was \u201cdoing better.\u201d He added, \u201cEvery single day we are praying and continuing the \u2014 I mean, she is incredible,\u201d noting that if you saw her, you wouldn\u2019t know what she was going through.Sadly, in October 2023, when asked about her odds of survival following her second diagnosis, she responded, \u201cLess than that,\u201d referencing the previous stats for her first diagnosis. However, she remained hopeful, noting that her prognosis could improve if science advances or if a new suitable donor emerges. But then, something even worse happened.Jaouad\u2019s Third Cancer Diagnosis
\nIn 2023, fans got a closer look at Jaouad\u2019s cancer journey in the Netflix documentary \u201cAmerican Symphony.\u201d Her cancer returned at the same time her husband debuted an original symphony bearing the same name as their documentary.<\/p>\n
One scene showed the couple playing Simon Says while walking through a hospital hallway during Jaouad\u2019s chemotherapy treatment. In a voiceover, Batiste said, \u201cI feel a strong, strong, strong desire to take the pain away. But I can\u2019t.\u201d He continued, \u201cThis is a moment, a test, and it\u2019s nobody\u2019s fault, and nobody can control it.\u201dWhile the couple remained hopeful, in late 2024, Jaouad took to Instagram to share heartbreaking news, posting several photos and videos. She explained that reviewing her entire camera roll from start to finish is one of her end-of-year traditions.<\/p>\n
In the post, she also revealed that when she did it the previous day, she was overwhelmed with gratitude and broke down in tears. She revealed the resurgence of her cancer.The author and producer reflected, \u201cWhen you learn for the third time you have cancer, it\u2019s easy to feel hopeless. But my photos showed me that even in the hardest moments, there were so many joys. That life is not a monolith. That our forever work is to learn to hold the brutal and beautiful in the same palm.\u201dAfter sharing new images and footage, netizens praised her, with one person writing, \u201cWow, you are stunningly beautiful, inside and out.\u201d Another added, \u201cYou are light personified\u00a0![\"\ud83d\udc9b\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/svg\/1f49b.svg\")
.\u201d A third fan described her as a \u201cstunning and beautiful human!\u00a0![\"\u2764\ufe0f\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/svg\/2764.svg\")
\u201d
\nAlthough the couple remains focused on Jaouad\u2019s health, they are also celebrating Batiste\u2019s selection for Super Bowl LIX and his other recent achievements.Batiste\u2019s Super Bowl Performance
\nIn January 2025, Batiste confirmed that he would perform at Super Bowl LIX in his hometown of New Orleans. The event will air on Fox, and he is determined to create a musical arrangement that will stand the test of time.He revealed that he planned to finalize his arrangement a week before the performance. However, this isn\u2019t his only recent milestone\u2014he also launched the Jon Batiste Jazz Club at the Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas.The celebrations continued when Jaouad shared a joyful snapshot of herself with her husband on February 3. She expressed gratitude, saying life was good and that they were honored to win a Grammy for Best Music Film for \u201cAmerican Symphony.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also won the award for Best Song Written for Visual Media for the same documentary. She wrote, \u201cWe couldn\u2019t make it to the ceremony but we\u2019re beaming love from our couch to yours, and sending gratitude to all who made this film possible.\u201d
\nFans flooded the comment section with praise and congratulations. One person wrote, \u201cThe best love story I\u2019ve ever seen\u00a0.\u201d Another added, \u201cY\u2019all deserve all the awards \u2026 and health\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeing a different picture of the couple, a third person remarked, \u201cYou look radiant. Best. Couple. Ever.\u00a0\u201d Meanwhile, after watching a short video of Batiste discussing his Super Bowl performance, one fan exclaimed, \u201cWow nice!!! Look forward to your performance!!!\u201dAnother excitedly stated, \u201cCAN\u2019T WAIT to hear it!! You\u2019ll do us all proud JB!! Should\u2019ve had you for [the] halftime show!\u201d Someone else noted, \u201cOh I wasn\u2019t going to watch it. But perhaps I should tune in to hear and see you sing!\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s hoping that Jaouad goes into remission and her diagnosis never returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jon Batiste has something special planned for fans for the upcoming Super Bowl opening ceremony. As he works to compose an unforgettable performance, the musician remains devoted to his wife, who is facing her third cancer diagnosis. On February 9, 2025, Jon Batiste will sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LIX. While continuing to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1864,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnews06.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}