Couldn't afford a taxi on my first date with my wife Pauletta

Denzel Washington owes his rise to fame to his wife Pauletta, but the humble beginnings of their love story may have led some women to end the relationship.

A cheap date?

On his first date with Pauletta, Denzel couldn't pay the taxi fare, so Pauletta stepped in and covered the costs.

The unique dating story recently resurfaced on social media, highlighting Denzel's rise from difficult times to a financially more than comfortable life.

As Finurah previously reported, Denzel worked as a garbage man in his twenties, long before his big break in Hollywood. In interviews, he has said that this job taught him the values ​​of hard work and humility – lessons that would serve him throughout his career.

In a Valentine's Day 2017 episode, Denzel told Jimmy Kimmel a touching story about his early days. He recounted his first date with Pauletta, a day when he was humble.

The two seemed to have ventured out on a successful, unspecified date, but then everything changed when Denzel walked Pauletta home. As they rode in the taxi, Denzel was fixated on the meter, the length of the ride, and the looming cost, and it was clear he was having financial problems.

“I wanted to treat myself and we were going to take a taxi… and then the meter goes off and I'm like, 'Uh-oh, how far away does she live…?' She paid,” the actor told Kimmel.

It seems as if fate had a hand in bringing actress Pauletta and Denzel Washington together, or perhaps it was pure coincidence that their paths crossed three times as acquaintances.

The couple met in 1977 while filming the television movie “Wilma”.

Pauletta then met Denzel at a party and saw him in a play the next day.

“A mutual friend who was also in the film had thrown a party. And Denzel and his friends came at the end of the party. We started talking again,” Pauletta said on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1996. “The night after, I went to a play. I got there late, sneaked in and sat down,” Pauletta said. “I wasn't paying attention to who was around me. Then, during intermission, the lights came on and we sat next to each other.”

It was the beginning of a friendship that developed into a marriage that has now lasted for over 40 years.

Denzel and Pauletta married in 1983, and on their special day there were so many people that the Washingtons ran out of food, Denzel told Kimmel.

“We shook so many hands and took so many pictures that they ran out of food… at the wedding… at the reception,” Denzel said. The actor then recalls that he and his wife went to a local restaurant to make up for the lack of food at their wedding reception.

The couple has four children together.

Denzel's net worth is estimated at between $280 million and $290 million from his decades-long career, making him one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, according to Banking Rates on Yahoo!.

Although her net worth has not yet been confirmed by a trustworthy source, she has been active in her acting career. Pauletta has taken on television and made-for-TV roles in productions such as The Watsons Go to Birmingham, and The Parkers.