The two have been together since 2016

Don Lemon and Tim Malone. PHOTO: CRAIG BARRITT/GETTY IMAGES

Don Lemon’s family might be growing soon.

The former CNN anchor, 58 shared with E! News that after marrying husband Tim Malone, 40, earlier this month, the two are beginning to discuss starting a family together. “We are family planning. I can’t tell you when,” Lemon told the outlet at the Time100 Gala.

“We already have three fur babies and I’ve only been married for three weeks. But yes, we are planning something and we’ll let you know when.”

“He’s going to have to do it though, because his body will bounce back,” Lemon joked of Malone.

Don Lemon and Tim Malone.

JON KOPALOFF/WIREIMAGE

Lemon and Malone exchanged vows in New York City on April 6. Prior to their big day, the couple revealed that they were surprisingly calm about the significant event.

“I tend to leave things to the last minute,” Lemon admitted. “I don’t stress about most things.”

“However, this occasion secretly worries me a bit, but I’m entrusting Tim with the planning because he’s excellent at it,” he added. “While I’m busy drafting questions for someone like the U.N. ambassador, Tim is focused on details like when the buttons will be sewn onto our jackets. It’s a valid concern, but I often find myself puzzled by it. So, he handles a million details, and usually, he manages without needing much input from me.”

Lemon and Malone had been engaged for five years, announcing their joyous news in a heartfelt Instagram post back in 2019. “He proposed to me on his own birthday. How could I resist?” Lemon wrote alongside two images of their dogs Boomer and Barkley wearing collars that bore the message, “Daddy Will You Marry Papa?”

Don Lemon and Tim Malone. PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY

Malone echoed the sentiment with a matching photo on his Instagram Story, captioned with a joyful “He said Yes!”

The couple has been together since the summer of 2016, and their relationship made headlines when they shared a memorable on-air kiss during CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast in 2018.

“I’ve found love,” Lemon shared with co-host Brooke Baldwin, before spontaneously breaking into song as they welcomed the New Year in New Orleans.

Lemon publicly came out in his 2011 book Transparent. Reflecting on his journey in an interview with The New York Times, the news anchor expressed, “I believe it would be wonderful if everyone could live authentically. However, it’s such a deeply personal decision.”

“People need to come out on their own terms, at their own pace. I respect that. But I must say, the more individuals who embrace their truth openly, the better it is for everyone,” he continued. “Had I seen more individuals like myself who were openly proud of who they are, perhaps it wouldn’t have taken me 45 years to do the same, to live authentically.”

Don Lemon Marries Tim Malone in Chic N.Y.C. Wedding Ceremony: ‘I Wasn’t Sure This Could Ever Happen’ (Exclusive)

The longtime CNN anchor, now with his own program ‘The Don Lemon Show,’ tied the knot with Malone on April 6 in front of 140 guests in New York City

Don Lemon (left) and Tim Malone at their New York City wedding on April 6. PHOTO: TONY VALADEZ

Don Lemon and Tim Malone are now husbands!

The veteran CNN anchor, now hosting his own streaming program, “The Don Lemon Show,” tied the knot with his longtime partner, Tim Malone, a real estate broker, in New York City on April 6.

In the days leading up to the wedding, both grooms shared that they weren’t feeling stressed about the impending big day.

“I tend to leave things until the last minute,” Lemon, 58, remarked. “And honestly, there’s not much that gets me worried.”

Don Lemon (left) and Tim Malone at their New York City wedding on April 6.TONY VALADEZ

However, his wedding is proving to be an exception to the rule.

“But this one I’m secretly worried about, but I’m letting Tim take the reins because he’s a good planner,” he continued. “I’ll be writing questions for like the U.N. ambassador and he’ll be saying, ‘Oh, when are they going to put the buttons on our jackets?’ It’s an important question, but I’m just like, ‘Huh? What?’ So he has a million questions, but usually he gets it done without me even answering.”

The ceremony at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in midtown Manhattan was officiated by the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield — in front of roughly 140 guests.

“She’s a friend, and it means that much to us,” Lemon says of having Thomas-Greenfield as their officiant.

For the service, the grooms — who wore custom suits by Suit Supply and exchanged rings designed by Mark Lash — incorporated marriage traditions inspired by each of their families into their unique ceremony.

“Tim is from a big Irish family, so we planned a big Irish blessing in there in his ceremony,” Lemon says. He also notes the blessing was led by Malone’s two sisters.

Lemon adds that “at the end we jump over a broom.” This, Lemon and Malone say, pays respect to the once symbolic way for enslaved people in the American South to recognize their marriages, noting that today this tradition is a way to honor those who did it before them.

The road to the altar has been a long one for Lemon and Malone, who have been engaged for five years, but it was important to the couple that they have a big, traditional wedding day.

“We wanted to make a public statement,” Malone says, “and we wanted to involve our loved ones. We obviously could have easily gone to city hall. We could have used Covid as a perfect excuse to do something really quiet. But I think this is also a message. For I don’t know what percent of our guests, on both sides, but for a lot of them it’s going to be their first gay wedding.”

Tradition was important to the grooms right from the start. Malone was raised in a Catholic family and Lemon’s family is Baptist, so the news anchor knew he “wanted to have a religious service.”

However, when it came time to prepare their vows, the couple opted for a mixture of traditional and new elements.

“I have not been nervous about anything except writing the vows,” Lemon reveals. “We are saying our own personal vows and then we’re doing the traditional wedding ceremony vows.”

Don Lemon and Tim Malone.TONY VALADEZ

Music played a significant role in Lemon and Malone’s wedding ceremony. They made their entrance to the enchanting melody of “What a Wonderful World” and exited amidst the jubilant notes of “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” To symbolize unity, the grooms, accompanied by their mothers, lit a unity candle at the ceremony’s conclusion.

The joyous occasion attracted a constellation of stars, with notable guests including legendary music mogul Clive Davis, along with Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro-Cárdenas, and Sunny Hostin from The View. The guest list extended to former Today show anchor Matt Lauer and his partner Shamin Abas, Real Housewives of New York City alum Luann de Lesseps, creator of Sex and the City and Emily in Paris Darren Star, and Tamron Hall. Additionally, Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, along with CNN personalities Kate Bolduan, Erin Burnett, and Dana Bash, graced the event with their presence.

Following the ceremony, guests joined in a New Orleans-style “second line” procession, led by the vibrant sounds of the Gotham Kings band, in a nod to Lemon’s Baton Rouge roots. The celebratory march carried them from the church to Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar, where a specially curated menu awaited, featuring delights such as chicken-under-a-brick and petit fours. The venue was adorned with cherished photographs capturing moments from the couple’s journey together, creating a heartwarming ambiance for the newlyweds to revel in their love’s full circle moment.

Don Lemon and Tim Malone.TONY VALADEZ

“We had our first date at the Polo Bar,” Malone says. “It was election night in 2016. We had gone to a viewing party downtown.”

“Isn’t that where you tipped a table over?” Lemon asks, to which Malone replies with a laugh, “Yes!”

“So, that night we went to this party at Cipriani,” Lemon continues, “and all these fancy people were there, stars, Martha Stewart. They put these plywood pieces on the table to make them bigger. And when Tim sat down, he hit the edge, and flipped the entire table. All the glassware, all the candles, everything went flying. And I was like, ‘Alright, well that’s our first date right there.’ “

At that point in the evening, Malone and Lemon remember, it seemed clear Hillary Clinton was going to win. “I looked at my CNN email. I was like, ‘Let’s get out of here. It’s not going to be pretty,’ ” Lemon shares. “And so we went uptown to the Polo Bar.”

The restaurant is subterranean, “so we were sort of in a bunker,” Lemon says. He recalls being given the night off as his primetime slot had been taken over by election coverage.

“I was kind of glad because it would’ve been a surreal thing to watch [on camera],” he adds.

Throughout the meal, he and Malone got intermittent updates via spotty cell service and other diners. “Tim and I looked at each other and I said to him, ‘I don’t want to be alone tonight.’ It was so weird. We went back to my apartment in Harlem and then he never left.”

Over the years, the two have become well-known Hamptons-summer entertainers (“We have an annual LGBTQ+ Pride party that Tim plans,” Lemon says) and dog dads to rescues Boomer, Barkley, and Gus, who were all three in attendance at the wedding. In lieu of gifts, the grooms asked that donations be made to Southhampton Animal Rescue, where they adopted their dogs.

Don Lemon and Tim Malone’s wedding bands.TONY VALADEZ

At the reception, guests dined on the restaurant’s famous bone-in ribeye (which they ate on their first date), plus Dover sole, salmon and cauliflower steak. The grooms changed into “Nike Dunks” and celebrated, with music provided by DJ Tokyo Rose, also known as Erica Hamilton.

Up until their wedding day, the idea of marriage hit each of the grooms differently.

“I never thought that I would get married,” Lemon says. “I mean, maybe Tim’s generation, he’s 18 years younger than me. So for him maybe it was more of a possibility.”

He continues, “The legal part of it is a big deal because I didn’t think it could happen. And for so many years of my growing up and hiding things, I never thought it could happen legally. But when you consider all the rights that people are trying to take away, I wanted to make sure that we get this done right.”

Tim Malone.TONY VALADEZ

“We were pretty traditional over all,” Lemon says. “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue…” Tim’s tuxedo is blue. Lemon’s is green, both velvet and double-breasted. “I’ll have one something blue,” Lemon jokes. “You just won’t be able to see it!”

For the couple, marriage means “a confirmation of our love and our commitment to each other,” says Lemon, adding that “it’s also about celebrating our relationship, and our relationship with the people who are most important to us in our lives.”