Found’s Shanola Hampton Spent $532 on Her Wedding to Husband Daren Dukes — and Only Has One Regret (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Shanola Hampton and Daren Dukes in September 2023.Photo:Michael Bezjian/Getty

Michael Bezjian/Getty

Shanola HamptonandDaren Dukesgot their money’s worth on their 2000 wedding, alright.

In a conversation with PEOPLE to promote the second season of her hit proceduralFound, the actress reflects on her happy day with her husband of 24 years, revealing that the two said their “I dos” in a wedding that only cost them $532.

“Honey, we got married at the Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas,” Hampton says. “We eloped. The Chapel of the Fountain. Look it up! And nobody even knew we were there. It was this perfect little thing we did that was just the two of us.”

No guests certainly helped keep the price down, as did the fact that Hampton didn’t buy a new gown or splurge on hair and makeup. “I got a thrift store dress and it was back in the day where you would wear the Erykah Badu wraps, so I had my Erykah Badu wrap on,” Hampton says. “It was a sight to be seen.”

The occasion ended with a buffet meal and a trip to the strip club, Hampton adds.

There’s only one thing she regrets. “At the time we were too broke to actually purchase the package that included the videotape, because I remember he said the most beautiful vows to me and it would be so fun to watch those back,” Hampton shares. “Gosh, if we could only have seen what it was going to be…”

Shanola Hampton and Daren Dukes in January 2017.Allen Berezovsky/Getty

Allen Berezovsky/Getty

Hampton, 47, and Dukes, 52, met and starting dating in 1995, when she was a freshman at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. The pair– he a sports commentator onThe Dallas Cowboy Show— share 10-year-old daughter Cai MyAnna and 8-year-old son Daren O.C., and even took their kids to see the Chapel of the Fountain during a recent trip to Sin City.

And while they don’t have video, Hampton and Dukes do have photos.

“Oh, there’s pictures, but you can see he’s saying these vows to me, and I’m just looking there like a dumb dumb,” Hampton laughs. “I just go, ‘I love you.’ "

Daren Dukes and Shanola Hampton in May 2015.Ethan Miller/Getty

Ethan Miller/Getty

But it wasn’t just Dukes' words that made an impact. Hampton says remembers clearly the words of advice the minister told them.

He said, ‘This doesn’t change the person that’s opposite you. If you think that suddenly now you’re looking at somebody and this marriage is going to make them into someone else, that’s not what marriage is and that’s not what it does. So take a look at the person you’re marrying, ‘cause that’s who they are.’ And that was such an important thing for us to hear,” Hampton says.

Shanola Hampton and Daren Dukes in August 2024.Julien M. Hekimian/Getty

Julien M. Hekimian/Getty

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Over their near three decades together, Hampton and Dukes haven’t changed the core of who they are, nor has their relationship. The two are still one another’s greatest supporters, and have maintained their bond through all of life’s ups and downs. Turns out, the secret to a long marriage is much simpler than one thinks.

She adds, “I’m his biggest fan, and I know he’s mine. And that’s what we all both [go] back to at the end of the day.”

Foundairs Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. Episodes can also can be streamed on Peacock.

source: people.com