Ice-T and Coco Austin Are Still Going Strong Decades After Meeting on a Music Video Set

While he's built a second career for himself playing Det. Odafin "Fin" Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, much like his character, Ice-T is a softie at heart — especially regarding his family.

The legendary rapper and actor, real name Tracy Lauren Morrow, started his career as the OG of OGs, as he literally coined the term early into his success. Decades later, he's kept his title as one of the first OGs to show the youngins coming up that there's nothing wrong with falling in love.

Ice-T is happily married to model and actor, Nicole "Coco" Austin. The pair have been by each other's side for most of their adult lives, and have only gotten better (and less able to keep their hands off each other) with age. However, Ice and Coco's romance has followed them for so long, that some fans aren't sure how their relationship came to be.

Here's what to know about Ice-T and Coco's relationship timeline.

Ice and Coco's love story began how most rapper-model pairings happened in the early 2000s: on the set of a video shoot. At the time, he was on the set with a friend who thought he needed some cheering up. So, the friend brought Coco, who was being featured in the video, over to meet him.

According to their interview on Mario Lopez's Fuse show, One on One, at first, Ice didn't feel up to meeting anyone new. However, once he saw Coco in-person, he knew he needed to work his charm on her, though she was admittedly naive.

"'Would you ever consider dating a gangster rapper?'" he recalled asking his wife, to which she replied she would date him if he's nice. "I said, 'Well, baby, if you take the 'n' off 'nice', you get 'Ice."

Everybody knows pick up lines can be hit or miss, but, in Ice-T and Coco's case, his ability to be quick on his feet turned into decades of holy matrimony. In 2002, after months of long-distance dating, the couple got married on New Year's Eve at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nev. According to Coco, the wedding happened fast, but it felt right to the both of them.

"He became my best friend and this instantly was someone I didn't want to live without," she explained in her blog, per NBC Insider. "We just knew we wanted to be together, we were like yin and yang, like peanut butter and jelly. LOL."

Coco also shared that she and Ice didn't want anyone's opinion of their wedding besides theirs.

"We didn't tell no body," she shared. "No family, no friends, we just kept it between us, we didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings so we just kept it to ourselves ... I will never forget looking at him face to face just me and him no one else in the room but a priest and a pianist. He got choked up while he spoke which made me get choked up."

During their marriage, neither Ice nor Coco were ready to give up on their career goals. While he was still known for his rap career, Ice had fully caught the acting bug with his permanent role on Law & Order. And, because he's no gatekeeper or hater, Ice made sure the long-running procedural drama found a spot for Coco to appear on the show.

Throughout Ice-T's time on SVU, his wife has guest starred on several episodes, including one in 2012 where she wore a risque outfit.

While the thought of multiple crew men seeing their wife half-naked would send some insecure spouses into a tizzy, Ice shared he doesn't mind it one bit.

"I think whenever Coco is on the set, every single crew member somehow makes it to the set," he joked during a 2012 interview with Huffington Post. "Every light man, every prop person, every electrical, every cook somehow makes it to that set when Coco is going to shoot. We have more people on set when Coco shoots than any time in the history of Law & Order."

According to NBC, after nine years of marriage, Ice and Coco renewed their wedding vows at a ceremony held at the W Hotel in Hollywood. The renewal was part of their reality television show Ice Loves Coco, which premiered on E! in June 2011 and gave viewers an inside look at their life together. Ice-T's children from his previous relatonships, Tracy Jr. and Letesha Morrow, were in attendance, as well as the couple's beloved dog, Spartacus, who died in 2020.

Around 2013, reports surfaced that the couple experienced a rough patch. According to Vibe, in December 2012, racy photographs of Coco with a rapper named AP.9 in a Las Vegas nightclub circulated online, leading Ice-T to express publicly how hurt he felt. The reality show ended its run (the announcement came in 2014) after three seasons. While the end of the show isn’t in itself proof of marital distress, it coincided with a period of increased media talk about strain.

Despite the drama, neither Ice-T nor Coco ever publicly announced a separation.

By 2015, Coco and Ice-T's marriage was back on track. The couple welcomed their daughter, Chanel Nicole Marrow, on November 28, 2015, in Englewood, NJ. According to NBC Insider,espite initial comments that Coco “didn’t really want to have babies,” she later shared in interviews that motherhood felt “100 percent all in” and that she was “dedicating my whole life to molding this little nugget into a fabulous person."

While Ice was skeptical about having children later in life, he told Distractify in 2022 that having Chanel changed his outlook and gave him more motivation to prioritize his health.

Following years of marriage and adding to their family, Ice and Coco's marriage seemed better than ever. According to E! News, in January 2024, the NBC star candidly shared the reason behind his marriage's success.

"Jungle sex," he explicitly stated. "That flame has to stay lit. "When that flame goes out and you're not really attracted to each other anymore. You have to address that very quickly because it's something that's necessary."

While Coco, who also shared she prefers to be intimate with her husband several times a week, agreed with Ice's take, he added that, in many cases, a good marriage thrives when both partners are interested in more than each other's physical desires.

"I think Coco and I are teammates," he explained. "We have to be teammates, not opponents, not assets, not liabilities. I value what she brings to me, and I think it's vice versa. We appreciate each other."

There's no objecting that Coco and Ice's marriage was built to last. In January 2025, the couple celebrated 23 years of marriage. Coco acknowledged the day after their wedding anniversary on New Year's Day, 2025.

"Happy Anniversary to the love of my life," Coco wrote. "MY heart MY soul MY everything! I love you."

Looks like Ice Loves Coco... FOREVER!!