“9-1-1”'s Aisha Hinds on Bringing Her Character's Vulnerability into Her Own Marriage Offscreen (Exclusive)
Aisha Hinds — who tied the knot to husband Nigel Walker in May 2022 — tells PEOPLE she brings 9-1-1's character's "ability to communicate" into her marriage
Aisha Hinds' real life has begun to imitate her onscreen marriage in 9-1-1.
In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE at the show' season 7 premiere, the actress — who plays Henrietta "Hen" Wilson in the drama procedural — shares how her onscreen relationship with Tracie Thoms' Karen Wilson has influenced her real-life marriage to her husband Nigel Walker.
"You know what I love about Karen and Hen's relationship on screen is that it does mirror real life relationship. It doesn't feel like this romanticized idea of marriage," she explains before sharing how her and Thoms' characters feels like "two real people who are married to one another."
As someone who is "newly married," Hinds shares how she's been able to take notes from Hen and Karen's relationship to apply into her own life.
"There are moments where it's helpful to kind of pull from their ability to communicate with each other and to be vulnerable with each other and to be honest with each other and to be real," she says. "And that's what I take away."
Hinds and Walker had known each other for decades before they reconnected in 2019 and sparked a relationship. In November 2020, Walker proposed at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills, California on her birthday. Shortly after getting engaged, the two debuted their relationship on social media after his surprise proposal.
“I had NOOOOOO idea he was going to propose to me on my birthday,” she told Munaluchi Bride at the time, revealing that they hadn't had conversations about a ring style and proposal ideas.
The actress also shared that she didn't notice he was planning anything, explaining, "I imagined ... that I would have been able to pick up some shifts in his behavior and temperament once that time came around to taking the relationship to a different depth. Nothing. He gave me no clues.”
In May 2022, the couple hosted a five-day-long celebration and tied the knot in front of a 170 guests in Grenada.
Related: 9-1-1's Oliver Stark Teases a Crossover with Another ABC Show (Exclusive)
This season of 9-1-1, Hinds and her costars will face the emergency situation of a century when Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) and Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) find themselves trapped in a cruise ship that has capsized and actively sinking.
In a trailer exclusively debuted by PEOPLE, everything goes awry and passengers are forced to "stay down" while the 118 is on land and working to respond to the situation.
The premiere will be a homage to The Poseidon Adventure and will be “a big, exciting arc that goes for about three episodes,” showrunner Tim Minear said during a set visit as part of the Television Critics Association winter press tour, per TVLine.
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9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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