Loni Love Gushes She’s Definitely Gotten ‘Closer’ With ‘Delightful’ Boyfriend James Welsh in Quarantine

Quarantining together has “definitely” brought Loni Love and her boyfriend, James Welsh, “closer” together amid the coronavirus pandemic, she exclusively tells Closer Weekly.

“He is just delightful. He is a really delightful partner and I’m just so happy to have someone to go through this with,” Loni, 48, gushes on Thursday, May 21, while promoting her upcoming book, I Tried to Change So You Don’t Have to: True Life Lessons. “He’s just so funny. He makes me laugh, so I’m really happy that he’s here.”

Although the couple have been spending a lot of time together, Loni says they don’t ever fight. “We haven’t argued, that’s the thing,” she reveals. “We’ve just been enjoying each other, but we’re still fairly new. It’s been like a year and a half.” Mostly, the duo watch Netflix and enjoy their “wonderful in-depth conversations.” When it’s time to eat, the Real cohost says she’s normally the one who throws it down in the kitchen.

“I do all the cooking! He cannot cook so I do all the cooking,” she jokes. “I really enjoy it. I really, really do. And he hasn’t gotten sick from my cooking so I’m like ‘OK, it’s good!'”

“His thing that’s important during quarantine is to at least still call it a date night, even though we’re quarantined together,” the comedian explains. “So we have this thing where we put away our phones and we just play games or we talk, we have a little candlelight dinner so it’s like our little date night.” For those evenings, the duo likes to relax on their couch and binge-watch a show.

But don’t expect the pair to cohabitate permanently. She’s not planning on living with James after the pandemic is over. “He’ll be out. I’m kicking him out! Go back!” Loni jokes. The talk show host is all about her independence, and she says that’s something she doesn’t plan on giving up.

“For me, marriage is like for people that want to have families and stuff, and since I’m past that point I don’t really see it in the future,” Loni explains. “I mean, you know we both have our own businesses and we have our point of business and everything. We just like being together and that’s what’s important.”

I Tried To Change So You Don’t Have To: True Life Lessons will be released on June 23.

Reporting by Diana Cooper.