Vogue supermodel Beverly Johnson, 67, is engaged to beau Brian Maillian, 70

Beverly Johnson has become engaged to her boyfriend Brian Maillian.

The 67-year-old supermodel, who has appeared on the cover of Vogue and Glamour, said this is ‘the first time I’ve dated someone so close to my age!’

Her husband to be in 70-years-old. ‘We know the same songs and we’ve lived through a lot of the same things,’ added the catwalk queen who lives with her fiance in Rancho Mirage, California.

‘Just finding the love of my life at this point in my life has been amazing,’ she told People this week.

She said Brian, a financier, is a trailblazer just like she was. 

 ‘As I was breaking boundaries in the fashion industry, he was doing the same on Wall Street,’ said the beauty. 

The proposal happened all of a sudden, she said, when they were in Palm Springs with family.

‘My older sister Sheilah was there and she said to Brian, “I didn’t hear you give my sister an answer when she asked you to marry her,”‘ Johnson stated.

‘And he said, “I have answered her. I have asked her to marry me. And she said, No. Besides that — I don’t have a ring.”‘

Then Brian’s 88-year-old mother ‘took off her wedding ring and passed it down the table till it got to Brian and he got down on one knee,’ she added.

‘I was sobbing uncontrollably and he said “Will you marry me?” and I said yes!”‘  

Johnson took the ring off to returns it to his mother, but she told her to keep it on for the rest of the day.  

The proposal took her aback.

‘I was like how the heck did that happen? I was saying I’m never going to get married again,’ she said.

She has been wed to real estate agent Billy Potter and then music producer Danny Sims, with whom she has daughter Anansa. 

When it came time to buy her a ring, she said she would rather have a house than a diamond. 

In June Johnson’s former publicist has accused Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour of being rude to the supermodel, while insisting she has been ‘awful to the black community.’

James Hester, an author and former record company executive who used to represent Johnson, recalled how hard he had to work to score his client an invite to Vogue’s 100th anniversary party in 1992 — even though the 67-year-old had been the very first black model to cover the publication.

Once at the party, he told Page Six, Wintour, 70, was cold to Johnson — a memory that Johnson herself doesn’t deny.

Hester said that Johnson was nearly snubbed at the 1992 bash. 

‘Beverly made history as the first African American model to grace the cover of Vogue and they refused to invite her,’ he said. 

‘It was a momentous occasion and obviously a huge moment in Beverly’s life. They kept saying, “We’ll get back to you.” So, I had to get creative. 

‘I was working with C&C Music Factory and they were huge at the time, producing for Mariah Carey. I made a deal that they would DJ for free and [Deeper Love] singer Deborah Cooper would perform in exchange for coverage in the magazine.

‘Anna Wintour gets the message, and I deliver them. I go back and I make another deal and said, Beverly Johnson would really love to be invited, and they finally agreed.’

Once at the event, he said he approached Wintour to tell her that he organized the music, and then tried unsuccessfully to introduce her to Johnson.

‘I then asked, ‘Do you know Beverly Johnson?’ She said, ‘Yup,’ and walked away,’ he said.

He added: ‘[Wintour] has been awful to the black community.’

When Page Six asked Johnson about the incident, she said that her former publicist ‘really does have a great memory’ and added, ‘That’s, like, a nice story.’

A representative for Wintour didn’t respond to Hester’s accusations, but denied the charges about being ‘awful’ for the black community — calling her a ‘champion for diversity’ and pointing to her choice of Naomi Campbell as the first black model to cover a September issue in 1989.  

Wintour had previously discussed the decision in Vogue’s podcast in 2015. 

‘For my very first September issue, I put Naomi Campbell on the cover,’ she said. ‘She was wearing this orange Anne Klein sequin suit — it would probably look incredibly ’80s today. 

‘And we have this meeting every month where we present the issue to the corporate floor, and I remember all the men in suits being absolutely stunned by the fact that I would put a black woman on the September cover of Vogue. 

‘So, looking at this issue made me very proud I think of how far we’ve come and how much the world has changed and hat question would just simply not arise today.’

However, Wintour’s name has come up as many being accused of racism in recent weeks, with former staffers speaking out about their experiences.

She released a public statement addressing the claims. 

‘I want to start by acknowledging your feelings and expressing my empathy towards what so many of you are going through: sadness, hurt, and anger too,’ Wintour began.

‘I want to say this especially to the Black members of our team — I can only imagine what these days have been like. But I also know that the hurt, and violence, and injustice we’re seeing and talking about have been around for a long time. Recognizing it and doing something about it is overdue.

‘I want to say plainly that I know Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators,’ Wintour, who’s also Condé Nast’s artistic director, continued. 

‘We have made mistakes too, publishing images or stories that have been hurtful or intolerant. I take full responsibility for those mistakes.

‘It can’t be easy to be a Black employee at Vogue, and there are too few of you. I know that it is not enough to say we will do better, but we will — and please know that I value your voices and responses as we move forward. I am listening and would like to hear your feedback and your advice if you would like to share either.

‘I am proud of the content we have published on our site over these past few days but I also know that there is much more work to do. Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with me directly. I am arranging ways we can discuss these issues together candidly, but in the meantime, I welcome your thoughts or reactions.’

In a statement to DailyMail.com about Conde Nast’s hiring practices, the company said: ‘Conde Nast is focused on creating meaningful, sustainable change and continues to implement an inclusive hiring process to ensure that a diverse range of candidates is considered for all open positions.’