21 Celebrity Couple Proposal Stories That Will Make You Believe In Love
Every marriage has a unique backstory of how one partner popped the question – these are some of the sweetest and most memorable proposal stories revealed by celebs!
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1.Dwayne Wade and his children planned out his proposal for Gabrielle Union.
Union shared on Live! With Kelly and Michael that Wade planned the proposal with his two children from his previous marriage to Siohvaughn Funches, Zaya and Zaire. While everyone was at their home, which was under construction at the time, Wade's children initiated the proposal.
"The [kids said], 'We want to do a presentation for you.' So I thought they were gonna do, like, a skit or a song or something," Union said. "So me and [Wade] turn around, and they're like, okay, now! And we turn back around, and they're holding signs that say ... 'Will you marry us?'"
Wade's children had brought the subject of marriage up to Union before, so she initially didn't think the signs were meant to be taken seriously. She realized the proposal was sincere, however, once Wade got down on one knee. She said yes to his proposal, and they tied the knot in 2014. They welcomed a daughter, Kaavia, in 2018.
2.Jeezy asked Jeannie Mai to marry him while honoring her Vietnamese roots.
Jeezy had planned to propose to Mai, who is of Vietnamese descent, in Vietnam, but the pandemic forced him to get creative with this idea. Mai said he instead brought a bit of Vietnam to her when he popped the question in 2020.
"He basically created a Vietnamese experience," Mai said. "He took his time to go and do research about all the most beautiful spots in Vietnam, from the south to the north, and took me on a virtual tour of us in those places. He took the time to fly to Houston — when we were still able to fly — to talk to my mom about it. He FaceTimed my dad to ask for his permission."
The two married in 2021. Mai revealed she was pregnant in September 2021, and she announced on Instagram on Tuesday, Jan. 11, that she and Jeezy had welcomed their first child together. The two also share Jeezy's three children from previous relationships: Jadarius, Shyheim, and Amra.
3.Will Smith kept it simple when he asked Jada Pinkett Smith to be his wife.
Smith decided to propose on a whim as he and Pinkett Smith were getting ready to go to sleep, he revealed in a 2005 interview.
"We were just lying there, going to sleep. I looked over at her, and I said, 'Hey, we might be real good married. Wassup? You wanna marry me?'" Smith said to People. "Unplanned. No ring. Not the classic proposal. She said yes. It’s really weird when you live the kind of lifestyle that we live: Simplicity becomes the jewel."
They wed in 1997 and have two children together: Jaden and Willow. They also share Smith's son, Trey, from his previous marriage to Sheree Zampino.
4.Dax Shepard shocked Kristen Bell with his proposal.
Prior to getting engaged, Shepard had expressed to Bell that he wasn't sold on the idea of marriage. "[Shepard] was saying, 'How I treat you will not be dependent on a piece of paper sitting in City Hall. Because I've already made a commitment and I don't see a use in that piece of paper,'" Bell told Insider.
She was a bit thrown off, therefore, when Shepard ended up proposing in 2009.
"And then a few months later he proposed to me," Bell said. "I was kind of shocked. But we had already talked about how relevant marriage would be in our lives."
The pair married in 2013 and have two children together: Delta and Lincoln.
5.George Clooney had to wait before getting an answer from Amal Clooney when he popped the question.
On The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Clooney said he began thinking of popping the question to his now-wife Amal six months into their relationship. On the night of the proposal, he prepared and served dinner for Amal while music by his aunt, Rosemary Clooney, played in the background. He then blew out a candle and told Amal where to find a lighter, which revealed her engagement ring.
"I said, 'I think the lighter is in the box behind you,' and she reached around, she pulls out the box, and I've got just the ring sitting in there. She pulls it out and she looks at it," Clooney said. "I got down on my knee and I said, you know, 'I couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life without you.' And she kept looking at the ring, and she was looking at me and she's like, 'Oh my god.'"
After 25 minutes without a clear answer, Clooney expressed that he urgently needed to know Amal's response.
"I literally said, 'Look ... I hope the answer is yes, but I need an answer because, you know, I'm 52 and I could throw out my hip pretty soon if I don't get an answer.' And then she said yes."
They married in 2014 and have twins together: Alexander and Ella.
6.Denzel Washington's wife, fellow actor Pauletta Washington, said no twice before the two were engaged.
In a 2013 interview with Access Hollywood, Pauletta confirmed that she said no to Denzel two times before accepting his marriage proposal.
“You heard it here first,” Denzel said. “She turned me down; she said no ... She turned me down twice.”
“That’s true. I turned you down twice, and the third time we did it,” Pauletta added.
Eventually the pair wed in 1983 and have four children together: John, Malcolm, Olivia, and Katia.
7.Orlando Bloom proposed to Katy Perry in a helicopter.
"He asked me to marry him in a helicopter," Perry said of Bloom's proposal on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "We had champagne in the helicopter, and the box was in his pocket, and he had written down everything he had wanted to say in a note... He was going to pull [the ring] out while I was reading it. So, I'm reading it, but I'm hearing, like, the champagne is broken, the bottle's everywhere, and I'm still looking at this note."
Once Bloom popped the question, Perry said yes, and the two met up with her loved ones to celebrate.
"We did land, and it was like James Bond," she continued. "Everybody had an ear piece and then we go downstairs, we landed on a rooftop, and my whole family was there and all my friends. He did so well."
The couple tied the knot in 2016 and have one daughter named Daisy. They also share Bloom's son, Flynn, from his previous marriage to Miranda Kerr.
8.John Legend proposed to Chrissy Teigen after a Christmas argument.
Legend redeemed himself with his proposal plan after Teigen was upset with the gift he gave her for Christmas.
"We got into a very big fight in the car on the way to the airport because we had opened our presents beforehand, and he had only gotten me a cookbook and a crock pot," Teigen recalled on FABLife in 2015. "We get to the Maldives, and he had planned...a beautiful meal. This waiter comes out with a silver dome for dessert. And I had really bad cramps, by the way, so I was like, let's get this over with. So he opens up the dome and...I see the little box and then, you know, your heart stops and you get so excited. ... There was no big grand speech or anything, and I think it was just very lovely and sweet."
Legend and Teigen married in 2013 and have two children together: Luna and Miles.
9.Kevin Bacon picked out the wrong engagement ring for Kyra Sedgwick.
"I proposed to [Sedgwick] on Christmas Eve," Bacon said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. "I put the ring in the toe of a stocking, so she opened a bunch of useless crap, and then at the very bottom of it there was an engagement ring."
Since Bacon decided to propose without telling any family or friends, he picked out Sedgwick's engagement ring on his own. Although she tried to enjoy wearing it for a few months, Sedgwick's true feelings about the ring eventually came out.
"About three months later, we're lying in bed and she wakes up in the middle of the night, and she's crying. And you know, she, like, can't even say what's going on. I'm like, Oh my god, what's happened? I thought maybe she was breaking up with me, or...I don't know what I thought. And finally she goes, 'I don't like the ring,'" Bacon said.
Bacon said he didn't mind, and the ring was then replaced with one Sedgwick preferred.
They've been married since 1988 and have two children: Sosie and Travis.
10.Kit Harington asked Rose Leslie to marry him a day earlier than planned.
"I did have some plans to [propose]. I was gonna string up some lights in some trees [the next day] and do all the romantic stuff," Harrington said on The Jonathan Ross Show. "But we were in the country, and we were sort of under this beautiful night sky and had the log fire burning and red wine ... I popped my question a bit early."
The two tied the knot in 2018 and have a son together.
11.Nick Jonas proposed to Priyanka Chopra after just two months of dating.
While speaking to Access Hollywood, Chopra recalled being a bit surprised by Jonas's proposal, which occurred after the two had only been together for two months.
"My life flashed in front of me. I wasn't expecting this at all. This was two months from our first date," Chopra said. "I mean, I knew we were gonna go in that direction. It just took me by surprise completely. He claims...it was 45 seconds [before I said yes]. I don't think it was that long. But he did do that, you know. If there's one thing to know about my husband, when he wants something, he gets it."
Priyanka and Jonas wed in 2018.
12.Colin Jost "killed it" when he proposed to Scarlett Johansson.
"He killed it. He did, like, a whole James Bond situation," Johansson said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show about Jost's proposal. "[He's] very charming and very thoughtful and romantic, but I was very... I was surprised. I mean, even if you kind of imagine what that moment's gonna be like, it's still, you know, it's a beautiful moment... I think more than anything, when someone tells you they want to share the rest of their life with you... That just is a lovely, special thing."
Jost and Johansson married in 2020 and had a son, Cosmo, in 2021. They also share Johansson's daughter, Rose, from her previous marriage to Romain Dauriac.
13.Joe Manganiello learned some Spanish for his proposal to Sofía Vergara.
Manganiello prepared to ask Vergara to marry him by learning a speech in her native language of Spanish, which gave him some nerves, as he wanted to get the proposal just right.
“I had a big speech in Spanish, and that’s what I was nervous about,” Manganiello said in an interview on Live! With Kelly and Michael, as reported by People. “The last thing you want to do is, like, mess up the Spanish on the proposal to the Colombian woman.”
Manganiello incorporated the phrase “Eres mi todo,” which translates to “you are my everything” in English into the speech he used for popping the question. Vergara said yes, and the two have been married since 2015. They share Vergara's son, Manolo, from her previous marriage to Joe Gonzalez.
14.Prince Harry asked Meghan Markle to marry him during a casual night in.
In a 2017 BBC News interview, Harry and Markle spoke about his proposal to her, which took place during a quiet night in while they were roasting chicken. Markle called the proposal "an amazing surprise" that she couldn't wait to say yes to.
"It was so sweet and natural, and very romantic. He got on one knee," Markle said. "I could barely let [Harry] finish proposing. I said, 'Can I say yes now?!'"
Markle was so overcome by positive emotion, Harry explained, that she nearly forgot about putting her engagement ring on.
"I was like, 'Can I give you the ring?' She goes, 'Oh, yes, the ring!'" Harry said. "It was a really nice moment. It was just the two of us, and I think I managed to catch her by surprise as well."
Harry and Markle wed in 2018 and have two children: Archie and Lilibet.
15.Barack Obama started a debate before proposing to Michelle.
As Michelle was always certain she wanted to get married, while Barack wasn't sure if he wanted to, the two would debate about whether marriage was necessary for two committed partners while they dated. During a dinner celebrating Barack's completion of the bar exam, he brought up the topic, which began a back-and-forth between the two and ended with a surprise proposal.
"[Barack] got me revved up... He picks a fight, and I deliver because I, too, am a lawyer, and I have my points to be made," Michelle said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. "So I was in full making my point [mode], and...by then dessert was coming out. And the waiter put a platter in front of me with a little box with a ring on it. In the middle of the argument...he opened up the box, and he said, 'Now that ought to shut you up.'"
They have been married since 1992 and have two daughters together: Malia and Sasha.
16.Pink proposed to her husband, motocross competitor Carey Hart, during a race of his.
The singer tried to get Hart's attention by holding up a sign with her proposal written on it during a race of his, but Hart was busy concentrating and didn't notice. After giving him a heads-up before one more attempt, she was successful at popping the question with a sign that read, "Will U Marry Me? Serious!"
"[The] next race, I wrote it again. I said, 'Lap three; look at the sign,'" Pink said in a 60 Minutes interview. "And he did, and he almost killed a guy veering off the race and said yes. Actually he said, 'Are you kidding me?! ... [I said], 'No. I wouldn't have ruined your race if I was kidding!'"
Pink and Hart wed in 2006 and have two children together: Willow and Jameson.
17.Ludacris went all out when he proposed to his wife, model Eudoxie Bridges.
While speaking to Ellen DeGeneres in 2015, Ludacris explained his desire to go all out while proposing to model Eudoxie Bridges, whose maiden name is Eudoxie Mbouguiengue.
"I look at myself as a pretty romantic guy, you know. I'm a creative guy," he said. "You've got to be creative; you have to be different. And these things stick with women for the rest of their lives. So I had to go above and beyond."
He brought his now-wife onto a private plane and had his proposal message written in the ground below for her to see.
"We were on our way to Costa Rica, and I had written in the grass her name and, 'Will you marry me?'" Ludacris said. "So once she saw it and we looped around, of course she just burst out into tears and was just extremely happy. So it was a pretty original idea there."
The two married days later in 2014 and have two children together: Cadence and Chance. They also share two daughters from Ludacris's previous relationships: Karma and Cai.
18.Daryl Sabara planned a holiday proposal for Meghan Trainor.
19.Dexter Darden surprised JoJo with a proposal for her birthday.
20.Blake Shelton asked Gwen Stefani to marry him in Oklahoma around their family.
21.Kanye West spent $3.3 million on his elaborate proposal for Kim Kardashian.
West rented out Oracle Park in San Francisco, hired a 50-piece orchestra, and flew in Kim's family and friends for his proposal to her, which aired on Keeping Up With the Kardashians in 2014. The total cost for the occasion was $3.3 million, and the ring he gave Kardashian came with an additional $4 million price tag.
"I knew I had to, like, turn up more because I think people expect even more from me in every situation whether it's, you know, an album, a video, a concert, or...an engagement," West said to Ellen DeGeneres about the proposal. "I think that when you have a lot of creativity and you have a lot of love and passion, you just do it, and you don't hold back."
West and Kardashian married in 2014 and have four children together: North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm. In 2021, Kardashian filed for divorce from West after six years of marriage.
