Model Winnie Harlow and NBA forward Kyle Kuzma got engaged after connecting nearly five years ago during the 2020 lockdowns.
Winnie Harlow might be trading runways for the wedding aisle soon. NBA star Kyle Kuzma just put a ring on it.
The 29-year-old forward and the 30-year-old model announced their engagement in a joint Instagram post on Tuesday, February 19. The captionless post featured a carousel of photos of the couple posing together on a private jet. Dressed in a luxe red ensemble, Harlow shows off her glitzy 8.5-carat diamond engagement ring in several of the pics, including a shot of the two kissing as Harlow’s hand with the gleaming new ring rests on his cheek.
Speaking to Vogue magazine about the milestone, Harlow said, “We’re over the moon.”
The couple got engaged during a romantic getaway to Turks and Caicos over Valentine’s Day weekend, which began with a private plane ride. Despite the plane being showered in red roses, balloons, chocolate, and champagne, Harlow was totally surprised when the proposal came.
When Harlow boarded the plane, she recalled thinking briefly, “’This would be so cute if this was an engagement.’”
She was right in her assessment when Kuzma began reading a poem to Harlow that ended with the question, “Will you be my wife?”
“I still had no idea what this was,” she told Vogue of the moment as he was reading the poem. “I was just like, ‘This is so cute for Valentine’s Day, oh my gosh!’”
The former contestant on “America’s Next Top Model” said yes before he could pull out the dazzling diamond ring. Kuzma designed the ring himself over three months and said he didn’t even consult with Harlow on her preferences.
“I just wanted to draw a picture of what I felt resembled her,” he explained. “Something that was elegant, but very timeless and simplistic at the same time.”
Upon landing, Harlow attempted to call her sister, who didn’t answer, and her mother who abruptly told her she couldn’t speak before hanging up. When Harlow entered the couple’s villa, she quickly realized why. Her entire family, along with Kuzma’s, was there waiting to surprise her. The rest of the festivities included a DJ by the pool playing hits like Jagged Edge’s “Let’s Get Married,” a feast, and fireworks.
Harlow and Kuzma first connected virtually in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, though it almost didn’t happen. Kuzma slid in her DMs the year prior, but she never got the message. When they did finally connect, she told the late Stephen “tWitch” Boss during an appearance on “The Ellen Degeneres Show” in 2020 that they talked 24/7 before she moved from New York to Los Angeles to be with Kuzma, who played for the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers at the time.
When they took the GQ Couples Quiz together in February 2023, Kuzma revealed more about how their relationship began.
“The pandemic [had] just started, and this was at the time nobody was flying in airports because it was like low-key sketchy,” he recalled. “So, I was like, ‘Alright, well, you need to fly out here private.’ This was the first time we met. I really wanted to see her and the safest thing was that jet. And that’s how we found love.”
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