Former football star Rob Gronkowski is pretty much a household name these days.
Best known by the nickname "Gronk," Gronkowski played for the New England Patriots for his
entire professional career from 2010 until he announced his retirement in March 2019.
For almost half the time Gronkowski took the field as a Patriots tight end, girlfriend
Camille Kostek stood by his side.
Kostek and Gronkowski first sparked romance rumors in 2015, when the football player began
making appearances on her Instagram.
"If you follow me, you know what I'm talking about."
Even though the pair were first linked in 2015, they've played coy about the status
of their relationship over the years.
In 2016, Gronkowski told E! News that his Valentine's Day plans were non-existent, which
is typically only true for either a single person or a person who is going to be single
very soon.
Another holiday spent apart?
New Year's Eve 2017.
On that day, Kostek was spotted with American Idol winner Nick Fradiani, according to Page
Six.
Even still, from the looks of recent Instagram posts, it appears the two are still very much
together right now.
With more than 600,000 Instagram followers, Kostek is certainly not eclipsed by Gronk's
very large shadow.
But who exactly is Gronk's leading lady, anyway?
Camille Kostek got her big break as a New England Patriots cheerleader back in 2013
at the age of 20.
The same year, she also landed the cover of the annual Patriots' swimsuit calendar featuring
the team's cheerleaders.
The 27-year-old only cheered on the team for two seasons before hanging up her pom-poms.
She told Fox News that it was at that time that she was first formally introduced to
her now-beau, revealing,
"We first got in touch once I resigned from the team.
I always knew who he was before I was even a cheerleader.
I knew who he was on the roster.
I just never paid any mind.
Once I resigned is when we finally met."
Kostek has never discussed the reason she called it quits on the squad after just two
years, especially since the Patriots allow cheerleaders to stay on for up to four years.
However, the fact that she just so happened to start dating Gronkowski mere months after
resigning points toward a potential forbidden romance.
When Kostek said goodbye to cheering, she cast her sights on a new career path: modeling.
She signed with her first agency in Boston in 2015 and one of the first campaigns she
booked was with Dune Jewelry.
By 2016, Kostek was ready to move on to bigger and better things, so she moved across the
country to Los Angeles to kick start her new career.
She hopped off the plane at LAX with a dream of being a Sports Illustrated model.
However, she was immediately met with criticism from agents who told her that she wouldn't
make it if she didn't make some changes to her appearance but she didn't let those reactions
keep her from chasing her dreams.
She told Haute Living,
"I was discouraged meeting agents, who told me to take a certain amount of weight off.
I could have taken my body to that extreme, but that's not what I stand for as an older
sister and a female.
I was able to present myself to Sports Illustrated without an agent in a 60-second video talking
about my real-life experience and how I got here."
Kostek's persistence paid off, and she found herself as one of two women selected as the
first-ever Sports Illustrated Swimsuit rookies to be selected via an open casting call.
In addition to landing the coveted rookie slot, she was also selected as the 2019 Sports
Illustrated Swimsuit cover model.
Kostek is not just another pretty face content with dominating magazine covers.
She's also interested in taking her talents to the big screen.
Kostek made her film debut in a small part in the 2018 comedy I Feel Pretty starring
Amy Schumer.
It seems she definitely caught the acting bug, as she is set to appear in an upcoming
Ryan Reynolds comedy called Free Guy, slated for release in July 2020.
In addition to showing up in film, Kostek has also taken on a couple of hosting and
reporter gigs.
From 2016 to 2017, she was a reporter for New England Sports Network's show Dirty Water
TV a show all about New England's nightlife scene where she covered a variety of sporting
events.
In 2018, she hosted a red carpet for Maxim's Hot 100 Experience.
It all goes to show that, Gronk or no Gronk, Camille Kostek is certainly a rising star.
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