R&B songstress Ciara and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson are one of America's
favorite power couples.
But that doesn't mean certain quirks in their seemingly perfect relationship haven't raised
a few eyebrows over the years.
Here are some strange facts about Russell Wilson and Ciara's marriage.
The year 2014 was a tumultuous one for these lovebirds.
Ciara called it quits with her then-fiancé, rapper Future, in December, just months after
he was hit with cheating allegations.
While Ciara refused to publicly comment on the alleged infidelity at the time, E! News
sources claimed she was "humiliated" but initially wanted to try to make things work for the
sake of her family.
Their son, Future Zahir, was only 6 months old when the two broke up.
Meanwhile, Wilson filed for divorce from his first wife, Ashton Meem, in April 2014, after
two years of marriage.
He didn't say much publicly either, beyond a statement asking for "prayers, understanding
and privacy."
Ciara and Wilson's relationship timeline was certainly speedy.
Just four months after her breakup with Future, she publicly debuted her coupling with the
football pro when they held hands at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April 2015.
The following March, they announced their engagement after Wilson surprised his musical
girlfriend with a vacation to the Seychelles.
Following a three-month engagement, they married in a fairy tale wedding in July 2016.
While moving too quickly can be a recipe for disaster for some couples, it certainly seems
to be working out for these two.
They're still together, and by all public accounts still happy.
For evidence of their wedded bliss, just look to the sweet social media messages they've
sent to each other.
"You are the best partner in life I could ever hope for.
I'll ride for you, I'd die for you, I love you so much."
"Baby, you're my greatest love, for several reasons."
Ciara and Wilson are both devout Christians.
For one thing, his Twitter bio reads:
"I want to Love like Jesus!"
While some might consider their shared faith to be a beautiful thing, it's also led to
some pretty wild rumors.
In 2016, the website Celeb Dirty Laundry alleged that Ciara had turned into a "Stepford wife"
and had been "brainwashed" by her husband's Christian lifestyle.
The gossip rag claimed that she wasn't in contact with some of her closest friends anymore
and that she was no longer provocatively dancing or giving her fans lap dances like she had
in the past.
The site also speculated that she might eventually start to show cracks in her façade and go
back to her old ways.
But she hasn't really displayed any slip-ups since then that might appease the haters.
Ciara and Wilson were so eager to get married that wedding planning turned out to be a bit
of a hassle, three times over!
The couple's wedding planner, Mindy Weiss, revealed to the wedding website The Knot that
they were originally going to get married in North Carolina, but they nixed those plans
because of the transgender bathroom laws.
Then they tried to do it in Paris, but it proved too difficult because it conflicted
with Fashion Week.
Eventually they settled on London.
Planning one wedding three times sounds like a nightmare, but luckily, it all worked out
in the end.
The couple got hitched on July 5, 2016.
Their big day was cloaked in secrecy, and they went to extreme lengths to keep the gorgeous
affair absolutely private.
According to a TMZ source, the couple's closest friends and family met in a central location,
without cell phones, before being transported to the ceremony at Peckforton Castle.
Three days after the pair's lavish English ceremony, the lovebirds were officially married
Stateside in King County, Washington.
When Ciara and Wilson decided to abstain from sex before marriage, they were very open about
it.
As Wilson has described it, they decided to take "all that extra stuff off the table"
and do it "Jesus' way."
It sounds like they kept to their promise, but not without some struggles.
As Ciara told Cosmopolitan in 2016,
"I'm human, so it is not easy, especially when I look at him and I think he is the most
beautiful thing I've ever seen - that I've ever laid my eyes on, to be honest.
I'm like, Look the other way!
Look the other way!"
But she believes that celibacy ultimately strengthened their relationship.
She told Cosmopolitan South Africa in 2017,
"I really believe that when you focus on a friendship, you have the opportunity to build
a strong foundation for a relationship."
After striking a four-year, $140 million contract extension with the Seahawks in 2019, a deal
that made him the highest-paid player in the NFL, Wilson took an unconventional route when
it came to the PR.
Instead of an official press conference, he broke the exciting news in the middle of the
night with a sexy Instagram video of him in bed with Ciara.
"Hey Seattle, we got a deal."
"Go Hawks!"
The clip immediately went viral.
It was parodied by Wilson's teammates D.J.
Fluker and Tyler Lockett, and it was given the hilarious meme treatment by multiple NFL
fans.
Plus, the content and timing of the video led to some TMI speculation regarding what
went on after that video was shot, which Ciara playfully addressed on Watch What Happens
Live the following night.
"After we did that video we went to sleep."
“After?
Okay.”
"After the video."
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