14 Female Celebs Who Proposed to Their Partners

Mar. 16, 2025

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi.Photo:Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi attend the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones

Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Love doesn’t always wait for tradition!Stars like Rita Ora, Sarah Snook and Kristen Bell flipped the script and asked for their partners' hands in marriage. They’ve proven that the moment is just as special coming from the less expected side, with everything from elaborate asks, like Pink’s motocross roadside proposal, to casual question-popping, à la Haley Lu Richardson during pizza night at home.See which A-list women didn’t wait for their boyfriends to get down on one knee.

Love doesn’t always wait for tradition!

Stars like Rita Ora, Sarah Snook and Kristen Bell flipped the script and asked for their partners' hands in marriage. They’ve proven that the moment is just as special coming from the less expected side, with everything from elaborate asks, like Pink’s motocross roadside proposal, to casual question-popping, à la Haley Lu Richardson during pizza night at home.

See which A-list women didn’t wait for their boyfriends to get down on one knee.

01of 14Rita OraRita Ora and Taika Waititi.Amy Sussman/Getty ImagesThe singer’s now-husband, filmmaker Taika Waititi, toldVoguethat he “said ‘yes’ instantly” whenOra proposedon their vacation to Palm Springs during the summer of 2022. Their private at-home wedding in L.A. took place just a few weeks later.“There were about eight people there — just close friends and family, and parents on Zoom," Waititi said, detailing their wedding in the one-year anniversary interview.In May 2023, the “For You” singer explained that, like her wedding ceremony, the proposal itself wassimple and heartfelt. Ora toldGlamour UKthat there was “no real getting down on one knee. It was more like, ‘I want to marry you. Let’s just do it.’ "

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Rita Ora

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi.Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi attend the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones

The singer’s now-husband, filmmaker Taika Waititi, toldVoguethat he “said ‘yes’ instantly” whenOra proposedon their vacation to Palm Springs during the summer of 2022. Their private at-home wedding in L.A. took place just a few weeks later.

“There were about eight people there — just close friends and family, and parents on Zoom,” Waititi said, detailing their wedding in the one-year anniversary interview.

In May 2023, the “For You” singer explained that, like her wedding ceremony, the proposal itself wassimple and heartfelt. Ora toldGlamour UKthat there was “no real getting down on one knee. It was more like, ‘I want to marry you. Let’s just do it.’ "

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Becca Kufrin

thomas jacobs/instagram

becca kufrin and thomas jacobs in hawaii

The formerBachelorettestar is engaged toThomas Jacobs, sherevealed on Instagramin May 2022, announcing, “In the ultimate plot twist … HE SAID YES!”

“The ultimate UNO reverse card / power move. You keeping me on my toes for a lifetime has a great ring to it. Cheers to forever Boops,” Jacobs added in his own Instagram post.

“We’ve been keeping this secret just between us and close family & friends for a while but we’re so excited to shout it from the rooftops!” Kufrin wrote.

“I finally found my chauffeur for life and the one who makes my heart smile every single day. I can’t wait to do it all with you Tommy, thanks for making me the happiest gal alive. I love you to the moon & back,” she continued.

03of 14Sarah SnookKarwai Tang/WireImageIn an interview withVogueAustralia, Snook revealed that shequietly married her close friend, comedian Dave Lawson, in February 2021 after the two were locked down together in Melbourne at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.“We’ve been friends since 2014, lived together, traveled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic,” she said in the cover story for the magazine’s November issue. “We’ve just never been single at the same time.“Snook said that after falling in love, she proposed, and the two wed in her Brooklyn backyard.“We had matching Blunnies,” Snook toldVogue, referring to the couple’s footwear choice the day of their wedding.The couple welcomed their first child togetherin 2023, just as Snook’s hit seriesSuccessionended.

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Sarah Snook

Karwai Tang/WireImage

Sarah Snook

In an interview withVogueAustralia, Snook revealed that shequietly married her close friend, comedian Dave Lawson, in February 2021 after the two were locked down together in Melbourne at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve been friends since 2014, lived together, traveled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic,” she said in the cover story for the magazine’s November issue. “We’ve just never been single at the same time.”

Snook said that after falling in love, she proposed, and the two wed in her Brooklyn backyard.

“We had matching Blunnies,” Snook toldVogue, referring to the couple’s footwear choice the day of their wedding.

The couple welcomed their first child togetherin 2023, just as Snook’s hit seriesSuccessionended.

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Jodie Turner-Smith

Jodie Turner-Smith and Joshua Jackson.David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images

Jodie Turner-Smith and Joshua Jackson

Joshua Jacksonrevealed to Jimmy Fallonthat his now-wife (and the mother of their daughter) was the one who suggested they get hitched.

Fallon asked theDr. Deathactor, “Did you guys always know that you were going to get married?”

Jackson cheekily responded, “I knew the moment she asked me!” He then explained, “She asked me on New Year’s Eve. We’re in Nicaragua, it’s very beautiful, incredibly romantic, we’re walking down the beach and she asked me to marry her.”

He said that he wasn’t expecting the proposal, but admits Turner-Smith “was quite adamant and she was right. This is the best choice I ever made.”

Jackson noted that he was most focused on speaking to Turner-Smith’s biological father and her stepdad, whom he said “raised her,” prior to their nuptials.

“[I said], ‘You have to give me the opportunity to ask both of those men for your hand in marriage,’ " he said. “And then, ‘I would like the opportunity to re-propose those to you and do it the old-fashioned way down on bended knee.’ So, that’s actually how the story ended up.”

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Jenna Bush Hager

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Jenna Bush Hager and Henry Hager

Five years before theTodayhost’s husband asked her to marry him, Hager beat him to the punch. As shetold her cohost Hoda Kotb, “I asked Henry to marry me.”

“Because he said no, and then he asked me five years later,'' Hager said.

Hager was in her early 20s and ready to tie the knot, even though the pair had only been dating for a few months. “After three months of dating - I might’ve had a Christmas cocktail - and we were dancing, and I said, ‘This is it, I know it, let’s just get married, what are we waiting for?’ " Hager said.

Henry let her down easy, though: “He smiled, and he was like, ‘I’m crazy about you, but you’re young.’ "

Well, Hager was technically right! The pair got married in 2008 and share three children.

06of 14Lindsey VonnLindsey Vonn, P.K. Subban.Lindsey Vonn/InstagramThe Olympic gold medalistpopped the questionto hockey star P.K. Subban, as part of a sweet Christmas surprise in December 2019. The catch: They were already engaged.“Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!!” she captioned thepost. “On our 2 year anniversary I returned the favor and asked PK to marry me… and he said yes ☺️"While Subbanfirst proposedin August, Vonn didn’t see why that meant she couldn’t follow suit.She continued: “We talk about equality but actions speak louder than words. Men should get engagement rings too and this is what PK deserves.“The twosplit at the end of 2020.

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Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn, P.K. Subban.Lindsey Vonn/Instagram

Lindsey Vonn Proposes to Fiancé on Christmas

The Olympic gold medalistpopped the questionto hockey star P.K. Subban, as part of a sweet Christmas surprise in December 2019. The catch: They were already engaged.

“Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!!” she captioned thepost. “On our 2 year anniversary I returned the favor and asked PK to marry me… and he said yes ☺️”

While Subbanfirst proposedin August, Vonn didn’t see why that meant she couldn’t follow suit.

She continued: “We talk about equality but actions speak louder than words. Men should get engagement rings too and this is what PK deserves.”

The twosplit at the end of 2020.

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Haley Lu Richardson

Omar Vega/Invision for KFPR/AP Images

Kari Feinstein’s 2018 Oscar Style Lounge - Day 2

“Neither of us are, like, crazy romantic people, so nothing was planned. He was sitting there eating a pizza and he was telling me a joke that Shia LaBeouf had said in an interview, and he was, like, pretending to be Shia LaBeouf explaining this joke and for some reason I just cut him off and was like, ‘Wanna marry me?’ "

The stars split in 2020, though didn’t share the news until 2022.

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Kristen Bell

Steve Granitz/WireImage

74th Annual Golden Globe Awards - Arrivals

“.@daxshepard1 will you marry me? Xo #marriageequality #loveislove,“she tweetedin June 2013.

He replied, “F- yes!!!!!!!!!!!” The actors, who share two daughters, quietly wed that October.

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Britney Spears

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

2004 Billboard Music Awards - Red Carpet

The pop star proposed to Kevin Federline back in 2004 while they were flying from Ireland to New York City. “All of a sudden I said, ‘What if you want to get married?’ And I kind of went from there to asking him if he would marry me,” sherecalled to PEOPLEat the time.

They married in October 2004, but called it quits three years later. They share sons Sean Preston and Jayden James.

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Pink

Kevin Mazur/AMA2012/WireImage

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11of 14Diane von FurstenbergRichard Corkery/Getty ImagesThe fashion designer turned down several proposals from now-husband Barry Diller. But she knew early on that she wanted to spend her life with him, she recalled to Oprah inO Magazine.As they were driving in New York one day, they saw an older man protecting his wife as they walked. “And we both thought the same thing: that we wanted to be that couple someday,” she said. “We said it to each other right then.“Years later, when von Furstenberg didn’t know what to get Diller for his birthday, she had an idea. I called him and said, “You know, if you want, for your birthday I’ll marry you.” His response? “Let me see if I can arrange it.” They’ve been married since 2001.(Diller’s holding group IAC owns DotDash Meredith, publisher of PEOPLE.)

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Diane von Furstenberg

Richard Corkery/Getty Images

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The fashion designer turned down several proposals from now-husband Barry Diller. But she knew early on that she wanted to spend her life with him, she recalled to Oprah inO Magazine.

As they were driving in New York one day, they saw an older man protecting his wife as they walked. “And we both thought the same thing: that we wanted to be that couple someday,” she said. “We said it to each other right then.”

Years later, when von Furstenberg didn’t know what to get Diller for his birthday, she had an idea. I called him and said, “You know, if you want, for your birthday I’ll marry you.” His response? “Let me see if I can arrange it.” They’ve been married since 2001.

(Diller’s holding group IAC owns DotDash Meredith, publisher of PEOPLE.)

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Judge Judy

JUDGE JUDY, Judge Judy Sheindlin, 1996-, © Paramount TV / Courtesy: Everett Collection

The courtroom television star’s tough love showed when she asked her husband Jerry Sheindlin to marry her in the late ’70s.

“I did propose to him,” she toldDuJour. “I said to him, ‘Where is this relationship going?’ And he tried to weasel out of it, with his, ‘Well, you know, why do we have to get married?’ Whatever. He finally capitulated. I told him to pick a date. He picked Flag Day.”

13of 14Gretchen RossiTiffany Rose/GettyTheReal Housewives of Orange Countystar teared up as she popped the question to Slade Smiley. Because of “cold feet,” she had previously ended their relationship after learning he may have been planning a proposal. But she later realized he was the one for her.“With this ring, I hope you’ll say yes, and I hope you’ll marry me, and I hope we’ll have a wonderful, fabulous, maybe not perfect, but happy life together,” shesaid on the Bravo show. In response, he got down on one knee and told her it would be a “privilege” to be her husband. The stars arestill engaged,andwelcomed a daughterin July 2019.

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Gretchen Rossi

Tiffany Rose/Getty

ChefDance Park City 2017 - Night 2

TheReal Housewives of Orange Countystar teared up as she popped the question to Slade Smiley. Because of “cold feet,” she had previously ended their relationship after learning he may have been planning a proposal. But she later realized he was the one for her.

“With this ring, I hope you’ll say yes, and I hope you’ll marry me, and I hope we’ll have a wonderful, fabulous, maybe not perfect, but happy life together,” shesaid on the Bravo show. In response, he got down on one knee and told her it would be a “privilege” to be her husband. The stars arestill engaged,andwelcomed a daughterin July 2019.

14of 14Elizabeth TaylorPhotoshot/GettyThe legendary Hollywood film star had seven husbands, but only proposed to one. She asked British actor Michael Wilding, who was 20 years her senior, to marry her, according toThe Guardian. After he said “yes,” they tied the knot in 1952. They had two kids together, Michael and Christopher, but ultimately amicably divorced.

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Elizabeth Taylor

Photoshot/Getty

Elizabeth Taylor, 1987

The legendary Hollywood film star had seven husbands, but only proposed to one. She asked British actor Michael Wilding, who was 20 years her senior, to marry her, according toThe Guardian. After he said “yes,” they tied the knot in 1952. They had two kids together, Michael and Christopher, but ultimately amicably divorced.

source: people.com