As one of the biggest sports stars on the planet, Megan Rapinoe knows a thing or two about practice and preparation. But when it came time for her to propose to longtime girlfriend Sue Bird this year, she opted for a leap of faith.
Last month, the World Cup-winning soccer player revealed that she’d popped the question to Bird, a veteran player for the 2020 WNBA champion Seattle Storm. Both women confirmed the engagement by sharing a stunning, caption-less photo on Instagram that showed Rapinoe kneeling before Bird on the ledge of what appeared to be a swimming pool overlooking the ocean.
In a Monday interview with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show,” Rapinoe kept mum on the specifics, such as the date and location of the proposal, but described the moment as “sweet and beautiful and spontaneous.”
“I didn’t really have a special ring,” she said. “I actually took one of the rings off my fingers and gave it to Sue. I didn’t know exactly when I was going to do it, but just the perfect moment presented itself.”
Shortly after their engagement photo made headlines, Rapinoe and Bird were congratulated by Joe Biden on Twitter. It was just days before he was elected the 46th president of the U.S.
Rapinoe and Bird have been in a relationship for more than four years. The women met at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and have established themselves as a sports power couple since then.
Rapinoe’s “Tonight Show” appearance was timed to coincide with the release of her new memoir, “One Life.” In the book, she notes that Bird had not yet gone public about her sexuality at the time the two met.
“It’s almost like we’re a generation apart in that way, in how society was thinking about gay and talking about gay,” Rapinoe told NPR’s Terry Gross in a separate interview this week. “But yeah ― once big, gay Megan came onto the scene, she had to make a decision very quickly, I think.”