- Have YOU got a story? Email tips@dailymail.co.uk
- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez have spent a decade building an incredible life together.
During that time, they have raised a happy family, shared some of the biggest moments of their careers, and become one of the world's hottest couples.
To celebrate their love, the pair are set to marry this weekend on the island where the footballer grew up, according to reports.
Yet despite everything they have experienced, one question continues to follow them: Why has it taken so long for the pair to get down the aisle?
It wasn't until August last year that the Portuguese star popped the question to the influencer - nine years into their relationship.
Georgina, 32, even joked that the soccer star, 41, popping the question with an 'enormous' diamond ring was 'the least he could offer' after waiting for so long to propose.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez have spent a decade building a life together. Yet one question continues to follow them: Why has it taken so long for the pair to get down the aisle?
It wasn't until August last year that the Portuguese star popped the question to the influencer - nine years into their relationship
However, Cristiano revealed that he didn't plan to propose to the 'woman of his life' the night they got engaged, but it felt like the 'right time'.
He said that two of his children inspired him to give Georgina a 'not-so romantic' and off-the-cuff proposal.
'It was like 1am. My daughters were in bed sleeping,' the 41-year-old told Piers Morgan in part one of their new interview.
He said: 'One of my friends gave me the ring to offer Gio (Georgina) and as I was giving her the ring, my two kids come in and say 'Daddy, you're going to give the ring to mum and you're going to ask her to get married.'
'I said, 'Wow, this is the right moment to say yes.' It was the time. I knew that I was going to do it one day but I hadn't planned to do it then.
'Because my daughters said that and my friends were filming, it was what I wanted and I offered (the ring). I didn't (get on one knee) because I wasn't prepared but it was a beautiful moment. I made a speech.
'It was simple, I'm not a very romantic guy. Well, I am, but I'm not very romantic, not the kind of guy who brings flowers every week to the home. But I'm romantic in my way. It was beautiful and I knew that it's the woman of my life so I did that and I hope that I did it well.'
The news of their proposal left fans surprised, due to the fact they had assumed the couple were already married.
The Portuguese footballer has been involved in a relationship with Rodriguez after crossing paths at a Gucci store in 2016
Over the last ten years neither have moved to discredit persistent claims of a secret marriage
And why wouldn't they? After all, many years have passed since their eyes first met across the well-appointed shop floor of a Spanish Gucci store.
At the time, he was at the peak of his career, an icon for local club Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team, while she was a part-time model who supplemented her income as a shop assistant at the high-end boutique, located within the historic boulevards of Madrid's Salamanca.
Their relationship then continued to go from strength to strength, and neither has moved to discredit persistent claims of a secret marriage.
But the Instagram post of the giant rock, worth upwards of £2M, confirmed the footballer had only just asked for her hand in marriage.
So why did it take so long?
In an interview with Marca last year, Cristiano revealed he hadn't yet married Georgina, with whom he shares two kids, because he hadn't felt the 'click'.
He said: 'I always tell her, 'when we get that click.' Like everything with our life, and she knows what I'm talking about.
'It could be in a year or it could be in six months or it could be in a month. I'm 1000% sure that it'll happen.'
The footballer has openly admitted that he is 'not a romantic guy' in the traditional sense, though he insisted he expresses romance in his own manner.
What was the click he needed, you ask? Perhaps we'll never know the answer, but the last ten years have not been without their fair share of turbulence - both on and off the pitch.
Cristiano had been Real Madrid's talisman for seven years and was already a father to son Cristiano Jr when he met Georgina in Madrid, but his whirlwind career would soon see the couple uprooted to northern Italy.
It was a period of significant change, with Cristiano having welcomed twins Eva and Mateo via an American surrogate in June 2017 - just five months before Georgina gave birth to their first biological child, daughter Alana Martin.
However, the move to Turin and Italian giants Juventus took precedence as he adapted to life in a new city and a highly competitive league after close to a decade in the Spanish capital.
But there would be precious little time to settle, with the family once more on the move in 2021 - this time to England, with Cristiano making a surprise return to the Premier League and Manchester United.
The couple moved from Madrid to Turin in 2018, where Ronaldo enjoyed a thrphy-laden three year spell with Serie A giants Juventus
It was a homecoming of sorts for the Portuguese ace, who had established himself as one of the world's brightest talents during his first, trophy-laden spell with United.
And just months after arriving in Manchester there was joy on a personal front for Cristiano, with Georgina confirming her second pregnancy - this time with her own twins, a boy and a girl.
But the couple were devastated when their male twin tragically died during childbirth the following April - a loss they later described as 'the greatest pain.'
'It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that our baby boy has passed away. It is the greatest pain that any parents can feel,' read an announcement shared by the couple.
'Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness.
'We would like to thank the doctors and nurses for all their expert care and support. We are all devastated at this loss and we kindly ask for privacy at this very difficult time.
'Our baby boy, you are our angel. We will always love you.'
The couple's heartache mirrored a torrid spell in Manchester, with Georgina reportedly unable to settle in Lancashire and Ronaldo failing to replicate his earlier successes with United.
Indeed, the footballer's inability to form a cohesive working relationship with then-manager Erik Ten Hag would ultimately lead to his early departure from the club, but not before launching a blistering public attack on the Dutchman during a sit-down interview with Piers Morgan.
Another move beckoned, and a hasty one at that, this time to Saudi Arabia, the arab riches of Riyadh based football club Al Nassr and the rapidly developing Saudi Pro League.
Three years on and the couple appear to be settled in Saudi, where Cristiano signed a contract extension worth an incredible £167million-per-year.
Georgina has of course become something of a celebrity in her own right, albeit through association, having launched a hugely successful fly-on-the-wall docuseries with streaming giant Netflix.
But despite the domestic stability it promotes, there has been persistent conjecture regarding the circumstances and setting in which the couple first met.
Both parties have always maintained they met by chance during Cristiano's now famous trip to Gucci, but separate sources tell a rather different story.
Appearing on Spanish TV show Fiesta in June 2025, a former friend claimed the couple really met at famous Madrid nightspot Opium, a venue Rodriguez allegedly frequented in the hope of meeting wealthy sportsmen.
According to the friend, Georgina 'always had interest in athletes, especially footballers' prior to her initial meeting with Ronaldo.
'If it hadn’t been Cristiano, it would’ve been someone else,' she said.
It was an unsubstantiated claim, and one the couple could easily dismiss after weathering a significantly heavier storm in 2018, when Cristiano faced historic accusations of rape.
In 2021 there was joy on a personal front for Cristiano and Georgina, who confirmed her second pregnancy - this time with twins, a boy and a girl
But the couple were devastated when their male twin tragically died during childbirth the following April - a loss they later described as 'the greatest pain'
The pair hold hands outside a Madrid courthouse in 2019
Kathryn Mayorga waived her right to anonymity by alleging the footballer had raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009 before he subsequently paid her £375,000 in hush money. Ronaldo has vehemently denied the claims.
Releasing a statement in October 2018, he said: 'I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.'
Kathryn, a former teacher and model from the Las Vegas area, was 25 when she met Cristiano at a nightclub in 2009 and went with him and other people to his hotel suite.
She alleged in her lawsuit filed almost a decade later that the star, then 24, sexually assaulted her in a bedroom.
Cristiano through his lawyers, maintained the sex was consensual and that the confidentiality agreement reached in 2010 was valid.
In November 2023, a U.S. appeals court sided with Cristiano, rejecting an appeal by Kathryn's lawyer to force the star to pay millions more than the $375,000 (£299,385) in hush money he originally paid.
Her lawyer had asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge's dismissal of the case in Las Vegas in June 2022 and reopen the civil lawsuit she filed in 2018.
Kathryn Mayorga (pictured) waived her right to anonymity by alleging Cristiano had raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009 before subsequently paying her £375,000 in hush money
Kathryn and her lawyer Leslie Stovall (pictured) had their appeal for more money dismissed in 2023
They argued U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey should not have rejected Kathryn's attempts to unseal and make public the confidentiality agreement she signed in 2010 in accepting payments from Cristano.
A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appellate court disagreed. It also rejected their argument that the judge abused her discretion by dismissing the case with prejudice, which prevented Kathryn from re-filing the case, and took the unusual step of levying a $335,000 (£267,450) fine against her lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall.
'The district court clearly recognised the gravity of dismissing the case and accordingly provided a thorough analysis, amply supported by factual findings,' Judge Johnnie Rawlinson wrote in a six-page opinion.
In dismissing the case in Nevada, Judge Jennifer sanctioned Stovall for 'bad faith,' saying he had improperly attempted to use documents that were leaked or stolen in a cyberattack to pursue Kathryn's case.
Leslie told the 9th Circuit panel during oral arguments in October that Kathryn wasn't bound by the confidentiality agreement because Cristiano or his associates violated it before the German news outlet, Der Spiegel, published an article in April 2017 titled 'Cristiano Ronaldo's Secret' based on documents obtained from 'the whistleblower portal Football Leaks.'
Ronaldo signed a contract extension with Saudi club Al Nassr worth £167million-per-year
The footballer will likely end his career with the club, where his goalscoring exploits have continued in earnest
Las Vegas police reopened a rape investigation after Kathryn's lawsuit was filed, but Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson decided in 2019 not to pursue criminal charges. He said too much time had passed and evidence failed to show that Kathryn's accusation could be proven to a jury.
Kathryn's lawsuit claimed conspiracy, defamation, breach of contract, coercion and fraud. By the time Dorsey threw out the case, Leslie claimed Kathryn would receive far more than $25 million (£19.9m) in damages.
The 9th Circuit ruling noted the 2010 settlement 'lay dormant until 2017, when `Football Leaks' released hundreds of documents through a cyber hack of Cristiano's former attorneys.'
'Despite the settlement and confidentiality agreement between Cristiano and Kathryn, Leslie sought and used documents from 'Football Leaks' - including those clearly marked attorney-client privileged - to prosecute a new lawsuit on behalf of Kathryn against Cristiano,' the circuit court said.
Having weathered their fair share of storms, Ronaldo and Rodriguez are now looking ahead to what will likely be an extravagant wedding ceremony - which is set to take place over the weekend.
The Sun reported he will get married at a cathedral, with weddings usually starting from 3pm before moving to the Savoy Palace hotel, which boasts four restaurants.
A source said: 'Guests at the hotel have been told two floors will be out of use on Friday and Saturday, as well as several bar areas.'
Funchal is the hometown and birthplace of football star Cristiano. There is a bronze statue in his honour and he even has a hotel named after him.
While he has a huge net worth, his choice to revisit his hometown is hugely sentimental as he grew up in poverty and shared a room with all of his siblings. He left home at the age of 11 to join Sporting Lisbon.
The Daily Mail has contacted Georgina and Cristiano's representatives for comment.