Legendary snowboarder Shaun White and actress Nina Dobrev are engaged
This article originally appeared on E! Online.
Nina Dobrev and Shaun White are taking their relationship to new heights.
The Olympic gold medalist and "Vampire Diaries" actress just announced their engagement after five years of dating.
“She said yes,” White wrote in an Oct. 30 Instagram post, with photos that showed off his romantic candlelight proposal. Dobrev later added in her own post, “RIP Boyfriend, hello fiancé.”
In the photos that captured the couple’s exciting relationship milestone, Dobrev wore a black sparkly dress with polka-dot patterned tights, black heels and her hair in a simple straight hairstyle. Meanwhile, White sported an all-black tuxedo.
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The candid photographs were especially sweet, showcasing Dobrev’s reaction to White getting down on one knee and an up-close shot of Dobrev’s simple engagement ring, with a large square-cut diamond in the center of a thin band.
Dobrev and White’s big news comes after an eventful year for the couple — as the "Love Hard" actress underwent a serious knee fracture from a biking accident that landed her in the hospital and was followed by months of rehabilitation.
PHOTOS Nina Dobrev and Shaun White: Road to Romance
Still, the 35-year-old proved that the retired Olympian was her biggest supporter throughout her recovery, sharing that he purchased a sweatshirt emblazoned with the many eras of her "Vampire Diaries" character Elena Gilbert — and sported it for her in a goofy video she shared in a health update social media post in June.
Since they first began dating in 2019, Dobrev and White have proven to be each other’s better halves, first debuting their romance as they quarantined together during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. It was at that point that their relationship "really accelerated" and the two "made it clear to their friends that they are a serious couple," a source previously told E! News.
And when White retired from professional snowboarding in 2022, he raved of Dobrev’s “love and support” through the life transition — especially considering many of his family and friends couldn’t be there to see his final competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
“She knew all of my friends and family couldn't be there and she got everyone together and made this incredible video of everyone saying how much they wish they could be there and sending their love and support," the 38-year-old told E! News at the time, adding that he played that video "every day" while in Beijing. "So that was just so wonderful. It really set the tone for the rest of the trip.”
The end of White’s snowboarding career was also only the beginning of one of the couple’s favorite joint activities: skiing together. Indeed, the Canada native and former Olympian are two peas in a pod when they hit the slopes.
“She's really good on the board,” White gushed of Dobrev to E! News earlier this year. “She grew up in Canada. So, it was nice 'cause that's definitely sometimes a relationship make-or-break. Not if they can't ride, but I've had people come up with me and it didn't end well 'cause I'm not the best coach at times.”
Dobrev’s affinity for skiing is just one of the many reasons their relationship always sticks the landing. As White added to E! News, “It's nice to have a partner that loves the mountains and is adventurous and all that.”
