Low-key celebrity proposals as Jennifer Lopez shares how Ben Affleck popped the question
From entire beaches strewn with roses to chartered helicopter rides, the A-list are well known for their lavish proposals (we're looking at you Kardashian sisters), however, some stars prefer to keep the moment a little more low-key.
Just ask Jennifer Lopez. The Marry Me actor, 52, has shared details of beau Ben Affleck’s proposal, almost 20 years after the couple were last engaged.
The singer sent fans a video message in her newsletter, On The JLo, in which she revealed that Affleck, 49, popped the question while she was in a bubble bath.
"Did you ever imagine your biggest dream could come true?" she said. "Saturday night while at my favourite place on earth (in the bubble bath), my beautiful love got on one knee and proposed."
Lopez went on to reveal she was "taken totally off guard" and "just looked in his eyes smiling and crying at the same time trying hard to get my head around the fact that after 20 years this was happening all over again, I was quite literally speechless and he said, 'is that a yes?' I said 'YES of course that’s a YES'."
The Hustlers star added: "I was smiling so big and tears were coming down my face, feeling so incredibly happy and whole.
"It was nothing fancy at all, but it was the most romantic thing I could've ever imagined...just a quiet Saturday night at home, two people promising to always be there for each other."
And Bennifer aren't the only celebrities who have chosen to shun a more showy way of popping the question.
From Prince Harry and Meghan Markle getting engaged while roasting a chicken at home, to Ellie Goulding's proposal over a jigsaw, these stars kept their romantic moments a little more paired-back.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
You might expect a royal engagement to be somewhat regal, but Prince Harry's proposal to Meghan Markle was remarkably regular.
In their first joint interview after announcing their engagement, the couple revealed they'd been cooking roast chicken together when the Duke of Sussex, surprised his other half by getting down on one knee.
"It happened here at our cottage; just a standard typical night for us," Prince Harry told BBC, to which Meghan interjected: "Just a cosy night, it was – what we were doing just roasting chicken… and it just – just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee."
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
Will Smith's proposal was was amazingly ordinary, having decided to propose to Jada Pinkett Smith on a whim while they were getting ready to go to sleep.
"We were just lying there, going to sleep. I looked over at her, and I said, 'Hey, we might be real good married. Wassup? You wanna marry me?'" he told People.
"Unplanned. No ring. Not the classic proposal. She said yes. It's really weird when you live the kind of lifestyle that we live: Simplicity becomes the jewel."
George and Amal Clooney
The Clooneys got engaged at home in April 2014 seven months after they began dating, but things didn't quite go according to plan. The couple enjoyed a romantic home-cooked meal, after which George planned to pop the question, but Amal scuppered his romantic gesture by going off to do the washing up.
"I've got it all set up, timed out and the song is coming and she gets up to go wash the dishes, which she's never done," the actor told Ellen DeGeneres. "And I'm like, 'What are you doing?' and she comes back in. And finally I said, 'Ya know, I blew out the candle' and I said, 'I think the lighter's in the box behind you.' And she reaches around and she pulls out the box and I've got just the ring sitting in there and she pulls it out and she looks at it and she's like, 'It's a ring' – like as if somebody had left it there some other time."
The human rights lawyer remained somewhat surprised by the low-key proposal, so much so that she kept the Oscar winner on his knee for 25 minutes. "'Look, I hope the answer is yes, but I need an answer. I'm 52 and I could throw my hip pretty soon,'" he recalls saying.
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Leigh Anne Pinnock and Andre Gray
Leigh Anne Pinnock's boyfriend, Andre Gray, decided to pop the question during the coronavirus lockdown and on the couple's fourth anniversary.
The footballer strung a twinkly canopy of fairy lights in the garden and set up an outdoor sofa before asking his other half to marry him.
Watch: Kristen Stewart felt 'lucky' to hold engagement party amid pandemic
Last year, Pinnock shared numerous photos of her enjoying the post-proposal moment. "Guys.. wtf has just happened... He bloody did it, and I said yes," she wrote.
"I'm marrying my soulmate, the man of my flipping dreams...," she continued. "I am lost for words, so I think I'm just going to go cry some more @andregray_ I love you so much. My world is literally complete."
Low-key but so sweet.
Amy Schumer and Chris Fischer
You can always count on Amy Schumer to keep things real and proposals don't come much more down to earth than the way Chris Fischer asked her to marry him.
The I Feel Pretty actor recalled the not-so-romantic moment Chris threw a ring box at her when she was still sleeping and then wondered aloud if she needed him to get down on one knee.
"The proposal was whack," she said. "He proposed to me in the morning. That's like when people in a nursing home get engaged. Not like at sunrise, like I was still asleep. I was sleeping.
Read more: Meghan and Harry 'loving life as a family of four' and finding 'work-life balance'
"And I sleep like I'm still in the womb: earplugs, eye mask, my mom's legs around my shoulders.
"So I'm in the womb, and he comes in and I just like took one ear plug out, I was like, eh?" she said.
"And he just kind of threw the ring box at me and he goes, 'I got you this'.
"And I open it and he goes, 'Do you want me to get down on one knee?' And I'm like, 'I guess not.'
"And then I went back to sleep. That's the truth."
Ellie Goulding and Caspar Jopling
Ellie Goulding may be well used to the glitz and glamour of red carpet events, but her engagement was somewhat more stripped-back.
"We were having maybe a couple of drinks and we were doing a jigsaw puzzle," she recalled whilst on The Jonathan Ross Show.
"He likes them. I think it was quite an easy one. Probably 400 (pieces). Anyway, I think he was getting bored of it and then he proposed. It was quite romantic for some reason."
Lisa Snowdon and George Smart
Proposing in bed seems to be something of a celebrity trend right now and was the location of choice for George Smart to pop the question to TV presenter Lisa Snowden.
"This day 4 years ago @i_smarticus surprised me beyond with the most gorgeous act of love and commitment," she said of the low-key but sweet proposal.
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"It was a Saturday morning, we were in bed in our PJs drinking coffee and I will never forget that day for as long as I live."
Vicky McClure and Jonny Owen
Actor Jonny Owen proposed to Line of Duty star Vicky McClure on Christmas Day in 2017 while the couple were enjoying a cuppa.
"He popped the question over a cup of tea – we moved onto the bubbles by 8.30am," McClure told the Nottingham Post of the casual proposal.
Turns out Owen actually hid the ring where the couple keep the teabags!
