'We Have an 'Old-School Love'

Finding lasting love as a celebrity is uncommon. Finding lasting love as a practicing Christian celebrity is rarer still. But singer-songwriter Ciara Wilson (née Harris) and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson have found just that. After challenging prior relationships, both have found in each other a dedicated parent and partner in love and faith. As Russell Wilson puts it, they have an “old school love.”

How the lovebirds met

The two first met while attending a University of Wisconsin basketball game and quickly made plans to have dinner with each other. When Ciara and Russell first met in 2015, Ciara was immersed in a difficult split and custody proceeding from the father of her son, Nayvadius Wilburn, better known as the rapper Future. The split was very public and contentious, with gossip columnists and even other rappers weighing in. Ciara found herself being veritably stalked by paparazzi amid the split, which made keeping her initial dates with Russell Wilson private challenging. And when Future found out? He publicly lashed out at both Ciara and Russell, leading both Ciara and Future to sue each other for defamation and slander.

Things calmed down, and both dropped the lawsuits. During that turmoil, the future Wilsons developed a strong relationship. So strong, in fact, that they married a year later. Russell himself was no stranger to challenging relationships. He had been married before to Ashton Meem, a woman he initially met in high school. They had a long-distance relationship as they attended separate colleges and eventually married in 2012, just three months before the Seahawks drafted Russell. However, the couple divorced only two years later, and both Meem and Russell have remained tight-lipped about what went down.

The Wilsons’ shared faith

Life is difficult enough, but living in the public eye adds a certain level of pressure that can make things unbearable. However, the Wilsons managed to stay grounded in their shared Christian faith, which undoubtedly helps them deal with the perils of fame. Every morning they wake up at 6:00 A.M. to pray together — a prayer of gratitude in which they express their intentions for the day and ask that it be great.

This shared prayer is illustrative of why the two are so compatible. Ciara recently told GQ magazine that she considers the two of them “equally yoked spiritually,” a Biblical phrase referring to how two are joined together. It’s also illustrative of why they remain passionate about each other and have established rules for how long they — busy celebrities that they are — can be apart from each other.

They have a blended family, with Russell helping raise Ciara’s son with Future — also named Future. The two also recently welcomed their two children, Sienna Princess and Win, into the world. Russell’s parenting qualities are one of the things Ciara finds most attractive about Russell. “The father in him is by far one of the things that makes him the most sexy to me,” she told GQ. “Hot. To me, it’s hot.”

Chasing perfection

The two are keenly aware that from the outside, their relationship appears perfect. They strive to live up to that ideal for themselves and their family. They’ve both been committed to winning and their Christian faith, even before they were married. That approach has long worked for both of them. Russell Wilson has, after all, played in two Super Bowls and been named to eight Pro Bowls.

Ciara has sold millions of records. Even during her split with Future, she kept her head held high. As people speculated on Twitter about Ciara and Russell’s emerging relationship, Russell himself went on Twitter and tweeted, “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but Ciara didn’t pray for a man, she prayed for herself.” That inward focus, despite outside turmoil, helps explain their continued professional — and personal — success.

It’s not always been easy. At one point, when Ciara was struggling, Wilson shared with her James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy when you face trials and tribulations, for the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” It’s a scripture that deeply resonated with Ciara, reminding her that all of her struggles have meaning and purpose.

As they both navigate life together, they do so resolute in their shared faith in each other and in the Lord. Or, as Russell puts it, “God is the center of it all for us. And that’s a foundation for us. I think as we get to do everything together, business, life, kids, you know, parenthood, all that stuff, in every one of those categories the center of it is God and our faith.”

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