Camille Kostek Credits Rob Gronkowski's Near Career-Ending Injury in 2013 for 'Long-Lasting Relationship'

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Camille Kostek will "never forget" the moment Rob Gronkowski suffered a near career-ending injury right in front of her in 2013.

During an appearance on SiriusXM podcast Under The Swimfluence with SI Swimsuit, Kostek, 30, shared how the scary moment brought the couple closer together.

Kostek told the show's hosts that in December 2013, she and Gronkowski, 33, had only been "dating for less than a month," when the NFL star suffered the injury. At the time, she was a cheerleader for the New England Patriots and Gronkowski was not yet her "certified boyfriend," she explained.

"He took a big hit that headlines were saying was a career-ending injury," Kostek recalled.

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The supermodel remembered "trying not to cry," after her now-boyfriend took the hit on the field, right in front of where she and the New England Patriots cheerleaders were watching the game. "It was like slow motion. I wanted to throw my pom-poms and go on the field and rip his helmet off," she said.

An especially frightening moment for Kostek came when she was able to "see through his helmet" as he was lying on the field. "He was like, 'Help,'" she remembered.

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However, Kostek looks back on the injury as something that helped her and Gronkowski's relationship to progress in its early days.

The supermodel explained that the severity of Gronkowski's injury gave her a crash course in what life would be like as his girlfriend. "I learned within a few weeks of just getting to know Rob, what it was going to take to pursue a relationship with someone in the NFL," she said.

Gronkowski's injury required him to undergo "full rehab" on his torn ACL at the time, which Kostek revealed meant the NFL star "was sleeping on a reclining chair" and needed her assistance with everyday tasks.

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"I was helping him take his clothes off, helping him bathe, doing things that allowed us to really get close and become very serious very quickly."

The former New England Patriots star was working with a team of physical therapists at the time, Kostek shared, but she added that being with him "24/7" and providing emotional support helped further their connection early in the relationship.

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Now that the two have been dating for nearly a decade, Gronkowski says he's thinking about popping the question soon. Gronkowski recently told PEOPLE, he and Kostek "definitely talk about" getting engaged.

However, Gronkowski explained that it's been tough because "we're both super busy with our careers right now."