“SNL” alum Cecily Strong reveals she is engaged after ring emoji spoils her 'surprise' proposal

The comedian, who is usually very private about her personal life, revealed how her "surprise" engagement to boyfriend Jack was no surprise.

Live from New York, it’s Cecily Strong with a sweet personal update.

The Saturday Night Live alum stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday night to talk about her return to the stage in Brooklyn Laundry, which is when she revealed the adorable story of her recent engagement.

Strong, who usually keeps the details of her life with longtime boyfriend Jack private, told Meyers that the couple entered a new chapter of their relationship when Jack proposed in December 2023.

“I got engaged,” she said before joking, “I know. You always said, ‘No one will ever love you, and you will never get married.’ You were wrong!”

"I am eating my words," Meyers laughed. "Did he pull it off well? Was it a surprise?"

While Strong's fiancé fully intended to surprise her with the big moment, the proposal didn’t go down as smoothly as planned. “But I am kind of a detective,” she added, in his defense.

Strong already had an inkling about the proposal, since the couple previously discussed the subject of marriage.

“One day he was like, ‘I’m so inundated with emails and texts, look at this,’” she said. "And he showed me his phone, and the first text was from a friend that said, ‘How did it go?! Ring emoji.’ And then, I was like. ‘Oh no, should I?’ And he went, ‘Did you see that?’ And I was like, ‘I could try very hard to lie, but…’”

Although the secret was out, Strong encouraged her partner to follow through on his plan to pick the perfect moment and get down on one knee: “I was like, ‘Whenever you want to do it, that’ll be the surprise,’” she said. But in the end, the comedian ended up taking charge of his timing.

“I still then took that from him,” she admitted. “I had kind of a rough night in December, and I was like, ‘Can I just wear the damn ring now?’ So, that’s how we got engaged.”

That wasn’t the last engagement hiccup the couple would encounter. Once Strong finally got the ring on her finger, she discovered yet another bump in the road.  “I don’t know my ring size— I wear like every size ring,” she explained. “So, he took one of those, and it was five sizes too big. I was wearing it on my index finger for a long time—not as a statement; it just would’ve fallen off.”

Strong and her fiancé have opted for privacy when it comes to their relationship, and rarely share photos of one another on social media. In her 2020 memoir This Will All Be Over Soon, Strong opened up about starting their relationship while grappling with the recent death of her cousin, Owen. She first met Jack at a Christmas party in 2019 and pursued a relationship even though the circumstances weren’t perfect.

“At first I thought it was so difficult to meet someone right as I was losing someone I loved so much. I knew he’d have to be patient with me,” she wrote in an essay for Vulture. “He’d have to let me grieve. It would be easier not to even try during that process. But grieving for Owen was like nothing I’d ever experienced, and I promised Owen and myself to continue to let all that love be there along with the sadness.”

She continued, “So when Jack leaves that night, after the talk, I say, “I think you were a gift to me from Owen.” And I like thinking of it that way.”

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