AOC Confirmed Those Rumors About Her Engagement: "Yep, It's True!"
The congresswoman is set to marry her college sweetheart.
Does Drizly deliver to Capitol Hill? New York’s junior congresswoman should be expecting an influx of champagne any minute now. On May 19, following rumors that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was engaged to Riley Roberts, her longtime partner, she told Insider, “Yep, it’s true!” Latino Rebels journalist Pablo Manríquez was the first to report the relationship ~ status update. ~
Rumors began swirling when AOC was photographed with a sparkler on her ring finger on May 19. The engagement ring appears to be a round-cut diamond set on a gold band. Just a few hours before that, the politician shared an Instagram Story about having a “major” few days that had temporarily kept her off social media.
“I had a health issue sideline me for the last week or two ... it was right when a series of major events happened,” she wrote. “I’m back at it today, but was MIA for a bit to recover.” She hinted she “might do an IG live later” to “catch up.” Who else is hoping she’ll share her engagement deets?
Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts, a web developer and marketing professional, met at Boston University’s “Coffee & Conversations” — a debate circle held on Friday afternoons — in 2011. She held a leadership role in the group. In Take Up Space: The Unprecedented AOC, a biography written by editors from New York magazine, her college friend Eric Baker recalled, "Every guy [there] went through their phase where they had a crush on her, and she'll probably stab me in the heart for saying that."
Roberts was reportedly one of her “sparring partners.” Baker claimed, "Riley's just as smart as anyone you've ever met, probably smarter, but he would actively say things just to stir the pot ... Riley was just like, 'This is dumb. Why are we all going around in a circle saying the same thing?' He enjoyed intellectual combat, and I think she enjoyed his pushback."
Even before she became a household name, AOC was apparently pretty tight-lipped about her personal life. According to Insider, some of the couple’s college friends didn’t even know about their relationship until well after graduation.
Although they split after college, they later rekindled their relationship after Roberts moved from Arizona to New York to be with her. Now, they live together in Washington, D.C. with their dog, Deco.
Congratulations to the newly-engaged couple!
