Nina Dobrev and Shaun White (R) attend "Prelude to The Olympics" at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, France, on July 25, 2024. Anthony Ghnassia/Getty Images for LVMH x Vogue x NBC
Five-time Olympian snowboarder Shaun White and actress Nina Dobrev got engaged in October. The couple opened up about the night White popped the question in a story published in Vogue on Wednesday.
The Olympic snowboarder said he asked his publicist to send Dobrev a fake invite to a CFDA/Vogue dinner with the magazine’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, which she accepted. “He made the invite look so legitimate,” Dobrev told Vogue.
White then surprised the “Vampire Diaries” actress at the Golden Swan restaurant in New York City on a Friday night in late October. Dobrev recalled the moment she arrived at the restaurant expecting the Vogue dinner—only to find White under an arch of white roses. The only other person present was a photographer.
“I went into shock. I just froze and stared at him,” she told the outlet.
White presented Dobrev with a 5-carat diamond ring by American jeweler Lorraine Schwartz. Dobrev told Vogue that she “blacked out,” but does remember that White “said all the right things.”
After the proposal, the couple celebrated over caviar and champagne with friends until early morning.
“Eventually we realized—other than the caviar—we hadn’t eaten anything. So we ordered Shake Shack and dumplings to the Golden Swan,” Dobrev recalled.
Shaun White (L) and Nina Dobrev attend the red carpet ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on July 26, 2024. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
White shared photos from the proposal on Oct. 30, with his Instagram post captioned, “She said YES.”
In a separate post, Dobrev also shared photos of the moment, writing, “RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé.”
In a 2022 interview, White told People Magazine that the pair met at an event in Florida in 2019. Dobrev announced their relationship to the public in May 2020 when she shared a photo of her cutting White’s hair on Instagram.
White appeared in five Olympic Games, winning the gold medal in the halfpipe at three Winter Games in Torino in 2006, Vancouver in 2010, and PyeongChang in 2018. He had his last run at the 2022 Beijing Games, where he placed fourth in the men’s halfpipe before retiring from snowboarding.
In February 2022, Dobrev posted a tribute on Instagram to mark his retirement, writing: “I am in awe of you. Today we are celebrating you. Your hard work. Your passion. Your determination. Your talent. Your class. Your fearlessness. Your courage. Your soul. Your heart. YOUR LEGACY. I couldn’t be more proud. ... You are one of a kind. You are a true hero and you inspire me daily.
“The end of one chapter, means the beginning of an exciting new one with endless possibilities. You will forever be the G.O.A.T. of snowboarding. Not to mention you are also the G.(B).O.A.T. = Greatest Boyfriend Of All Time.”
Dobrev is best known for her portrayal of Elena Gilbert in the 2009 television series “The Vampire Diaries,” which is based on the books by L.J. Smith. Dobrev appeared in six seasons of the CW show and made a guest appearance in the series finale in 2017. Dobrev has since been featured in notable works such as “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (2012), “Let’s Be Cops” (2014), and “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” (2017).
The actress recently appeared in the comedy-mystery movie “Reunion” about former classmates uncovering a murder and identifying the killer at their high school reunion.
