Russell Wilson had a ‘whole plan' to stay single after divorce — then he met Ciara
Russell Wilson revealed how Ciara 'changed everything' and ruined his plan to be single for 10 years following his 2014 divorce from Ashton Meem.
During an appearance on Carmelo Anthony's '7 PM in Brooklyn,' the new Giants quarterback explained how he manifested his relationship with the 'Ecstasy' singer.
'I was always a perfectionist, you know, I think you're always hoping that everyhing goes great and there's a relationship before and I was young and everything else and then all of a sudden I'm single,' Wilson, 36, said.
7 Russell Wilson explains how he manifested his relationship with his wife Ciara during an appearance on Carmelo Anthony's '7 PM in Brooklyn' podcast on May 29, 2025.
YouTube/7pm in Brooklyn
'I had a whole plan for my life. I was like, 'I'm going to be single for 10 years.' C[iara] came, just changed everything.'
Wilson and Meem, who were high school sweethearts, went viral at the 2012 NFL draft when the internet was buzzing over her excited reaction when his name was called.
7 Russell Wilson and his ex Ashton Meem during the 2012 NFL Draft.
X
7 Russell Wilson with then-wife Ashton Meem at an ESPN party in 2013.
WireImage
Wilson and Ciara started dating in 2015, a year after his divorce from Meem.
During his appearance on Anthony's podcast, Wilson did not mention Meem by name.
7 Russell Wilson and Ciara attend the Met Gala on May 5, 2025, in New York.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
'I remember three days before I met C, I remember being at church with Pastor Judah [Smith] and I was talking to him and he said something in a sermon. He said non-negotiables … I said, 'I'm going to write my five non-negotiables down,'' Wilson said. 'The first one was, I want a woman of great faith. She's got just great faith. She's a believer. That was important to me because believing in Jesus, all that meant a lot to me. That's No. 1 thing.
'No. 2 was I want a woman who was faithful, not just to me but to everything that she does to anything and everything that she does,' Wilson continued.
'The third thing is I want a woman that was going to love me the way my mom loved my dad. Just how my mom, my dad was on his deathbed. Just like she was willing to do anything and everything for us and for him. I think that you want a woman that's got grit and that's going to be there when it's thick, when it's tough, when it's hard and things aren't going well, whatever it may be in life when my dad has leg amputated or whatever it may be.
7 Wilson and Ciara at Game 2 of Knicks-Pacers.
Jason Szenes / New York Post
'I think the other thing was I wanted a woman who was independent, didn't have to be Ciara but had the right identity, wanted to volunteer, wanted to be a doctor, wanted to be whatever it is, but at the end of the day had their own identity. Didn't want to just be Russell's wife, but just had their own identity of what they wanted to be and create and do in life.
'I think the last thing was I wanted a woman who would tilt the room when they walked in the room, all the furniture slides her way. You know what I mean? Everything slides her way. I just remembered that I wrote that down. We prayed over it and three days later I met C.'
7 Ciara on the red carpet at the American Music Awards at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas on May 26, 2025.
Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/MEGA
The Super Bowl-winning quarterback proposed in March 2016 and the pair tied the knot that July.
She was already mom to Future Zahir, 11, from her previous relationship with rapper Future.
Wilson and Ciara went on to welcome daughter Sienna Princess, 8, son Win Harrison, 4, and daughter Amora Princess, 1.
7 Giants head coach Brian Daboll and Giants quarterback Russell Wilson during practice at Quest Diagnostics Training Center, East Rutherford, New Jersey, May 28, 2025.
Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Wilson, Ciara and Future Jr., 10, sat courtside for Game 1 of the Knicks-Pistons first-round series of the 2025 NBA playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 19. The Knicks beat the Pistons,123-112.
The couple also attended Game 2 of the Knicks-Pacers Eastern Conference finals.
The couple has been busy making appearances around New York and beyond after the Super Bowl champion quarterback signed a short-term deal with the Giants in March.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
24 minutes ago
- New York Post
The brutal reality for Shedeur Sanders as Browns' QB competition begins
Shedeur Sanders is carving up players who will be on practice squads or out of the NFL come September. And that may be an apt description for his standing. Mary Kay Cabot noted after Sanders' stats in a recent organized team activities (OTA) went viral that the polarizing prospect is the team's fourth-string quarterback. Advertisement 3 Shedeur Sanders during a recent OTA. AP 'Shedeur Sanders … did not take one rep in 11-on-11s,' Cabot said earlier this week on the 'Orange and Brown Talk' podcast. 'He has to come in here as the fourth-string quarterback and work his way up that depth chart. So, he did not take a team rep. He did not have (rookie defensive tackle) Mason Graham in his face yesterday at all.' Advertisement Discussion of Sanders' positioning in the Browns' quarterback battle comes after the four contenders for the starting job in Sanders, Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel participated in OTAs this week. Deshaun Watson is expected to miss the season after undergoing Achilles tendon surgeries. Cabot and Dan Labee offered key context on the podcast to the eye-popping practice stats from ESPN Cleveland that showed Sanders completed 7-of-9 passes with three touchdowns – better numbers than Pickett, Flacco and Gabriel had that same day. Except that all of Sanders' production came during 7-on-7 periods, presumably against the back end of the defensive roster. Advertisement Why is that distinction important? Spring practices are structured to favor offensive success because defensive linemen run by the quarterbacks and raise their hands for what would be a sack. Then, take it one step further and 7-on-7s — with no pass rush and endless quarterback comfort — are even more slanted toward completions. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski indicated the snaps order isn't rigid. Advertisement 3 Sanders is running fourth in the race, per the report. AP 'We're mixing it up every single day,' Stefanski said. 'So that's why I tell you not to read much into it, even though you guys don't listen to me. But we're just trying to get guys exposure to different concepts, those types of things. So, it varies by walkthrough. It can vary by drill. It's not something that we're really — we're not leaning into or worried about the order at this moment.' As a point of snap comparison, the Giants gave Russell Wilson most of the first-team 11-on-11 reps during last week's OTA but also mixed in rookie Jaxson Dart for three plays with the starters. Jameis Winston ran the second-team offense, Dart was first up with the third-team offense and fourth-stringer Tommy DeVito – the former viral sensation – only took four snaps (none consecutively) with the third-team offense. Sanders is not to blame for the NFL world running with his practice stats. He can only do the most with the reps he is given. 3 The four potential starters in Cleveland. Advertisement But – because he is the celebrity son of a Hall of Famer who endured an unprecedented fall from much-hyped first-round prospect to fifth-round pick – his development is going to be a major story this season. Before he can dream of getting on the field in a real game, Sanders has to start to earn some of the 11-on-11 reps that Pickett, Flacco and fellow rookie and third-round pick Gabriel are taking in practice. His 7-on-7 numbers are a good first small step when framed correctly.
San Francisco Chronicle
32 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Pacers try to take advantage of 2nd chance to eliminate Knicks and advance to NBA Finals
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Pacers will try to take advantage of a second chance to eliminate the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals at home on Saturday night. Indiana is looking to make the second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history and the first in 25 years. The Pacers lead the series 3-2 after losing Game 5 to the Knicks 111-94 on Thursday. Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern and will be televised on TNT, and a Pacers win would mark the final chapter in the network's long history of broadcasting NBA games. TNT will not carry games next season. A Knicks win would send the series back to New York on Monday night for Game 7. The series winner will open the the finals on Thursday at Oklahoma City. Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is 11-2 all-time in playoff home games. He had a historic stat line in his most recent contest at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, finishing with 32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds, four steals and no turnovers Tuesday. The two-time All-Star became the first player to record at least 30 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds and have no turnovers in a playoff game since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78. And he did it in front of his father, John, who had an eight-game ban lifted following his on-court confrontation with Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo when his son's last-second layup eliminated the Bucks in their first-round series. New York lost the first two games of this series at home but has rebounded to win two of the last three since inserting Mitchell Robinson into the starting lineup. Coach Tom Thibodeau expanded New York's rotation and All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns started driving to the basket more frequently. Anthony-Towns has averaged 24 points and 13.3 rebounds in the last three games while All-Star guard Jalen Brunson has averaged 28.7 points over that span. Brunson also has topped the 30-point mark in each of the last two to extend the Knicks' postseason record for most 30-point games in franchise history with 21. New York is trying to become the 14th team in league history to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a series. It hasn't reached the finals since 1999 and hasn't won a title since 1973. The road team won each of the first three games in this series while the home team has prevailed in each of the last two.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jay Toia fits Cowboys vision for violent DT rotation
Jay Toia fits Cowboys vision for violent DT rotation originally appeared on Athlon Sports. If his arms were two inches longer, he's a Day 2 pick. If the league valued the 1-tech the way it did before the pass-happy era, he's not on the board in the seventh. Advertisement But things happen. And the Dallas Cowboys may have found something worth exploring here. Jay Toia is already taking some turns running with the 1's in OTA's, as noted as we watched practice inside The Star on Thursday. Does that mean Toia is already more pro-ready than Mazi Smith? Or is this just more "Schotty-psychology" at work? A subtle way to light a fire under Mazi and get him "playing mad''? We don't know all of the answers here yet. But here's what we know for certain, Toia was PFF's highest graded run stopper in the class. Toia is incredibly difficult to move. And Toia comes from an entire family of NFL war-daddies. Advertisement Let's break this down. Cowboys D-line coach Aaron Whitecotton has been consistent since the day he got here: he prioritizes violence, penetration, rotation, and relentless energy. He wants fresh legs, interchangeable pieces, and an interior that attacks rather than absorbs. That's the lens you need when looking at Jay Toia. The 6-3, 335-pound rookie was a seventh-rounder in April, but don't let that shape your ceiling for him. The only reason he slid that far? Positional value. Nose tackles and true 1-techs aren't getting top dollar or draft love in a league obsessed with splashy pass-rushers. But maybe that's changing — fast (stay tuned on that front). Advertisement Now look at Dallas. The front office wasn't aggressive at defensive tackle in free agency, and they waited until Round 7 to address it in the draft. That might say more about their belief in Mazi than fans want to admit. Or maybe it's new coach Brian Schottenheimer doing what he's done all offseason — turning every roster move into a spark for competition. You need at least four defensive tackles to survive an NFL season. Some teams carry five. In years past, Dallas relied on aging journeymen like Jonathan Hankins and Linval Joseph to plug that hole. But now? Toia, Mazi, and second year man Justin Rogers give them potentially three 330+ pound bodies to throw into the fire. The problem is, most rookie DTs don't contribute early and Justin Rogers might as well be considered a rookie, too. It's the second-hardest transition in football behind quarterback. But Toia might be an exception because of the aforementioned bloodline of NFL trench warriors. You can feel it in how he plays. He walks, talks, and breathes interior football. But if that's not the case, which even despite early OTA reports shouldn't come as a surprise, then who can the Cowboys call on as the "mentor" in the room to help continue to cultivate the growth of the room. Advertisement You wouldn't be wrong to default to either Osa Odighizuwa or Solomon Thomas as the answer to that question. Those two guys are well-thought of in the Cowboys organization and also league-wide, but they're both more of your penetrating-pass-rush type 3-techs and much less so true run stoppers. So maybe this is where we glance back at something we discussed just a couple short weeks ago. Maybe the time is coming when the league starts valuing a guy like this. But for now? If Jay Toia can play? He'll be plenty valuable to a Dallas team that needs major improvement in plugging the run. Related: Cowboys Need 1 More Major Roster Move And Stats Reveal Why Related: Cowboys Lack Of Urgency Creates Huge Pressure on Mazi Smith This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 31, 2025, where it first appeared.
