" He was like , ' I need to see your ID . ' "
FormerBachelorNick Viall, 42,proposedto his girlfriend Natalie Joy, 24, earlier this year, and now the two are opening up about why that almost didn’t happen: their 18-year-age gap.
During a recent interview onTaylor Lautnerand his wife Tay Dome’s podcastThe Squeeze, Nick revealed his hesitation about dating Natalie, while Natalie admitted she knew they’d end up together.
Nick and Natalie first crossed paths online in late 2019. He turned her down “so many times” when she first tried to get to know him because he was taken aback by how young Natalie was.
“We started messaging [online], and I carded her,” Nick said. “I wanted to make sure she was a real person. The age for me was something I was self conscious about.”
Despite initially telling Natalie that they “would never date,” the two eventually started dating in the summer of 2020.
“She slid into my DMs," Nick added. “We messaged for a couple of weeks. We met up inNew York. I think we were both thinking the other person was a little crazy. We kind of both knew we’d end up spending the weekend together. I think we were both pretty guarded.”
That weekend was all it took for Natalie to know she met the one: “I knew after that weekend, I was like, ‘I’m going to spend the rest of my life with this man.’”
Nick and Natalie went public with their relationship in February 2021. And in January 2023, they got engaged! Nick surprised Natalie with an intimate proposal disguised as a private screening ofA Man Called Otto.
To learn more about Nick and Natalie’s relationship, check out the full interview onThe Squeezepodcast.
