Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson has had a much better opening to his second campaign with the team, even if it’s not yet reflected in the win column. His 11 touchdown passes through five games are already five less than the mere 16 he threw a season ago — not to mention, he’s tied for second in the league.
Wilson’s Broncos teams haven’t lived up to expectations since he was swapped from the Seattle Seahawks to Denver. Many thought the Broncos would be poised to contend immediately after they brought the nine-time Pro Bowler aboard. Early returns have fallen short of those expectations.
But Wilson can take solace in many things. He earns $49 million annually, on average, and the Super Bowl 48 champion is a sure-fire Hall of Famer in the eyes of most. He has his faith (in which he is quite devout) and his wife of seven years, R&B star Ciara.
But did you know that Ciara is not Wilson’s first wife?
Who Was Russell Wilson’s Wife Before Ciara?
Wilson married his first wife, Ashton Meem, in January 2012, just a few months before the Seahawks drafted him. The high school sweethearts split up just over two years later, in April 2014.
The 36-year-old Meem, according to her LinkedIn page, joined Wilson in pursuing her collegiate education at North Carolina State University. Also like Wilson, she became a Wildcat after transferring from another institution. She began her foray with higher education at the University of Georgia. It seems likely that proximity to one another influenced both of their decisions.
She studied advertising at Georgia and pivoted to communications once she got to N.C. State. She’s practiced both mediums in her professional life, working as an account executive for Morton Consulting and an advertising operations assistant at American Family Insurance.
If her page is accurate, she’s reportedly held both positions for over a decade. Lots of people forget to keep up with such pages, but her listed experience and credentials indicate she’s enjoyed her share of professional success either way.
Information on her personal life in the present day, however, is much more scarce. She’s largely managed to stay out of the public eye since her divorce from Wilson almost 10 years ago. Of course, the couple’s separation was marred by some controversy.
In fact, rumors at the time suggested that the couple divorced because Meem had an affair with Wilson’s former Seahawks teammate, Golden Tate. The one-time Seattle wide receiver adamantly denied those rumors in a piece he wrote for The Cauldron.
“I did not have an affair with Russell Wilson’s wife, nor did I have anything to do with his divorce,” Tate writes. “That is laughable for anyone who knows us. His ex-wife, Ashton, is still best friends with my girlfriend. Russell and I were good friends when I was in Seattle, on and off the field.”
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Whether there’s any validity to these rumors or mere salacious internet speculation will probably never be irrefutably proven one way or another. But the hope is that nearly 10 years down the road, both ends of the Meems/Wilson partnership are happier, and whatever issues that may have influenced their separation are considered water under the bridge.
