Russell Wilson Recalls the First Thing He Asked Ciara Once She Agreed to Marry Him

Fans often ask Ciara about the prayer that led her to husband Russell Wilson, and now the latter is sharing details about the power of prayer in their longtime marriage.

Speaking to Essence in an interview published Wednesday, the 35-year-old NFL quarterback recalled the request he made after proposing to the now-38-year-old singer.

“When I asked her to marry me, once she said yes, I said, ‘Before we go do this, can we pray? I want to make sure we always put God at the center of it all,'” he shared. “And so I think the thing that hopefully exudes from our love is that, listen, love is never perfect. But we continue to try to put God first and pray over each other. We have these four beautiful children that we get to raise every day and it’s the greatest gift in the world.”

Sure enough, the couple has been revered as “couple goals” since they met in 2015 and said “I dos” during a lavish wedding ceremony a little over a year later. Over the course of their relationship, the pair have welcomed kids Sienna, 6, Win, 3, and Amora — whom they welcomed in December. Ciara is also the mother of Future Zahir, 9, whose dad is rapper Future.

Wilson opened up about becoming a stepdad to Future during a February sit-down interview on the I Am Athlete podcast. The NFL star said that upon meeting Ciara, falling in love and then being introduced to her young son — who was less than a year old at the time — he instantaneously knew that he would have to step up.

Ciara, Russell Wilson and Future Zahir

“When I walked in the room and I saw, you know, little Future — he’s nine months at the time or whatever — he crawls in my lap and it was like, you know, this is going to be my responsibility,” the football star shared. “I remember leaving that night… and God said, saying to me, ‘Raising this child it’s going to be your responsibility.”

Despite him initially viewing it as a potentially daunting task, Wilson said in realizing the responsibility he was taking on, he was only more assured that Ciara was the one for him.

“I think [it was] scary just in the sense of — not scary — but it was more so of an opportunity. Like, ‘Okay God, this is what you want me to do? This is, you know, stepping in to raise, you know, a child with C?’ And this and that and realizing that, okay God, like I know she’s the one for me but also, I’m going to take this responsibility,” he added, calling it a “gift even.”

Last year, the singer and actress told Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper that Wilson was already campaigning for a potential 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 No. 5.

“He’s an amazing father,” Ciara shared of her husband. “Watching him with all of our kids — it is one of the sweetest things. It’s one of the 𝓈ℯ𝓍iest things, to be honest with you. I’m just saying, ladies, when a man jumps in and changes the diaper, and he’s pulling up to teacher-parent conferences, it’s like, ‘Ooh!'”

She added, “There’s something about a man turning on that part of them, like, they’re being a man for you but they’re also being a man for your family. There’s no better feeling than knowing that.”