In this week’s DIVA Dating Digest, we take a look at how this power couple met
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE VIA INSTAGRAM (@JESSESULLI)
You may know reality TV star Francesca Farago from shows like Netflix’s Too Hot To Handle or Perfect Match. The LGBTQIA icon has racked up millions of fans after she provided some much-needed bisexual representation to these reality TV shows. Since appearing on our screens, she has always been a vocal advocate for the community.
Trans icon Jesse Sullivan is best known for sharing his transition on TikTok and also posting content about being a young dad. Fans quickly fell in love with Jesse and his teenage child Arlo, and his TikTok account now currently has 2.9 million followers.
The pair have been posting loved-up pictures all over our timeline, and we cannot get enough of their #couplegoals relationship. But how did they meet? And importantly, how did they fall in love?
June 2021: Francesca and Jesse meet on a TikTok Live event
During the pandemic, Francesca was set to host a TikTok Live event for Pride Month. Jesse and his child Arlo participated in the event, meaning they met with the Too Hot To Handle star in Zoom rehearsals beforehand.
In an interview withThe Things,Jesse gushed about their meeting story: “She actually interviewed me. I remember, the second she popped up on my screen, I was mesmerised.”
He continued: “We texted all day, every day after the live, and had 4-5 hour long phone calls, just talking.”
In an interview withPEOPLE magazine, Francesca also recalled the first time they met. “We both couldn’t stop staring at each other. After the Zoom I remember running around the house and telling my friends I found my new boyfriend.”
She continued: “I think meeting over Zoom, looks was the first thing that drew us in. But after the interview, I spent hours scrolling through his entire TikTok account [and] I fell in love with who he was as a person also.”
However, while the pair tried long-distance while Francesca was in Canada, they couldn’t make it work at the time and went their separate ways.
February 2023: Netflix’s Perfect Match airs
Francesca had starred in Netflix’s reality dating show Perfect Match which aired in February 2023… but she came home single. Once the cameras had stopped rolling back in 2022, it was revealed later that Jesse and Francesca had rekindled their spark and were dating but couldn’t share this news with the world until after Perfect Match had aired.
May 2023: The couple get engaged
In a stunning engagement announcement, Francesca and Jesse revealed that they would be tying the knot. “WE’RE ENGAGED🤍 a glimpse into the most magical night ever💍 obsessed with our family…what is life !!” Francesca wrote in her Instagram caption.
August 2023: Francesca talks about wedding planning
In an interview withPEOPLE magazine, Francesca revealed that she wanted their wedding to be HUGE. “We were debating for a while about if we wanted to go big or not,” the star said. “We decided we only do this once and to just go huge!”
October 2023: The couple share their IVF journey
While the pair originally were set on getting married in 2024, they swapped wedding planning for the IVF process.In an interview withPage Six, the couple revealed that the IVF process was “a lot more mentally and physically taxing than [either of them] realised”.
Jesse revealed that he has stopped his hormone replacement therapy treatment while undergoing IVF to give him the best chance of producing eggs.
February 2024: The pair sign a pledge to “love and cherish each other forever”
While their wedding may be on hold, this couple are still just as loved up as ever. Earlier this year, Francesca and Jesse exchanged promise rings and signed a pledge to “love and cherish each other forever”. How adorable!
In her sweet Instagram post, Francesca wrote: “After a week of dating we talked about how we wanted kids and made an exact plan of how we would expand our family one day…. And now we are doing exactly that. Now our family of 6 (Arlo, BMO, church🐱 and Romeo) since we’re holding off the wedding until our first baby or babies are here, we chose to make a promise to one another with Darry Ring.”
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
