- Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird made waves when they announced their engagement in October.
- The WNBA superstar revealed that her now-fiancée nearly proposed while wearing a bucket hat.
- "Immediately I realized what was happening and I look at her and go 'Take that f------ bucket hat off!'" Bird recalled.
Megan Rapinoe stunned Sue Bird with an idyllic, picture-perfect proposal in Antigua back in October.
But the WNBA superstar recently revealed that the couple's romantic photo op very nearly featured an eyesore atop her now-fiancée's head.
The US Women's National Team star was wearing a bucket hat.
In an interview with comedian Adam Ray last weekend, Bird recalled that she could "see the look in her eyes" and that Rapinoe had begun delivering some "under-the-breath sweet nothings" in Bird's direction.
"And immediately I realized what was happening," Bird said. "And I look at her and go 'Take that f------ bucket hat off!'"
Bird echoed similar disbelief sentiments during an interview with Emma Carmichael for the couple's recent feature in GQ's Modern Lovers issue. And Carmichael wrote that the subsequent photo of their engagement was "liked by a combined 750,000 people, covered by celebrity-news outlets, and shared by no less than Joe Biden in a viral tweet."
Rapinoe spontaneously popped the question to her girlfriend of four years — who has earned 11 All-Star nods in her illustrious 17-year career with the Seattle Storm — while they were on a tropical vacation last fall. Bird turned 40 on October 16 — less than a week removed from winning a fourth WNBA title with the Storm — so Rapinoe organized a surprise trip to the Caribbean to kick back, relax, and celebrate.
"The one cool thing that I did post-championship, because it was my birthday coming up shortly after, Megan got seven of our friends — there was nine of us — set up everything, totally surprised me, and it was this huge trip," Bird said on the "About Last Night Podcast" with Ray. "There's three of us — two other of my really close friends from childhood — were all turning 40. So it was basically like this 40 birthday bash and we went to Antigua, which was amazing. Beyond amazing. So amazing."
Those same friends were on hand to take photos as the pink-haired striker got down on one knee poolside. And thankfully, the photos are Bird-approved and had no bucket hats in sight.
Check out the clip of Bird's conversation with Ray below (click the right arrow to find the video):
