Winnie Harlow and Kyle Kuzma’s Relationship: All About the Model and NBA Star’s Romance (Including the Extravagant Way He Proposed to Her on a Private Plane!)

Winnie Harlow and Kyle Kuzma are headed to the altar!

The model and the NBA star first connected on Instagram in early 2020, one year after Kuzma’s initial message to Harlow went unanswered. They began dating in April 2020 — while she was living with him in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic — and got engaged in February 2025.

Although they kept their romance quiet at first, the Cay Skin founder has taken many opportunities to express her love for the Milwaukee Bucks player on social media in the years since. In July 2020, she penned a heartfelt Instagram message in honor of his birthday and wrote that she was “blessed” to know his “beautiful heart and soul.”

“Endless hours of quarantine FaceTimes and now I’m hooked,” Harlow wrote. “Thank you for helping me step out of my comfort zone, then making me comfortable outside of my comfort zone. Thank you for making me smile everyday, wiping my tears, and pushing me to be my best.”

From their near-missed connection to their romantic engagement, here’s everything to know about Winnie Harlow and Kyle Kuzma’s relationship.

They met when Kuzma messaged Harlow on Instagram

In March 2020, Kuzma posted a picture of Harlow on Instagram and messaged her.

“At the top of quarantine, he DMed me again … He shot his shot. He slid in the DMs,” Harlow explained to Stephen “tWitch” Boss while appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in June 2021. “That was cute. I was like, ‘Oh hey, how’s quarantine been?’ “

However, the pair’s love story dates back even earlier, as he sent her a message a year prior, though she never saw it.

“I don’t know what the glitch in the system with Instagram is, but that never came up for me,” Harlow explained.

The pair then started talking daily and made plans to meet in person.

They started dating in April 2020

After talking on the phone, the duo were ready to connect in real life. At the time, Kuzma played for the Los Angeles Lakers, and Harlow lived in Brooklyn. “After a month of being on FaceTime for 24 hours every single day for a month, he was like, ‘You gotta come to L.A.,’ ” Harlow recalled on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The pair started quietly dating in April 2020, after Kuzma flew Harlow to Los Angeles on a private plane to meet him.

“The pandemic [had] just started, and this was at the time nobody was flying in airports because it was like low-key sketchy,” Kuzma explained while taking the GQ Couples Quiz in February 2023. “So, I was like, ‘Alright, well, you need to fly out here private.’ This was the first time we met. I really wanted to see her and the safest thing was that jet. And that’s how we found love.”

In July 2021, Harlow reflected on how their relationship became official soon after she arrived in L.A.

“I had just been out here with him during quarantine and no one really knew at the time,” she told PEOPLE. “I was getting ready for bed and my process is very long. I have serums. I have my bonnet. My shower takes half an hour. I’m just winding down.”

She continued, “I was taking a really long time and he was like, ‘Can I cuddle with my girlfriend?’ And I was like, ‘Girlfriend. Oh, okay, sure. There we go. I guess it’s a wrap now. Hang up my jersey.’ [That’s] how we ended up in a relationship.”

Harlow called Kuzma “the best boyfriend a girl could ask for”

In honor of their first Valentine’s Day together in February 2021, Harlow shared a sweet message on Instagram in which she called Kuzma the “best boyfriend a girl could ask for.”

“My Valentine my sweet boy @kuz yes you drive me nuts but you put up with my crazy so I think that’s a fair trade thank you for being a shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold,” she wrote. “Can’t wait for more adventures with you. Love you issha mi widdle daddy bear .”

Harlow supports Kuzma’s basketball career

During the GQ Couples Quiz, Kuzma shared that the first game of his that Harlow went to was in the NBA bubble, a temporary setup in Florida that allowed teams to finish the season during the pandemic under strict regulations.

“In the bubble, we can only have family members,” he said, explaining that the maximum number per player was four attendees. “But she came. That’s all I kinda really needed over that little time … That’s when I found out she loved me though, because she had to quarantine for four days in a three-star hotel.”

Since then, Harlow has stepped out to support her boyfriend on multiple occasions. In November 2022, the model posted a series of photos from the game between the Washington Wizards and the Dallas Mavericks, including a shot of her holding a cutout of Kuzma’s face. “Someone tell 33 to give me a call ☎️❤️,” she wrote in the caption.

Although she supports his career, Harlow is equally proud of him off the court. In July 2024, she shared an Instagram message for Kuzma’s birthday, writing, “So proud of you and your growth in all aspects, from work to family to love.”

Kuzma has credited Harlow for how she “leveled up” his style

During a June 2023 interview with Highsnobiety, Kuzma credited the America’s Next Top Model alum for elevating his personal style.

“One thing I have learned is how to completely finish a look correctly,” he told the outlet. “Winnie is very detailed with every single thing, [from] what the accessories look like [to] what attitude to rock with it. She’s really leveled up my energy.”

Harlow added, “He’ll try on his outfits on FaceTime with me and be like, ‘Do you think this hat or this hat? What about these shoes with this ’fit? Or should I put this jacket with this?’ ”

Their shared passion for fashion has also brought them closer. In August 2022, Kuzma told PEOPLE that his supermodel girlfriend’s style is “one of the things that’s connecting me to her,” adding that they both love fashion, art and clothing.

They got engaged in February 2025

The couple got engaged on Feb. 13 and announced the news on Instagram a few days later, when they shared a carousel of photos including a close-up of Harlow’s dazzling ring.

Kuzma and Harlow shared details of the proposal and her 8.5-carat oval-cut engagement ring to Vogue, including that Kuzma popped the question while on a private plane for a getaway to Turks and Caicos — where the couple shared their first vacation together.

When Harlow boarded the plane and noticed the roses, balloons, chocolate and champagne, she didn’t suspect anything at first.

“I still had no idea what this was,” she told the outlet. “I was just like, ‘This is so cute for Valentine’s Day, oh my gosh!’ ”

Kuzma then read aloud a poem he had written, and for a moment, Harlow thought to herself, “This would be so cute if this was engagement.”

“But I’m also not the type of person who wants to guess or wants to spoil a surprise. So it just was a fleeting thought in my head,” the model explained to Vogue.

That is, until he read the poem’s last line: “Will you be my wife?”

“We’re over the moon,” Harlow said.