I can always depend on Karamo Brown to make me ugly-cry when he gives relationship advice on Queer Eye, so it's no surprise that his own relationship is beautiful enough to make you weep. Even though it got off to a bit of a bumpy start, Queer Eye's culture expert and his TV director fiancé of nearly 10 years, Ian Jordan, have managed to become totally supportive partners and incredible co-parents to Brown's two sons, Jason and Chris. Their wedding may have been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, but if Karamo Brown and Ian Jordan's relationship history has proven anything, it's that this couple can overcome any challenge together.
During a June 2018 interview with Elite Daily, Brown revealed how he knew Jordan was the person for him. "[I knew he was The One] because he communicated really well," Brown said. "Communication is key and the foundation for everything. If you can talk about the big, happy moments, the sad moments, your fears, the things that inspire you in a way that makes you transparent... I've never had an interaction like that with anyone before. So I just knew." Here's everything Brown and Jordan have shared about their decade-long romance.
Just before his 30th birthday, Brown picked Jordan up outside of a nightclub in West Hollywood — literally. As Brown explained during a June 2018 interview for Martha Stewart Weddings, he was so taken with Jordan that he playfully scooped him up off the ground. "[Ian] literally started hitting my head and said, ''Put me down!'" Brown said. "The joke we tell now is that I swept him off his feet.'' Brown later assured fans in Queer Eye: Love Yourself. Love Your Life that it wasn't totally unexpected, as he and Jordan "had been eyeing each other" already.
Brown invited Jordan to his 30th birthday party, which was happening the next night. As Brown shared with Martha Stewart Weddings, he even told his family and friends that he'd met "the man [he] was going to spend the rest of [his] life with, and that they'd meet him tomorrow." Unfortunately, Jordan discovered during some Facebook creeping that Brown's relationship status was set to "in a relationship" and he decided not to attend the party. "I never updated my relationship status to single,'' Brown explained, and apparently, the couple now finds the misunderstanding funny.
After Jordan failed to show up to Brown's birthday bash, Brown confronted him over the phone. "We ended up talking for about an hour, two hours," Jordan said during a July 2018 interview with Yahoo! News. However, it would take another three months before the two started dating. In his memoir, Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope, Brown explained, "After that first long conversation that we had on the phone, we didn't officially become boyfriends for another three months. Then I asked him if he would be my boyfriend, and he said yes."
After about four years of dating, when Brown felt sure his sons were comfortable with Jordan, the couple decided it was time to make things more official. In Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope, Brown wrote, "Ian and I moved in together in Los Angeles only after four years of dating. By that point, Ian knew the kids and had spent a lot of time with them."
Around the same time, Brown and Ian started talking seriously about their future. "Four years into our relationship, Ian and I discussed the idea of marriage," Brown revealed in Queer Eye: Love Yourself. Love Your Life. "It took us another four years to get engaged, but by that time we both knew we wanted to spend our lives together."
On May 9, 2018, just about seven-and-a-half years after Brown swept Jordan off his feet, Karamo popped the question during Jordan's 40th surprise birthday party at Hyde Sunset in L.A. with a ring from David Yurman. "You are the funniest man I know, the kindest man, my biggest cheerleader," the Queer Eye star said during the proposal, according to Entertainment Tonight. "You made me feel like I could do anything."
Brown later took to IG to share the news the next day, writing, "Last night, in front of family & friends, I asked my best friend and the love of my life, 'will you marry me?' He said YESSS!!!!" In his own post, Jordan said, "I said yes!!!! I love you @karamobrown with all my heart and look forward to spending my life with you and conquering the world!!!!"
The Queer Eye star mentioned wanting to expand his family of four during a March 2019 interview with Stylist. When asked whether he preferred animals or babies, he replied, "That's a hard one because I want a baby right now. I'm contemplating adopting another child but also we just moved to a new house so I'm, like, we need a bigger dog. Can I say both?"
Though the pair originally planned on tying the knot on Oct. 10, 2020 at the Merv Griffin Estate in Palm Springs, they were forced to push back their wedding due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, two years after getting down on one knee, Brown decided to propose for a second time in honor of Jordan's 42nd birthday. Brown shared the moment on Insta with a video.
"Ian, as you know, I love you very much. And after this quarantine I realized how much I love you," Brown said in the clip. "And we were supposed to be getting married but now that's getting canceled 'cause of corona. And also you lost your engagement ring." After presenting him with a new ring, Brown added, "So I decided to ask you to marry me again and bought you another engagement ring."
I have a feeling that, whenever these two do finally get the chance to tie the knot, they're going to do it in a way that's totally their own.
