Well, Joke's On Us, As It Turns Out Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin Have Actually Been Engaged for Years

(Image credit: Backgrid)

published 8 March 2024

News broke yesterday that longtime partners Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin had gotten engaged after six years together—but joke’s on all of us, because it turns out they’ve been engaged…for years.

Though, in typical Johnson and Martin fashion, it’s not clear exactly when the couple got engaged, Johnson sparked engagement rumors as far back as 2020 when she was photographed with what Page Six calls a “dazzling emerald ring” on that finger. The outlet reports that “it is an engagement ring,” but that Johnson doesn’t wear it all the time.

The pair began dating in 2017 and briefly split in 2019 before reconciling. Page Six reports that Johnson and Martin have “actually broken up and gotten together during this time, but they’ve remained engaged.” The partners have “had ups and downs” throughout their relationship, People reports, and are “in no rush to get married,” a source close to the couple told the outlet.

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So, yeah, about that impending wedding? Don’t necessarily expect one anytime soon. (Although, who knows, they could have gotten married months ago and we’d probably be none the wiser.) “They are in no rush to plan the wedding but are just enjoying making their commitment official,” a source told The Mirror of the two.

Johnson’s father, actor Don Johnson, apparently got the “keep the relationship private” memo from his daughter, who deflected questions about Johnson and Martin’s rumored engagement on Good Day New York. “Listen, if she’s happy, I will be happy, and he’s a lovely guy,” he said. “And if she decides to get married, I would imagine that there would be grandchildren not too far out for that. I’d be pretty excited about that part.” (You’re in luck, sir—it sounds like Johnson’s open to the idea of having kids.)

Dakota Johnson — The couple have been together for over six years and engaged for who the heck knows how long

Johnson and Martin seriously never discuss their relationship, and it took them being together for four years for Johnson to open up about it, telling Elle “We’ve been together for quite a while, and we go out sometimes, but we both work so much that it’s nice to be at home and be cozy and private,” she said.

Further driving home the table scraps we’re working with here when it comes to Johnson and Martin discussing their relationship (as is their right to do, by the way), another confirmation of their relationship happened in 2022, when Johnson was on a Sundance Film Festival Zoom event for her film Cha Cha Real Smooth, and Martin briefly crashed the Zoom to help her fix some technical difficulties. That’s about as much of a confirmation of anything that the press will get, until Johnson and Martin decide otherwise.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.