Michelle Kwan Engaged to Lawyer Boyfriend Clay Pell
Legendary figure skating champion Michelle Kwan is getting hitched.
Kwan, 32, already has two Olympic medals and five world championships to her name, and now she's added a diamond ring from her 30-year-old boyfriend Clay Pell.
Pell, a lawyer and director for strategic planning on the White House's National Security staff, first met Kwan in April 2011.
Pell popped the question on Sept. 3 off the coast of Rhode Island.
"It was hot and we were going to go into the water to cool ourselves off a little bit," Kwan said. "I wasn't anticipating going swimming. I said, 'I don't feel comfortable because I don't have my bathing suit on.' He's like, 'No, come on in,' so I said, 'Okay.' "
Pell admitted he was anxious about orchestrating the perfect proposal, but he knew he'd hear the answer he wanted.
"I was nervous about wanting to do it right, but I wasn't nervous about what the answer would be," he said. "We had been talking for a while about how we would like to have a family and the idea of getting married and what we wanted to do with our lives - and public service. So I think we both knew where we were relationship-wise and where we were going."
Kwan's public service work comes from the Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports and as a U.S. public diplomacy envoy through the State Department.
The figure skater said he was certain that committing to Pell for life was the right choice for her.
"It was a simple decision and it made sense, that's what's so exciting to me," Kwan said. "We are working together as a team, like in [pair skating]."