John Cenais recalling how he “shouldn’t have been there” when he first metShay Shariatzadeh.
During an appearance on SiriusXM’sThe Howard Stern ShowWednesday, theArgylleactor, 46, shared that he met Shariatzadeh — hiswife of nearly four years— at a Vancouver bar in British Columbia, Canada, while watching the New England Patriots play inSuper BowlLIII on Feb. 3, 2019.
“I wasn’t looking, but damn, man, it just found me,” Cena, a Massachusetts native, said of how he found love after begrudgingly venturing out from his Vancouver apartment after a friend invited him to watch the championship game at a bar.
“So we watched the game, and then the table sitting right across from us — this group of five people walked in,” he said. “Man, I stopped watching the game. I didn’t even know it was over.”
Cena said that he noticed Shariatzadeh, 35, while she was there with her friends and did not drum up the courage to talk to her until one of her friends asked to take a photograph with the actor and WWE star.
“I was such a dick, I was so bad. Here I am — hell this was half a decade [ago] — I’m 40 and I’m too scared to approach this girl,” he recalled, when Stern asked how Cena introduced himself.
Shay Shariatzadeh and John Cena on Jan. 24, 2024.Kate Green/Getty
Kate Green/Getty
“I asked her for her number and she gave me her number, and I didn’t wait like the two days [to reach out],” he continued. “I left the restaurant and on my walk home I [texted], ‘It was so nice to meet you, you’re beautiful, I’d like to get to know you more if you have any free time coming up I’ll make time for you.’ She’s like, ‘You want to go out this weekend?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ "
Cena was firstspotted spending timewith Shariatzadeh in March 2019. Their relationship began roughly one year after Cena and his ex-fiancée,Nikki Bella,called off their weddingjust weeks before they were scheduled to tie the knot in 2018.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
While speaking with Stern about Shariatzadeh, Cena told the talk show host that he decided to propose after just one year of dating.“And I would have done it in three months,” he said of when he knew he wanted to marry her. “It might have been a little weird, yes. I don’t want to speak for her, but she didn’t say no when I asked.”
Shay Shariatzadeh and John Cena.Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty
The couple got engaged some time after Cena finished filming his 2021 movieThe Suicide Squad.
He recalled during hisHoward Stern Showappearance that he had to ask permission to leave the movie’s set in Panama early in order to pull off his planned proposal, only to wind up popping the question while he and Shariatzadeh were at home together just before Valentine’s Day 2020.
source: people.com
