“Thank you for saying YES and making me the happiest man in the world. You’re the love of my life, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Christian football player, Tim Tebow, popped the question in January to his girlfriend, South African supermodel and 2017 Miss Universe, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters.
But a shocking trauma from her past will impact their relationship forever.
“I saw them approaching me, three to my left and another on the other side, and I knew by their eyes what they were coming to do.”
“I was petrified but prepared for what was coming,” she said.
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was born and raised in South Africa. While attending college there, she began a modeling career there that soon blew up into worldwide success.
In 2017, she became Miss South Africa and then represented her nation in the Miss Universe competition, which she also won.
But this same year, the beauty pageant star was the victim of a violent carjacking.
“I had at least three guns pointed at me.”
“I climbed out of the car but they told me to climb back in because I was coming with them,” she said. But Miss Nel-Peters wasn’t about to be a victim.
“He was dazed and pushed me into the car. I forced my way out and ran as fast as I could into traffic to get help,” she said.
“I punched the guy in the throat and it gave me enough space to run away.”
But as she ran, many observers ignored her.
“I was this young girl running in heels towards cars asking them for help and nobody would help me. The first 30 or 40 cars I approached all ignored me. Then this lady opened her door and let me in. I told her that I had been hijacked and she took me to a safe place.”
“I went through quite a traumatizing experience, and after that I realized that women all over the world are affected by crime, and affected by sexual harassment, and by violence,” Nel-Peters later told PEOPLE magazine.
“I really felt the need to do something and speak up about it.”
According to PEOPLE magazine, “After the incident, Nel-Peters joined forces with Women Empowered — the company that taught her the self-defense skills — to create the Unbreakable campaign in the hope of spreading the same lifesaving knowledge to women across South Africa.”
“I empower women by getting experts to teach them the skills and knowledge to handle difficult situations. I think if you’re in a nerve-racking and dangerous experience there’s no time to remember — ‘Oh I need to do this kick, and hit him there’ — but if you’re taught one movement that will save your life. We teach one skill, which is to punch the throat, because it’s something you can use when your life is in danger.”
“I thought I was just going to be empowering women to know the same things that I knew before this happened to me and save them from being harmed, but what I didn’t know was that working with women all over my country and hearing their stories actually helped me to get over that experience,” she says.
And her now fiancé, Tim Tebow, was extremely supportive throughout the whole ordeal and during her recovery afterward.
“It’s wonderful to be able to share my life experiences with somebody who’s so understanding and supportive. He supports me in everything that I do. He’s just the sweetest person ever and it’s such an honor for me to be able to get to share my experiences with him.”
With a stunning 7.25-carat diamond Tebow popped the question at his family’s farm outside of Jacksonville, Florida.
“I actually wasn’t really nervous,” Tebow explained. “I was excited. I wanted everything to be perfect and to go smoothly. But I wasn’t nervous to actually ask her.”
“I’m so excited for the wedding, and I can’t wait to spend forever with Tim,” said the soon-to-be Mrs. Tebow.
