If you're trying to find a celeb couple that's seriously underrated, look no further than Gina Rodriguez and Joe LoCicero. They've been dating for two and a half years, with not a drama-filled scandal in sight. (This is what happens when you're unproblematic and mind your own business!) Maybe I'm just too invested in celebs' love lives, but I can't help but root for the couples whose love seems so pure and sincere! Thankfully, Gina Rodriguez and Joe LoCicero's relationship timeline is all it takes to know that these two are the real deal.
Rodriguez and LoCicero met on the set of Jane the Virgin, and though they didn't start dating right away, it didn't take long for them to actually get together. On Live With Kelly and Ryan in 2017, Rodriguez opened up about her first impression of LoCicero. "He thought I was being nice to him because I am nice to everyone that comes on the show," she said in the interview. "It means a lot to me, you know, if you come and share your talent with us. So, he thought I was just being super sweet to him. And I thought he was just being sweet on me because I'm the lead." Turns out, whether consciously or subconsciously, they were being sweet to each other for other reasons, and that was the beginning of an absolutely beautiful relationship. See for yourself.
Rodriguez and LoCicero met on the set of Jane the Virgin in early 2016 (when exactly is unclear), when LoCicero guest starred in "Chapter Thirty-Nine" (which aired in April 2016). He played a Don Quixote impersonator/stripper who surprised Jane while she was giving a speech to prospective new students at the college she works at. Talk about getting up close and personal right off the bat.
In an interview on Live With Kelly and Ryan in May 2017, Rodriguez opened up about her and LoCicero's meet-cute and revealed they didn't start dating right when they met. In fact, after meeting on-set, they went their separate ways and ran into each other six months later at a boxing gym. When asked if she thought LoCicero tracked her down, Rodriguez laughed, and said yes.
In February 2017, Rodriguez posted about her six-month anniversary with LoCicero, which points to the beginning of their relationship landing around the end of August 2016.
In December, Rodriguez and LoCicero blessed us with beautiful pictures from their trip to Thailand, and they are legitimately #goals. But that wasn't the only thing that happened with this gorgeous couple that month. Rodriguez dropped the L-bomb in her Christmas post to her boo, and it was to die for. She wrote, "Our first Christmas together and your love has been the greatest gift. If that's not enough to make you root for them, IDK what is.
The following month, Rodriguez and LoCicero made their first red carpet appearance at the SAG Awards, and that was just the beginning of their endlessly supportive relationship. Since then, LoCicero has been on Rodriguez's arm at several award shows, and she was front and center to watch him become the California State Middleweight amateur Muay Thai Champion.
Rodriguez told Self that LoCicero has also helped her cope with her chronic Hashimoto's disease, a disease that causes her body weight to fluctuate. "[He] has really helped me have a healthier perspective on [weight], that stupid number that can destroy us and feel like it’s equivalent to our self-worth," she said in her cover interview with Self. "This love is so easy." There's just so much support and love between these two, I can't handle it.
In November, Rodriguez and LoCicero were back at it again with the absolutely gorgeous trips. This time, the couple took on Hawaii, proving that there is indeed a way to make the islands even more beautiful.
Last summer, rumors began circulating that LoCicero and Rodriguez might be engaged when they both posted a few pictures in Mexico featuring Rodriguez wearing a ring on her engagement finger, but neither one of them confirmed anything until a month later. "I am [engaged]!" Rodriguez told PEOPLE. "He’s the best. He's the f*cking best. We've been engaged for like a month — I’ve kept it a secret for a while."
Even after making their engagement public, Rodriguez told PEOPLE she was still a little hesitant to talk about it because she didn't want to reveal too much. "I don’t even really want to say it's happening," she told the publication. "I just want to live! I think there’s a huge blessing in the fact that people care. That’s a beautiful thing, so that feels really good. But another part of me wants to keep a little something that’s just mine, 'cause there's not too many things I have like that anymore."
In her cover interview for Cosmopolitan's February 2019 issue, Rodriguez couldn't help but gush about LoCicero, and it's so freaking cute. "Dating Joe was a new experience for me because I put myself first," she said. "For so long, I put every man in front of me. As a successful woman, it is so hard because of our cultural norms that, like, the man has to be the breadwinner! And the man has to be the more powerful one. It was so difficult for me to find a man who didn’t want me to dim my light for his ego."
Thank the love gods that Rodriguez and LoCicero found each other. Rodriguez is way too shiny to dim her light for anyone, and someone who knows that and roots for her because of it is definitely a keeper. Knowing what we know about these two, I think it's safe to say this is a relationship that's built to last forever.
