In it for the long haul! NFL star Sterling Shepard and wife Chanel Iman have the sweetest relationship — and two gorgeous children. See how they met and more about their marriage below. 

The New York Giants player, 27, and model, 30, met at fellow football player Victor Cruz’s 30th birthday party in 2016. Funny enough, one of Sterling’s friends wanted to talk to the Vogue cover star first, but the wide receiver convinced his pal to shoot his shot with one of Chanel’s friends so he would have a chance with her.

Sterling Shepard and Chanel Iman How They Met
Courtesy Chanel Iman/Instagram

“I approached her and asked her if she wanted a drink, and we were just talking for the rest of the party, and then we went to some club for the afterparty and kept talking,” he recalled to Haute Living in August 2019. “I got her number, and we went our own separate ways, but we stayed in contact … It was kind of crazy. And now that’s my lady.” 

Although Chanel is a major heavy-hitter in the fashion world, Sterling didn’t immediately recognize her when they first met. “When I was younger, I’d see her in the Victoria’s Secret magazines that my sisters were getting, but it didn’t really come to me [at the party],” he said. “When she walked into the room one of my boys was like, ‘You know who that is?’ and I was like, ‘No.’”

The gorgeous couple walked down the aisle in March 2018 and welcomed their first child, daughter Cali Clay Shepard, the following August. Their second daughter, Cassie Snow Shepard, was born one year later.

Sterling Shepard and Chanel Iman Kids
Courtesy Chanel Iman/Instagram

“To be honest, it’s something I’ve always envisioned. I’ve always been a family type of person,” Sterling gushed about their brood. “I am very young, but this is just the path that I’ve found my life going on … and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to my whole life.”

Although the parents love their busy lifestyles, the football player noted they still work hard on their relationship. “You need to find time for your spouse as well,” he added. “It’s tough trying to find a balance, especially when you have a baby not too far after you’ve gotten married, so you didn’t really get a chance to enjoy the marriage aspect of it. It’s a little difficult at times, but I’m working my way through it.”

We can’t get enough of Sterling and Chanel!