Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Argentina Secretly Got Married, So Now We Know Love Is Real

Not even going to pretend I'm not crying.

Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentín
(Image credit: Photo by Mariana Varela / Instagram)

Sometimes in this life, something truly beautiful happens.

Exhibit A: A former Miss Puerto Rico and former Miss Argentina just announced their secret marriage, and it's straight out of a rom com, TBH.

The Puerto Rican Fabiola Valentín and Argentinian Mariana Varela met at the Miss Grand International competition in 2020, and had kept their romance under wraps until earlier this week, when they announced that they had secretly gotten married via Instagram.

In a shared post, Valentín and Varela wrote, "Después de decidir mantener en privacidad nuestra relación, les abrimos las puertas en un día especial. 28/10/22." CBS News translates the caption as, "After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day 28/10/22."

The caption accompanied the sweetest photo and video montage I've ever seen, showing the newlyweds snuggling and generally being adorable in a bunch of different settings. They also shared a look at their matching wedding rings, which are—appropriately and amazingly—crown-shaped. From pageant queens to queens of each other's hearts, if you will.

Fellow contestant Abena Appiah, who won Miss Grand International the year Valentín and Varela were in the running, was thrilled for the two women, commenting, "Omg congratulations MGI brought together a beautiful union."

Though the lovebirds hadn't previously confirmed their relationship, they have been posting a ton of photos together over the past few months, so they weren't being insanely secretive about it, either.

In December 2021, Valentín even captioned an Instagram post dedicated to her now-wife, "One of the great gifts in this experience was your friendship. Walking this process with you was a special and real one. Miss you, my girl" (via Us Weekly).

So: Love exists, good morning, you're welcome.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.