Adam Rippon Reveals He Got Married on NYE
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Retired Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon revealed via his Instagram account on Wednesday that he married his fiancé of a year, Jussi-Pekka Kajaala, in a secret ceremony on New Year’s Eve.
In his post, the 32-year-old Olympic medalist included two photos of himself with his husband and their then four-month-old pitbull mix, Tony.
He wrote, “SURPRISE WE ARE MARRIED.” He went on to write, “one afternoon JP and I looked at each other and said the very classic *romantic* phrase of ‘let’s just go do it now.’
“So we did. It was just the three of us and it was perfect 12/31/21.”
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He told People magazine, “we always wanted to do something simple and just the two of us.”
Rippon and Kajaala, or as he usually refers to by his initials “JP”, married in Encino, California, which Rippon describes as “the happiest place on earth.”
‘Listen, We’re Unpredictable’
According to People magazine, not even Rippon’s publicist knew he was about to get married.
“I think everybody knew that we were going to do it and I think nobody knew if we were going to give them a heads up or not. And I guess we didn’t even know if we were giving ourselves a heads up,” he said. “Listen, we’re unpredictable.”
Rippon said he was “surprised” when he became emotional during the vow exchange. “That was a moment where I wasn’t expecting it to be so sweet… I cried when I left.”
According to NBC News, the pair met at a skating competition in Finland in 2017 via Tinder.
They got to know each other while Rippon was in the country and had their first kiss in Los Angeles in 2018 when Kajaala travelled there. They had to resort to long-distance dating throughout 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
They got engaged in February last year before Kajaala moved from Finland to Los Angeles in December.
Kajaala, a 34-year-old real estate broker, posted on his Instagram, “we are married!! the video is from the actual wedding day on December 31st 2021. It was just the three of us and a simple ceremony. Exactly what we wanted. Tony has two happy dads.”
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Wedding on the Cheap, ‘But it was Perfect’
The couple did the wedding on the cheap. They were married in a marriage service office suite under an archway of fake plants and flowers.
“It was like what you would get from the dollar store if you knew you had a wedding in five minutes,” Rippon said, “but it was perfect.”
They plan on having a party in the US and then one in Finland when the pandemic eases, but as Kajaala told People, it will not be a “wedding party” and will be “just friends over, family over. Some good food. Drinks.”
Rippon won a gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and competed on the US version of Dancing with the Stars in 2018, which he won.
The Huffington Post reported Rippon and freeskier Gus Kenworthy were the first two openly gay men to compete for the USA at the Winter Olympics.
Since retiring from figure skating in November 2018, Rippon has focused on acting, screenwriting, and released his memoir, Beautiful on the Outside, in 2019.
Everything going on in the world right now can feel scary/weird but @Beyonce always makes things better. Stay safe everyone 🌎❤️ pic.twitter.com/tWZuILFGPI
— Adam Rippon (@AdamRippon) March 19, 2020
