Who Is Chad 'Ocho Cinco' Johnson's Fiancée? All About Sharelle Rosado

Retired NFL player Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson and Sharelle Rosado announced their engagement in January 2023

Chad Johnson and Sharelle Rosado
Photo: Sharelle Rosado Instagram

Former NFL star and Dancing with the Stars alum Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson is getting married!

The retired wide receiver proposed to his fiancée, Sharelle Rosado, in January 2023. Johnson and Rosado first met via Instagram and went public with their romance in November 2020. The following year, the couple announced they were expecting their first child together. Their daughter, Serenity, was born in January 2022.

Following the proposal, the Selling Tampa star told PEOPLE exclusively that their engagement "is the next step of our beautiful journey together." She added, "I'm so emotional because when we first started dating, he used to always tell me, 'I'm going to make you my wife.' "

So, who is Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson's fiancée? From her time serving in the U.S. Army to her prosperous real estate career, here is everything to know about Sharelle Rosado.

She's a successful real estate broker

Sharelle Rosado attends the 2022 BET Awards at Microsoft Theater on June 26, 2022 in Los Angeles, California
Prince Williams/ Getty

Rosado is the CEO of Tampa-based real estate brokerage Allure Realty. She founded the firm, which focuses on the luxury market in Tampa Bay, Florida, Miami and Charlotte, in 2019.

She also starred in Netflix's Selling Tampa, a spinoff series of the popular show Selling Sunset. The reality show followed an all-Black, all-female cast of Allure agents, and aired for one season in 2021.

"Sharelle has big plans for her brokerage and won't let anyone or anything get in the way of making her dreams a reality," Netflix said in a statement announcing the series.

She's a United States Army veteran

Sharelle Rosado and family
Sharelle Rosado Instagram

Prior to starting her career as a realtor, Rosado served in the United States Army. After giving birth to her first daughter as a high school senior, Rosado lost her track scholarship and enlisted in the Army without telling her family.

"I wanted a better life for my daughter," she said of her decision to join the military in a 2021 episode of I Am Woman.

Wanting to advance quickly, Rosado became a paratrooper and pursued a path in HR. She served for 13 years and completed two deployments to Afghanistan before becoming medically retired.

"Being in the military, it's always taught me to have bearings. I incorporate my military bearings into Allure. They know I'm the boss and I don't tolerate anything," Rosado told PEOPLE. "If it gets out of hand, I don't even have to raise my voice. I give them a look and that stern voice comes on. They know it's a time and a place for everything."

She pitched Selling Tampa in a DM

Selling Tampa
Netflix

Rosado's Netflix show, Selling Tampa, started out with an Instagram DM. "I thought it was time to turn the spotlight on us and began contacting various people I knew in the television industry to see if they were interested," she told Glamour UK in 2021. "I began following them on social media too and decided to slide into the DM's of Selling Sunset's executive producer Adam DiVello. The rest is history."

The spinoff was teased in a trailer for season 4 of Selling Sunset and premiered in December 2021.

She met Johnson on Instagram

Chad Johnson and Sharelle Rosado
Sharelle Rosado Instagram

Just like Selling Tampa began with a DM, so did her relationship with Johnson. The real estate broker revealed on an episode of I Am Woman that she took the initiative to reach out to Johnson. "He was always a crush of mine. For years. Sexy, tall, chocolate," she said. "I slid into his DMs and he responded like two seconds later," she elaborated.

After exchanging numbers, the two struck up a friendship, but eventually, she stopped talking to him. They later rekindled their connection in 2020.

The two went public with their romance in November of the same year when Rosado posted a photo of them cuddled up on Instagram. "The Jags may have lost the game today, but my baby is leaving a Winner," she wrote.

She is a mom

Chad Johnson and Sharelle Rosado
Chad Johnson Instagram

Rosado and Johnson parent a blended family that includes three children she had before meeting Johnson, his seven children from prior relationships, and their daughter, Serenity "Hurricane" Paula, who was born on Jan. 2, 2022.

"I always wanted a big family," Rosado told PEOPLE, "so I think with this last one, she's just the perfect number to finish it off."

Rosado learned she was expecting a baby with Johnson while the Selling Tampa cameras were rolling. "It was shocking. I think I was crying and laughing at the same time," she added of her pregnancy.

She and Johnson got engaged in January 2023

While the couple have referred to each other as their "fiancé" for some time, they didn't officially get engaged until January 2023. The former Cincinnati Bengal proposed to Rosado on Jan. 7, 2023, with an oval cut, 7 1/2-carat engagement ring.

"I'm honestly shocked! I'm at a loss for words. This was absolutely beautiful and to see my family and friends here to celebrate our love, that really did it for me," Rosado told PEOPLE exclusively, adding, "He is definitely not a planner, so for him to pull this off for me is so amazing. Just the thought he put into this and having our family and friends here to witness says a lot."

Johnson supports her career

Sharelle Rosado and Chad Johnson seen attending Selling Tampa premiere party on December 16, 2021 in Tampa, Florida
Jose Devillegas/Getty

Johnson has been vocal about his support of Rosado's career. When the trailer for Selling Tampa premiered in November 2021, he shared it on Twitter, jokingly writing, "I manifested the life I've always dreamed of & that's becoming a stay at home dad."

Rosado revealed that while many people assume Johnson supports her financially, her own career was the driving force that helped her become wealthy. "I see a lot of — on the blogs — 'Oh, she's a gold digger,' or, 'she's just there for the bag,' " she said on I Am Woman. "Little do they know, I had my bag before I met him."

During an episode of Johnson's podcast, Nightcap, the former football star jokingly complained about having to sign a prenup.

"I found a good one, but I'm having a small issue. [She] had the nerve to bring me papers to sign a prenup," Johnson said with a laugh. "This woman has provided me with the ability to be a stay-at-home dad. I'm trying to get out of signing this prenup. If she leave, I need half. I want to sustain the same lifestyle."

She wants to help other female veterans

While Rosado was prepared to reveal parts of her personal life on Selling Tampa, she had also decided there were elements of her home life that would not be featured in the show — namely, her relationship with Johnson.

"Being in that world, you have to open up. You have to become an open book. I was ready for all that," she told PEOPLE in August 2021. "I think I was born for this. I have a story to tell. "

Rosado elaborated: "I feel like it's going to help somebody out there, some teenager that went through what I went through. Some female veteran that went through what I went through. I'm telling the story and it's going to help benefit a lot of people. This is only the beginning."

She and Johnson have attended several high-profile events

Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson and Sharelle Rosado attend the 13th annual NFL Honors on February 08, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson and Sharelle Rosado attend the 13th annual NFL Honors on February 08, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ethan Miller/Getty

Rosado and Johnson have walked the red carpet together on several occasions.

In February 2024, they attended the NFL Honors in Las Vegas. Rosado turned heads in a skintight black gown, while Johnson looked ultra-chic in a black velvet suit.

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