Jenni “JWoww” Farley, 35, may be a New Jersey gal, but she got a new ring on top of New York City. Professional wrestler Zack Carpinello, 26 (who goes by the fighting alias Zack Clayton) proposed to the Jersey Shore star inside the Empire State Building on Feb. 27 — which happened to be JWoww’s birthday! However, JWoww didn’t break the big news — and show the dreamy engagement photos — until March 9.
JWoww took to her Instagram on Tuesday and shared a photo of herself passionately kissing her new fiancé against a glass wall inside the tourist attraction, which revealed a gorgeous view of Manhattan. Pictured front and center on JWoww’s finger was her new engagement ring: a giant, oval-cut diamond on top of a sleek band. The engagement announcement included another photo of the happy couple sipping from champagne glasses as they celebrated the milestone.
“On 2.27 I said yes on the top of the Empire State Building,” JWoww captioned the post, and added heart emojis. Zack jumped into the MTV star‘s comments section to sweetly write, “You’re my forever.”
While the engagement news wasn’t revealed until now, Zack did share a romantic post on the day he popped the big question. “Waking up next to you every day is the best part of my life / I love you / Happy birthday my love,” he wrote underneath an Instagram photo that showed the wrestler cuddling with JWoww on the beach as the sun set behind them.
JWoww and Zack have known each other for many years. Here’s a fun fact — Zack is actually the younger brother of one of JWoww’s best friends, and he even attended JWoww’s nuptials with Roger Mathews in 2015. However, they made their friendship romantic in early 2019, after JWoww filed for divorce from Roger in Sept. 2018. The split was followed by a custody battle over their children Meilani, 6, and Greyson, 4.
JWoww and Zack hit a huge roadblock in their relationship in Oct. 2019, when it was reported that they had split. During that very same month, an episode of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation aired which showed Zack touching the waist and butt of JWoww’s co-star, Angelina Pivarnick, in Las Vegas. Zack ended up apologizing to both JWoww and Angelina (who was engaged at the time) in a since-deleted Instagram message, and JWoww shared her own emotional thoughts on Instagram.
However, the couple worked through their issues because they were back together by Dec. 2019. Zack made this clear by sharing a romantic tribute for JWoww on Instagram, which you can see above.