Tobias Sylvester
Basketball star, Maya Moore has married Jonathan Irons, the man she helped free from prison after 23 years of wrongful conviction in the United States.
Maya Moore stepped away from the WNBA before last season to help fight for the freedom of Jonathan Irons she and many others believed was wrongfully imprisoned.
40-year-old Irons was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 1998 after he was convicted of breaking into a Missouri home and twice shooting a homeowner.
In the years since that first meeting, Moore has accomplished a lot in the world of basketball, winning two NCAA titles with Connecticut, four WNBA titles with the Minnesota Lynx and two Olympic gold medals.
But something more was going on in her life as Moore, 31, became closer with the man whose conviction she was fighting to overturn.
In March, a judge threw out Irons’ convictions, citing several problems with the case. An appeal of the decision was unsuccessful and a retrial was decided against. So on July 2, Irons was a free man for the first time in 23 years.
Appearing together on “Good Morning America,” Moore said Wednesday that she and Irons got married a couple of months ago.
They also promoted the social justice work they continue to pursue with Moore’s Win With Justice foundation and the “Get Out the Vote” campaign.
“We wanted to announce today that we are super excited to continue the work that we’ve been doing together, but doing it as a married couple.”
“So we got married a couple months ago. We’re excited to just continue this new chapter of life together,” Moore said.
The basketballer later took to Instagram to share a lovely photo from their wedding with the caption: “Grateful to announce this new chapter of life! What a miracle.”
Irons, now a justice reform activist, said in the interview that he first proposed while he was still in prison, but didn’t want to “trap” her from fulfilling her dreams of becoming a wife and a mother. He later asked again when he was freed.
“I wanted to marry her but at the same time protect her because being in a relationship with a man in prison, it’s extremely difficult and painful,” he said.
“And I didn’t want her to feel trapped and I wanted her to feel open and have the ability anytime if this is too much for you, go and find somebody. Live your life. Because this is hard.”
That night, he asked Moore an important question, Irons said: “I got down on my knees and I looked up at her and she kind of knew what was going on,” Irons said. “I said, ‘Will you marry me.’ She said, ‘Yes.’ ”
Watch the video below:
WNBA star Maya Moore reveals she has married Jonathan Irons, the man she helped free from wrongful conviction. Congratulations to the happy couple! https://t.co/XQgDH7hJAY pic.twitter.com/oattxmhhzO
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 16, 2020
KanyiDaily had also reported how a Nigerian IT Consultant married a lady who approached him while he was selling oranges as a child.
