Miss Argentina & Miss Puerto Rico Marry in Secret Ceremony
In what couldn’t be more surprising or exciting news, the former title holders of Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico have gone from being beauty pageant competitors to newlyweds! Beauty queens Mariana Varela (Miss Argentina 2020) and Fabiola Valentín (Miss Puerto Rico 2020) first met in Thailand representing their respective countries at the Miss Grand
Photo: Instagram/marianajvarela
In what couldn’t be more surprising or exciting news, the former title holders of Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico have gone from being beauty pageant competitors to newlyweds! Beauty queens Mariana Varela (Miss Argentina 2020) and Fabiola Valentín (Miss Puerto Rico 2020) first met in Thailand representing their respective countries at the Miss Grand International Competition 2020, later making it into the pageant’s top 10 line-up. They seemingly remained good friends throughout the years—only to later reveal that they’d been dating for the past two years and had chosen to keep their romantic relationship offline. But now all that has changed after they announced on social media that they tied the knot in a secret ceremony on Oct. 28 at a courthouse in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Beauty pageants in general have faced a lot of scrutiny over the years but seeing this kind of LBGTQIA+ representation on the world stage is nothing short of incredible.
“After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors on a special day. 28/10/22 ❤️💍✨,” the couple wrote in a joint Instagram post announcing their marriage.
“Thanks for all the love!” Varela added in the replies. “We are very happy and blessed.”
Valentín similarly told fans via her Instagram story, “How nice it is to read each message. Thank you all for your words and good wishes.”
In their shared reel, the couple shared photos and videos of their relationship throughout the years, including shots of them lounging on the beach, hugging in bed, wearing matching rings, and sightseeing in traveling tours around the world. They even included clips from their engagement video, where the two can be seen in a hotel room with flowers, candles, and balloons with the words “Marry Me?” in the background.
Especially when LGBTQIA+ rights across the world could not be bleaker, like in Guatemala where same-sex marriage was recently banned earlier this year, the announcement is welcome news. The rest of Latin America, thankfully, has been much more progressive. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Argentina in 2010, with Puerto Rico following suit in 2015 once the law passed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The path that we have to travel is full of surprises,” Valentín previously said when she originally won Miss Grand Puerto Rico in 2020. “In life, it is not the objectives that we must set, but the paths we follow to achieve them. I am happy to know how far this journey has taken me. Now I am more than ready to continue preparing for this approaching adventure, in order to represent Puerto Rico in style.”
We wish all the best to the happy couple!
