FBI Director Kash Patel, 46, and country singer Alexis Wilkins, 27, announced their engagement Sunday.
Wilkins revealed the news with a photo posted to social media showing her diamond ring alongside Patel. “Went and got the law involved,” she quipped in the post.
Patel later shared his fiancée’s announcement on his own account, adding heart and diamond ring emojis.
The couple first crossed paths at a friend’s event in Nashville in 2022 and began dating in early 2023. Wilkins addressed their relationship publicly during an interview on the “Megyn Kelly Show” last year, brushing off questions about their age difference.
“We just happened to meet,” she recalled.
“I have always liked [him], when I met him, I just liked that he was so, so honest,” Wilkins continued on the program. “He’s exactly who he is all the time. His character is incredible. His values are incredible.”
Wilkins has built her own profile in conservative media circles. She has hosted a show on Rumble and served as a board member of the National Rifle Association. She released her EP “Grit” in 2023 and was scheduled to perform at the Freedom 250 event on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on July 4.
The engagement follows years of public scrutiny over the pair’s relationship, which intensified after Patel took the helm of the FBI. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have criticized his private jet use following reports that he used such aircraft to visit Wilkins, attend sporting events, and handle other personal matters.
Patel has pushed back on those criticisms, insisting he is legally barred from flying commercial. “[We] pay for our personal travel, which we do, like all members of the Cabinet and other agency heads do,” he told “The Katie Miller Podcast” in December.
Wilkins has also faced direct attacks. She filed a $5 million defamation lawsuit against former FBI agent–turned-podcaster Kyle Seraphin, accusing him of maliciously branding her an Israeli “honeypot” sent by the Mossad spy agency to seduce and manipulate Patel. She is separately suing MS Now over a December report alleging that Patel ordered her security detail to escort one of her drunk friends home after a night out in Nashville.
A bureau spokesperson confirmed in November that Wilkins had been assigned a protective detail after receiving “hundreds of credible death threats related to her relationship with Director Patel, whom she has been dating for three years.”
Wilkins made a rare public appearance last month to support Patel at his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a showing of solidarity during a turbulent period for the director.