Shawn Johnson is currently married to former NFL player Andrew East. The couple got engaged on July 24, 2015, and later tied the knot on April 16, 2016, in Franklin, Tennessee. They have two children, a daughter and a son respectively named Drew and Jett James East.
Shawn Johnson was no doubt one of the most successful gymnasts of her time. Staging an incredible rookie year and snapping medals as she progressed. Her career climax came at the 2007 Olympics, after which in 2008, she became the first gymnast to win the Teen Choice Award for best female athlete of the year.
The former American gymnast enjoyed an exponential success in her gymnastics career which she began training for at the age of 3 and even when that part of her life came to an end, Shawn Johnson’s family, the adorable one she is building with Andrew East, has taken over the spotlight.
Shawn Johnson’s family with Andrew East has been through a lot but the couple has risen above all challenges and still going strong. They do a lot of things together as a couple, including posting on their YouTube channel – The East Family, where their fans get the scoop on fresh updates in their marriage. They also connect with their fans on other social media platforms, especially Instagram.
Andrew East Was Introduced To Shawn Johnson By His Brother Guy East
Shawn Johnson can thank athletics for bringing her to meet the love of her life. Back in 2008, when she competed in the Beijing Olympics, she met a certain guy named Taylor Phinney who is an American cyclist. They became close, had a brief relationship before settling to become just friends committed to supporting each other in their respective careers as American athletes.
Fast forward to 2012, Shawn who at the time was working for Today Show had some time off and decided to fly to London to support Phinney at the summer Olympics where he was competing.
While cheering Phinney from the stands, Shawn meets a guy named Guy East who happens to be Phinney’s teammate, they seem to get along really well and Guy could not help but tell Shawn how perfect she would be for her brother Andrew East who at the time was a college football star at Vanderbilt University.
Guy succeeds in making Shawn meet his brother Andrew and the pair go on their first date, but the rest was not history just yet. After their first date, which Shawn describes as not being so serious, they did not date again until about 9 months later.
In between that time, they occasionally texted each other. It had required a pep talk between Shawn and her close friend to realize that she would love to give Andrew a first date.
Her friend had asked her who she would go out with if she were to pick one guy and her response was Andrew. In a brave moment, she picked up her phone and texted Andrew to come over to Los Angeles to watch her perform in a special edition of Dancing with the Stars.
Andrew agreed and hopped on the next available flight to Los Angeles where they had their first date. Nine months of occasionally putting each other on the back burner followed until events in their individual lives would cause them to realize that they were truly the fit for each other.
They Got Engaged In Front of Thousands of Sports Fans
Their next meeting after the Los Angeles one was a casual one at the Indy 500 which holds in East’s hometown, Indianapolis, Indiana. Shawn Johnson was there as the grand marshal for the 2013 Indianapolis 500 parade unaware that East attended the event as a yearly ritual. Shawn posted a photo they took at the event to Instagram giving East the green light.
The first time they really got to spend ample time together was in June 2013 when Johnson travelled to Nashville after being invited by East to Nashville’s CMA Fest. Before the end of the year, Shawn Johnson moved to Nashville to be closer to her new love.
Today the love of my life asked me to be his forever… AND I SAID YES!! #isaidyes #weregettingmarried #wrigleyfield pic.twitter.com/20zRXD1WWB
— Shawn Johnson East (@ShawnJohnson) July 24, 2015
Fast forward to July 2015, Andrew East proposed. It happened at the Chicago Cubs game where USA gymnastics had asked Johnson to throw out the first pitch. She finished off her throw by performing a gymnastics move alongside fellow gymnast Alicia Sacramone. When she was done, East walked towards her, got down on one knee, and asked her to be his wife, amazed, Johnson said yes!
Shawn Johnson got married to Andrew East on April 16, 2016. Their wedding was an intimate one held outdoors on a private farm in Tennessee. The wedding had about 350 guests in attendance and featured a performance by American singer-songwriter Josh Garrels.
Shawn Johnson’s Husband Andrew East Is A Football Player
Andrew East was born on September 17, 1991, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is just one year older than Johnson. He attended Indianapolis (IN) North Central where he began playing football.
After graduation, Andrew enrolled at Vanderbilt College where he played college football as a long snapper. After earning his undergraduate degree, East also earned a Master of Business Administration from the same school.
He began his pro-football career with the Kansas City Chiefs on May 11, 2015. He was signed by the Oakland Raiders in April 2016 but was waived four months later. After getting signed and waived by the Los Angeles Rams, East returned to the Oakland Raiders.
In January 2018, it was reported that the long snapper had signed a reserve/future contract with the Raiders. Andrew East has continued to struggle at landing a regular berth. He became a free agent in August 2019 after the Washington Redskins waived him having signed him a few months earlier.
Good thing Andrew is well educated, should his football career never get to take shape, he would have other options to fall back on.
Meet Shawn Johnson’s Son With Andrew East
- Name: Drew Hazel East
- Born: October 29, 2019
A detailed update of the journey to becoming parents was shared on the couple’s YouTube channel, shortly after they welcomed their daughter Drew Hazel East who arrived on October 29, 2019. The video shows East having a chat with his wife who was getting ready for a C-section after 22 hours of labour.
Apparently, the many successful years Shawn enjoyed as an athlete had an adverse effect on Shawn. According to the doctors, her hips are too tight and her body is too small to allow natural birth. The video cut straight to the moment the couple cried when they heard their daughter’s first cry.
It was an emotional moment for all and Andrew couldn’t hold his tears. Named after her dad, Drew Hazel East weighed 8lbs 8oz and measured 20.5 inches long upon her birth on 29th October 2019.
She Battled With Guilt After A Miscarriage
Unknown to many, Shawn Johnson’s family lost what would have been their first bundle of joy two years before Drew was born. The gymnast opened up about that part of her life during an episode of Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner‘s Hot Marriage. Cool Parents podcast.
According to Shawn, she had blamed herself when she miscarried her first pregnancy, even though her doctor assured her it wasn’t her fault. She felt she must have done something wrong that led to the miscarriage. She particularly travelled down memory lane to her days as a gymnast, wondering if what she did back then is haunting her presently.
Howbeit, Shawn is now a proud mother and is probably getting over her guilt and enjoying the joy of motherhood. If pictures are to be taken literally, Shawn and Andrew are the happiest parents alive.
The Couple Announced That They Were Expecting Their Second Child In Early 2021
When they welcomed their first child, the couple shared with their fans the difficulties of becoming first-time parents and how they made deliberate efforts to keep their romance alive. It seemed like a year was enough for the couple to comfortably adjust to the new addition in their lives and in January 2021, they announced that they were ready to expand their family.
In an Instagram post, Shawn shared a photo of herself with a growing baby bump, captioning it “Here we go again.” Like they did with their first child, the couple are chronicling their experience with this pregnancy on social media. They have revealed that the baby is due to arrive in the summer of 2021.
FAQs
Who Is Shawn Johnson’s Husband?
Shawn Johnson is married to Andrew East, a retired American professional football long snapper born on September 17, 1991, in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he attended North Central High School. Subsequently, he moved on to Vanderbilt University for his degree program.
After earning his undergraduate degree, East also earned a Master of Business Administration from the same school.He began his NFL career with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2015 and retired in February 2022.
What is Shawn Johnson’s Baby Boy’s Name?
Shawn Johnson welcomed her second child with husband Andrew East on the 19th of July 2021 and they named him Jett James East. The Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast disclosed their son’s name on July 30, 2021, on their family’s YouTube channel, The East Family, where she documented her pregnancy journey with both Jett and their first child/daughter, Drew.
