Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and his longtime partner, former ballet dancer Melanie Hamrick, are engaged.
Hamrick, 37, confirmed to Paris Match in an interview published on Wednesday, April 9, that Jagger, 81, actually proposed “two or three years” ago.
“Maybe one day we’ll marry, maybe not,” Hamrick said. “We are so happy in our current life that I would be too afraid to change anything.”
Jagger and Hamrick met in 2014 after a Rolling Stones concert in Tokyo. She and her American Ballet Theatre colleagues, who were in Japan for their own performance, were given complimentary tickets to his band’s show. Jagger and Hamrick, who are 44 years apart in age, started dating in 2015.
“I don’t think about it. Everyone’s going to have their opinion. If you think about others’ opinions, no matter where you are in life, you’re going to have a problem and you’re going to analyze it,” Hamrick told The Sunday Times in September 2024 of their age difference. “I put the blinders on. Am I happy? Yes. Are the people in my life happy? Yes. Am I hurting anyone? No. OK, they can mind their own business.”
Hamrick also wasn’t starstruck by Jagger when they started seeing one another.
“Ballet dancers meet some of the biggest stars and act, like, ‘Who are you?’ Because, to us, ballet dancers are the gods. That’s who you study and look up to. You’re so in your world,” Hamrick recalled to the Times, noting she was more impressed by Jagger’s friend, playwright Tom Stoppard. “I was, like, ‘Oh, my God, can I tell you about my paper [from school]?’ and Mick said, ‘What are you doing?’, and I was like, ‘I love you, Tom!’”
Jagger and Hamrick welcomed son Deveraux, the rock star’s eighth child, in December 2016. (Jagger has seven older children from past relationships.)
Hamrick, for her part, has authored novels First Position and The Unraveling since retiring from ballet. Amid her literary success, she has frequently credited Jagger for his help and inspiration.
“My whole family’s been supportive. Mick’s been super supportive,” Hamrick exclusively told Us Weekly in September 2024. “It’s always scary to change careers and hope it works. I’ve just been really blessed.”
Hamrick and Jagger also worked together on a rock ballet, which premiered in the United States in 2019.
“It was nice to have his expertise,” Hamrick told Us. “It was cool to share because there’s different ways to count music from his side [as a musician] and my side as a dancer.”
Despite a few professional collaborations, Hamrick prefers when they can each do their own thing.
“I don’t necessarily think partners should work together because I think it’d be boring to just go home and talk about what you worked on all day,” she noted. “It was fun for a couple weeks, but I find it more interesting when we come to the table like, ‘Oh, what was your day like?’ instead of already knowing.”