Jonathan Knight and Harley Rodriguez secretly tied the knot in 2022. They met in 2008 and got engaged in 2016.
Jonathan Knight and his husband, Harley Rodriguez, had quite the meet-cute moment when they met way back in 2008.
At the time, the New Kids on the Block had reunited for their comeback album, The Block. And although the boy band was now all grown, their popularity and fame hardly faded, especially among fans who were no longer tweens and still practically fainted at the thought of the group comprised of Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood. (Past members also included Jamie Kelly and Mark Wahlberg).
But while the group enjoyed Beatles-like fandom, surprisingly there still existed some people who had no idea who they were. And among those included none other than Rodriguez, who tells ET's Cassie DiLaura that his age may have had something to do with it.
"I heard their music on the radio and stuff like that but I was never a fan ... I never went to a concert, nothing," Rodriguez, 51, explains.
Knight, who traded in his dancing moves for a hammer and tool belt as an HGTV star with a new show, once recalled to ET that he met Rodriguez when he was a trainer at Barry's Bootcamp. NKOTB rehearsed most every day, all day, and the only time Knight had to himself was while taking part in Rodriguez's class at the famed workout camp.
"So, all of a sudden we had met. He invited me to his first show at House of Blues in L.A.," Rodriguez recalled. "It was a pre-tour thing. So, I'm sitting up there with a friend and these girls down on stage are screaming, crying and holding posters. I turn to my friend and go, 'Is this for real?!' These women were actually reverting to their 12-year-old kids, which was amazing. But it wasn't part of my growing up. I was like, 'Oh, they're big.' And then when he showed me all the merchandise they had I was like, 'OK, you guys were huge.'"
Rodriguez and Knight, 55, soon started having dinner following those Barry's Bootcamp workouts. They got engaged in 2016 during an African safari with their mothers in tow. Then, in 2022, the couple exclusively revealed to ET that they had tied the knot.
Knight, whose Farmhouse Fixer has now spawned the spinoff Farmhouse Fixer: Camp Revamp, confirmed the nuptials after sporting a wedding ring. And all these years later, he gets a kick out of the fact Rodriguez had no clue about him or his band.
"I love the first night we met, he had no clue who I was," Knight gushed. "And that's kind of awesome."
Almost as awesome as Knight's new series, in which he takes on the daunting task of renovating an abandoned 12-acre campground perfectly situated on a rural lakefront. The plan is to transform the campground into a dreamy New England vacation destination. Rodriguez will make an appearance too, as will Knight's brother and bandmate, Jordan.
Knight says it'll be a two-year project, with hopes of getting three cottages up and running by next summer.
"Everything we do we're gearing towards the lake and the lake life," Knight says. "And the good thing is some of these cottages have porches. So, we really wanted to dress them up and give people a place to come and relax. What's better than taking an afternoon nap on your porch?"
Barry's Bootcamp or a NKOTB concert, perhaps.
Knight's new series, Farmhouse Fixer: Camp Revamp, premieres Tuesday night on HGTV.
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