Four years to the day since the first of what would be dozens of women filed a lawsuit against Deshaun Watson, the Cleveland Browns quarterback is celebrating his engagement.
The 29-year-old former first-round pick put a ring on influencer, musician, and model Jilly Anais.
Anais, a Houston native, and Watson, the former Houston Texans quarterback, posted photos to their social media accounts of a sunbathed proposal on a beach.
It also included photos of the musician flaunting her engagement ring – which featured a massive emerald cut diamond.
‘Mrs. Watson loading…’, the 29-year-old pop artist captioned her post.
Watson left two comments under her post, saying ‘MORE GLORY [prayer hands emoji]’ in one and ‘My Queen [yellow heard, fingers crossed, and ring emojis]’ in the other.
Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is engaged to his longtime girlfriend Jilly Anais
The couple have been dating since 2019 as she stuck with him through major scandals
Anais, whose Instagram account boasts over 2million followers, is an influencer and musician
Prior to dating Watson, Anais was linked with NBA point guard Dejounte Murray.
Watson and Anais have dated since 2019. She has stood by Watson as he faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault from more than two dozen female massage therapists – with a majority of cases originating in the Houston area.
The first suit was filed back on March 16, 2021 – exactly four years to the day of the post announcing their engagement.
In the weeks to follow, that number would balloon up to 22 claims of sexual harassment and assault against Watson – which he vehemently denied. Dozens of massage therapists unrelated to the case publicly endorsed his character.
Watson was ruled out for every single Texans game in the 2021 season for ‘non-injury reasons/personal matter’ as a result of the allegations.
Eventually, on March 18, 2022, he was packaged with a sixth round pick and traded to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for the Browns’ first-round picks in 2022, 2023, and 2024 as well as a third-round pick and two fourth-round picks.
In 2022, a grand jury declined to indict Watson on criminal charges – but he was still open to civil litigation.
But that didn’t prevent the NFL from suspending him for the first eleven games of the season and fining him $5million as a result of his actions.
Watson had been accused by over 20 women of sexual harassment and assault. A majority of those claims have ended in out-of-court settlements.
Despite all those accusations, Anais stuck by Watson throughout the tumultuous time
She followed him to Cleveland when the Houston Texans traded him to the Browns in 2022
Since being traded, Watson’s tenure with Cleveland has been mostly injury riddled
He tore his Achilles tendon in October. After being surgically repaired, he re-tore it in January.
Since the filings took place, a majority of the lawsuits have been settled out of court.
Last September, another woman filed a suit against Watson – alleging he penetrated her vagina without consent during a date in 2020. That case was resolved in January.
Watson’s time in Cleveland hasn’t been the most successful. He’s never played more than seven games in a season due to the suspension in 2022 and injuries in 2023 and 2014.
This past season, Watson tore his Achilles tendon on a non-contact injury that led to him missing the rest of the year.
Back in January, he suffered a re-rupture to that same tendon which could keep him out for all of 2025 as well.
Last year, the Browns re-structured Watson’s contract to lessen the blow of his cap hit. They re-structured his deal once again earlier this month.
Watson is a three-time Pro-Bowler who led the NFL in passing yards in 2020.