Not rushing down the aisle. Ryan Seacrest revealed that he doesn’t feel any pressure to tie the knot with girlfriend Aubrey Paige Petcosky — or anyone else.
“I’m happy. I’m happy in the present moment,” the American Idol host, 47, told guest host Lisa Rinna during the Wednesday, August 10, episode of Live! With Kelly and Ryan when she brought up the topic of marriage. “I don’t think about anything else. Why push it?”
While Seacrest doesn’t have strong feelings about getting married, he does hope to become a father one day. “I think having kids at the right time would be great,” the TV personality continued. “I have a fantastic family, a very small family. I have a niece, [my sister] Meredith has a daughter. My parents have been married 52 and a half years, so that’s a high bar. So that’s in my head.”
Seacrest’s comments about marriage and family come two months after a source told Us Weekly that he was looking to “settle down” with girlfriend Paige, 24. “Ryan is increasingly confident he and Aubrey have what it takes for the long term,” the insider said in June. “He’s trying not to get too far ahead of himself, it’s still relatively early days after all, but the fact he was willing to go red carpet official was a big step.”
The source continued: “At some point in the not-too-distant future, he wants to settle down and start a family. He wouldn’t be dating anyone who didn’t have that long-term potential. … He’s going with the flow but feeling very good about things.”
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians producer was first linked to Paige in May 2021 when they were spotted celebrating Memorial Day together in Austin, Texas. One month later, Us exclusively confirmed that the pair were dating, with a source adding at the time that the pair are “very happy” together.
Paige gushed about her new romance in December 2021. “Safe to say the best part of 2021 was meeting the most incredible man ,” the Texas native wrote via Instagram at the time, alongside a photo of her and Seacrest. “Wishing everyone love, happiness, safety & health in 2022
In April, Seacrest’s TV cohost Kelly Ripa gave the relationship her seal of approval when she opened up about meeting the model for the first time at Mark Consuelos‘ birthday party. “The most exciting guest that came was Ryan’s plus one, as acknowledged by every single speech given, because we were all so excited,” the New Jersey native, 51, said. “We were starting to be like, ‘Maybe he doesn’t have a special person and maybe we should check in on him more often?’”
Once she met Paige, however, Ripa instantly liked her. “If you two breakup, I will go into seclusion,” she warned Seacrest with a laugh. “I am so fond of her.”