Metallica frontman James Hetfield proposed to his longtime girlfriend Adriana Gillett while underwater snorkeling with sharks.
James Hetfield asked his partner to be his wife while swimming with sharks
The 62-year-old thrash metal legend took his 46-year-old partner diving with whale sharks on Friday the 13th (13.03.26) – also her birthday – in the most rock ‘n’ roll proposal ever.
He held up a sign underwater reading: “Adriana Gillett, will you marry me?” The Instagram snap was captioned: “She said yes!”
Offering further insight into the unique proposal, Adriana shared on her own account: “The BEST birthday trip surprise. Swimming with whale sharks on Friday the 13th with the most unique, special, and romantic proposal a Pisces could ever imagine. In a sea full of fish, we caught each other. Thank you God for putting us together.”
James filed for divorce from Francesca Tomasi – whom he married in 1997 after five years of dating – in 2022.
The former couple have grown-up children Cali, 27, Castor, 25, and Marcella, 24, together and were said to still be in contact for the sake of their brood.
James previously credited Francesca, 56, for helping him overcome his anger and alcohol issues.
He previously said: “Fear was a big motivator in that for me. Losing my family, that was the thing that scared me so much, that was the bottom I hit, that my family is going to go away because of my behaviours that I brought home from the road.
“I got kicked out of my house by my wife, I was living on my own somewhere, I did not want that.
“She kicked my ass right out of the house and that scared the s*** out of me. She said, ‘Hey, you’re not just going to the therapist now, and talking about this, you’ve got to go somewhere and sort this s*** out,’ so that’s what I did.”
The Enter Sandman hitmaker was determined to “make it work” with his wife because of his own fractured upbringing.
He said: “Maybe as part of my upbringing, my family kind of disintegrated when I was a kid,” he explained. “Father left, mother passed away, had to live with my brother, and then kind of just, where did my stuff go? It just kind of floated away, and I do not want that happening. No matter what’s going on, we’re going to talk this stuff out, and make it work.”
