Alexa Chung has confirmed her engagement to Tom Sturridge while sharing an unusual story about her ring, her hairstylist thought the antique piece might be haunted.
The 42-year-old model and television presenter discussed the jewelry in an October 23 interview with More or Less. Sturridge, 40, chose it because he knows she loves antiques.
Speaking with her friend Derek C. Blasberg, Chung described imagining the previous lives of vintage clothes. Their conversation about whether old possessions could carry ghosts led to her engagement news.
The couple have faced wedding speculation since 2023, when photographs of Chung wearing a ring attracted attention. Her latest interview offered no proposal date or wedding plans.
Her Hairstylist Had an Unusual Reaction to the Ring
Chung described the ring as a Tudor piece with a table-cut diamond. She had noticed similar jewelry in portraits at London’s National Portrait Gallery, including images of Anne Boleyn and other people who died at the hands of Henry VIII.
While preparing her hair for a fashion show in Paris, her friend Alexandri suggested the ring was haunted. He took it off her finger, made wishes around it and blew on it.
“So, I hope that my ring isn’t haunted. Or do I?” Chung joked, calling the possibility “iconic.” Blasberg compared the scene to Zoolander; Chung said it had felt perfectly normal.
Ring Sightings Started the Speculation in 2023
Questions about an engagement were already circulating by June 2, 2023, when The Standard reported that Chung had worn a ring on her left hand at designer Henry Holland’s 40th birthday party. A photograph appeared in Pixie Geldof’s Instagram Story.
Later that month, photographs of Chung walking with Sturridge in Notting Hill drew more attention to her jewelry. Neither confirmed an engagement at the time.
In 2024, The Sun reported that she had told friends they were engaged. Its unnamed source also claimed the couple were planning a small wedding.
Sienna Miller Has Spoken Warmly About Their Family Life
Chung and Sturridge’s romance became public in July 2022, when photographers captured them kissing at Wimbledon. Sturridge’s former partner, Sienna Miller, and her boyfriend, Oli Green, were sitting in the row below them. The four also posed for a selfie, according to PEOPLE.
Chung and Sturridge later made their first joint red carpet appearance at the 2023 Met Gala, as British Vogue reported. They have generally kept the details of their relationship private.
Sturridge, known for playing Dream in Netflix’s The Sandman, shares daughter Marlowe with Miller. She was born in 2012, three years before her parents separated.
During a December 2023 appearance on Vogue‘s The Run-Through podcast, Miller discussed family dinners involving herself, Green, Sturridge, Chung and Marlowe.
She joked that Marlowe was more appreciative of Chung’s fashion sense than her own, partly because Chung wasn’t her mother. Miller described their family arrangement as loving and comfortable, adding, “It’s ideal. It’s incredible. We are very lucky.”
Chung Once Questioned Whether She Needed a Wedding
Years before her relationship with Sturridge became public, Chung had expressed uncertainty about marriage. In a 2018 interview with Porter, she questioned what made it different from an unmarried partnership.
She also rejected the idea that a woman needed a male partner to be happy. “I think having a partner in life must be quite nice but I don’t need a wedding day per se,” she said.