She shared the news to her 11.7 million Instagram followers, writing: "Merry Christmas," ending the simple phrase with a tree, heart, and ring emoji. Jordyn posed with Karl on the top of the Empire State Building overlooking the New York City skyline.
Jordyn is the daughter of John and Elizabeth Woods. She grew up in Los Angeles, and is probably best known for being lifelong best friends with Kylie Jenner. Their friendship made headlines in February 2019 when it was reported that Jordyn had been involved with Kylie's sister, Khloé Kardashian's boyfriend, Tristan Thompson.
Though details were initially murky and the NBA player first denied allegations that he had cheated on Khloé with Jordyn, after Instagram account Hollywood Unlocked claimed in a post that Jordyn had stayed in Tristan's house overnight, and pressed Kylie to address it with her, Khloé commented the shouting emoji, and her best friend Malika Haqq wrote: "STRONG FACTS."
Jordyn finally addressed her side of the story when she sat down with Jada Pinkett-Smith on her show Red Table Talk in March of 2019. The then 21-year-old said: "On the way out, he did kiss me. No passion. It was like a kiss on the lips," and maintained: "Never once was I giving him a lap dance, making out with him, sitting all over him. Never once did we leave the public area, go to a bedroom, go to a bathroom. We're all in plain sight."
While the influencer stepped out of the public eye after the scandal, she now has major news to celebrate. In 2020, Jordyn started dating basketball player Karl-Anthony Towns, and five years later, they're officially starting the next chapter in their life together.
The couple's famous friends celebrated their engagement in the comments. Bella Hadid wrote: "OMG!!! Congrats sweet girl!!!!!!" And Kylie put the old drama aside, writing: "jordyyyyyyy."
So, who is the professional athlete who captured Jordyn's heart? Here's everything HELLO! knows about Karl-Anthony.
Karl-Anthony, who often goes by "KAT," was born to parents Karl Towns Sr. and JacquelineCruz in northern New Jersey. He started playing basketball at a young age and immediately fell in love with the sport. As soon as he could, KAT represented his mom's home country, the Dominican Republic.
In 2015, Karl competed for the Dominican Republic national basketball team and last year, he announced that he would provide major funding for a youth basketball facility near the city of Santiago.
"Simply put, they gave my mother life," Karl told Time Magazine of the DR. "It's only right I give them mine."
"This disease needs not to be taken lightly. Please protect your families, your loved ones, your friends, yourself. Practice social distancing. Please don't be in places with a lot of people," Karl said at the time.
Karl played college basketball at the University of Kentucky
In 2012, KAT announced he would be playing basketball at the University of Kentucky – a prestigious basketball university who has won the March Madness tournament eight times before Karl attended the school.
His time at Kentucky was short, but great. Karl, like many players destined for the NBA, only played for the Wildcats for one year. In September, Karl was inducted into the UK Hall of Fame. During the ceremony, he said: "We made the Hall of Fame. This is me just representing my whole team, the coaching staff that was with me and all the amazing fans that supported us."
Karl was first drafted to the NBA in 2015 to the Minnesota Timberwolves
After playing for a year with Kentucky, Karl was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2015 draft to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Midwestern team was not its best at the time. The season before they picked up KAT, they only won 16 games. But, with Karl on the team, they improved.
In his first season, Karl, as the team's center, led the Timberwolves to 31 wins and became the fifth unanimous Rookie of the Year. During his third season on the team, KAT made his first All-Star and All-NBA appearances.
In September 2018, Karl signed a $158 million, five-year extension with the Timberwolves. That same year, he led the team to their first playoff appearance in 13 seasons. Karl stayed with the Timberwolves until 2024 after they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.
In 2024, after almost a decade with the Timberwolves, Karl was traded to the New York Knicks. He joined Jalen Brunson on an exciting run that brought out all the celebrity fans. Think Timothée Chalamet, Mariska Hargitay, and Spike Lee.
Karl and Jalen took the Knicks to their first Conference finals in 24 years in a series that captured the attention of the country. Karl scored 35 points in Game 1 and became the second Knick to score more that 20 points in the fourth quarter of a postseason game. Unfortunately, the Knicks lost the Conference finals to the Indiana Pacers.
Karl met Jordyn in March 2020 through mutual friends. The professional athlete leaned on Jordyn after the passing of his mom.
"It just so happened, the COVID came and kind of brought its challenges and it kind of forced us to either pick where our relationship was going to go as friends or something more," Karl explained on Jordyn's Instagram series Regular-ish in 2021. "And we chose the latter."
Jordyn frequently attends Karl's games, and even reunited with Kylie Jenner at a game in May. "We're wearing the same outfit every time!" Kylie told Jordyn after the Knicks won, showing that she didn't want to jinx the next game's outcome.
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