Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez and Rodrigo Vaz/Getty
Anneliese van der Pol and Johnno Wilson have announced that they are engaged.
The actors shared the exciting news through a joint post on Instagram on Wednesday (December 27) with a series of photos showing the moment Wilson, a former Disney Channel co-star of van der Pol’s, popped the question.
“Thank you @disney for introducing me to my TV ex-spouse and real life fiancé. 12.23.23,” Wilson wrote as he referenced their time on the network together.
The photos indicate that the engagement truly took van der Pol by surprise. One specific photo shows her staring at her engagement ring in complete shock while another pic sees the pair embrace with a hug.
Click here to see the photos.
Van der Pol first rose to fame in 2003 when she starred in the Raven-Symoné-led sitcom, ‘That’s So Raven,’ playing Raven Baxter’s best friend, Chelsea Grayson.
She then returned to the show in 2017 for the spin-off series, ‘Raven’s Home,’ where she would go on to meet Wilson.
The 39-year-old and her soon-to-be husband portray a divorced couple who share a son named Levi. In the show, Chelsea reunites with her ex-husband, Garrett Grayson, who served time for financial fraud.
Raven is whom she relies on to help her navigate Garrett’s return after she kept Levi in the dark about his dad’s past criminal behavior.
After season four, van der Pol would only appear in one episode of ‘Raven’s Home’ season 5.
In a video shared to her TikTok in August 2023, she seemingly hinted that it wasn’t her decision to leave the show.
The video plays a viral audio clip from a character on Disney Channel’s ‘Phineas and Ferb’ talking about a rare incident that happened twice. Van der Pol enthusiastically attempted to lipsync her mouth to the words.
She captioned the video, writing, “Wow! If I had a nickel for every time I was asked to leave a show starring Raven…”
In September, the actress shared another TikTok, seemingly implying that a signed NDA prevents her from further discussing her exit from the series.
In April, she sat down for an interview on the ‘Vulnerable Podcast’ with fellow Disney star Christy Carlson Romano. During their chat, the actress opened up on the alleged “racism” over concerns that Raven wouldn’t be marketable to Disney’s audience.
“When I went in to audition, the show was called Absolutely Psychic,” she recalled. “It wasn’t called That’s So Raven at all. At the time, Raven wasn’t the lead. She was the sidekick. They were looking for a lead, and I came in to audition for the lead. I think the character’s name was Molly.”
Disney cast Symoné as the sidekick character. However, when they commenced filming, Disney execs realized Symoné’s humor and talent surpassed their initial expectations. This prompted them to give Symoné the lead role instead, according to van der Pol.
“I think that was kind of, like, racism at a low level – I guess, if that’s even a possibility. They couldn’t really see a Black girl leading a show. They only saw her as a sidekick.”
van der Pol says she’s still close friends with Symoné to this day, whether she’s on the show or not.
