Jake Owen is engaged to girlfriend Erica Hartlein, sharing the happy news with fans on Monday night. Owen used his Instagram Story to announce the engagement, posting a photo of himself, Hartlein and their daughter, Paris Hartley, a new ring on Hartlein’s left hand visible in the snap.
Owen also shared a second photo of his jeans and shoes, a dirt mark visible on his right knee. “Dat durrrrty knee,” he wrote. The singer and Hartlein have been dating for around five years after meeting at a Nashville furniture store.
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“She was an interior designer at Restoration Hardware, and I was buying a couch or something at the time,” Owen recalled on the All Our Favorite People podcast. “I remember it was after I was divorced, and I remember looking at her. I was just intrigued by how beautiful she was and how she was holding court in that store that day and telling people what they needed to do. I was like ‘Wow, she’s got a lot going for her. She’s confident.’”
“But I never actually ever said anything to her about it – it was flirtatious until it was a few weeks after that,” he continued. “It was after she was helping me. I was in the store, and I said ‘Hey, you wanna get a beer sometime? I don’t know if that’s professional enough to ask because you’ve only helped me in a professional way, but I figured if I didn’t ask you for beer, I’d never know if you would wanna go get one.’ She was like, ‘Sure, let’s go.’”
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The couple welcomed Paris in April 2019. Owen is also dad to 8-year-old daughter Pearl, who he shares with ex-wife Lacey Buchanan. Hartlein, Paris and Pearl recently made an appearance in Owen’s “Made for You” video, which was filmed at their home.
“I haven’t been this happy in 15 years, which is weird to say in a time like now, but…,” Owens said on Southern Living‘s Biscuits & Jam podcast earlier this year.
“I can’t tell you how much this last month… being home every day and the simple things of watching my little girl, as a 1-year-old, crack up laughing in the morning while we’re feeding her a bottle,” he explained. “Usually I’d be calling her from wherever, from a bus, a parking lot… it’s been a really big blessing.”
