Kevin De Bruyne got together with model wife Michele after his friend slid into her DMs on his behalf

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is lucky to have a wonderful life partner in model Michele Lacroix. But do you know the story behind how they got together?

The two started their relationship back in 2014 and have been going strong for the last eight years. De Bruyne, though, was not very confident about approaching her when he had the opportunity to do so. The man who has made a name for himself by assisting goals on the football field in the most graceful manner needed to be assisted by one of his mates to land in Lacroix's DMs.

The Man City player got candid in The Player's Tribune three years ago and revealed how his relationship began. He recalls that the incident dates back to the time when he was still a Chelsea player, but had been loaned out to Bundesliga club Werder Bremen.

De Bruyne wrote:

"It started with a tweet. I only had a few thousand followers at the time because I was still on loan at Werder Bremen. So I tweeted something about a match or whatever, and this pretty girl favorited it. I was single at the time, and my friend noticed it. So he said, 'She looks like a nice girl, no? You should send her a message'.”

He further revealed that it was after some hesitation that he agreed to send her a message that his friend had written on his behalf.

He added:

"And I literally said to him, “No, no. Come on. People don’t like me. They don’t get me. She won’t respond. So he grabbed my phone and started tapping out a message. He showed me the phone and said,'“Come on, can I hit send?'

"I was probably on the floor, cringing, but for some reason I said, 'O.K. fine, send it'. Says it all, no? I’m supposed to be this big footballer, and I didn’t even have the heart to slide into my future wife’s DMs! I didn’t dare!"

In hindsight, De Bruyne is grateful that his friend took the initiative and that he was able to gather the courage to give his nod for the text. He believes Lacroix's presence in his life has made a huge difference.

He wrote:

"But thankfully, he sent the message for me, and she responded. We got to know each other over text for a few months. It’s a lot easier for me once I get to know someone, so after that, I was good. It really was a beautiful thing. She changed my life in so many ways. Honestly, I don’t know what I would do without her."

The couple officially tied the knot in 2017 and are parents to three children, namely Mason Milian, Rome and Suri.

De Bruyne left Chelsea to join Wolfsburg in 2014. After an impressive season-and-a-half at the Bundesliga side, the Belgium international moved to Manchester City, where he went on to establish himself as one of the world's best players. De Bruyne has won four Premier League titles with City, scoring 86 goals and laying out 121 assists in 306 appearances in the process.

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NFL great exchanges signed jerseys with Kevin De Bruyne

The NFL's highest-paid quarterback and four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, widely regarded as one of the best in the business, met with the Manchester City attacking midfielder a couple of days ago. The two met in what was one of the more prominent meetings between the respective sport's biggest athletes.

They swapped signed jerseys and De Bruyne shared a picture of the two with the caption:

"Amazing meeting this legend @aaronrodgers12"