Camille Kostek reveals the informal NFL rule she broke to be with Rob Gronkowski

Camille Kostek and Rob Gronkowski kept their relationship under wraps for a few years before going public. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model recently spoke about the start of her and the Super Bowl-winning tight end's relationship.

In an interview with FOX News Digital, Kostek said that she broke an NFL rule that prevented cheerleaders from dating NFL players. Kostek was a cheerleader for the New England Patriots when she met Gronkowski, who was playing for the Patriots at the time.

"There is that rule where [you] cannot date the players. I broke that one, but I kept it a secret for a little while. It was worth it in the end."

Gronkowski and Kostek were representing the New England Patriots at a Thanksgiving charity event in 2013. The former NFL tight end didn't want to make it obvious that he was interested in Kostek, so he wrote his phone number on a name tag and had one of his teammates hand it to her. It wasn't until 2015, after Kostek's tenure with the Patriots, that the couple went public with their relationship.

Camille Kostek and Rob Gronkowski celebrate SI Swimsuit's 60th Anniversary

Camille Kostek first appeared in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition in 2019, after applying for a contest to be in the iconic issue. Kostek was selected from over 5,000 other models during their search in 2018 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Just a few weeks ago, Camille Kostek and Rob Gronkowski attended the 60th Anniversary party for Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition. She shared photos of the night on Instagram.

"Night one celebrating 60 years of @si_swimsuit."

In one of the photos, the couple posed in front of the 2019 issue, where Kostek featured on the cover. While speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Kostek said that although she was a veteran, the launch every year is always so surreal:

“It’s really special. I’m still in my reflection period of it all, like settling in. Launch week is always very exciting.”

She also spoke about her journey to become a Sports Illustrated model, which began 10 years ago in 2014:

“It was always like a farfetched dream. But that was 10 years ago in 2014 when I was like, ‘I want to make this happen. I want to make this come to life.”

Kostek has since appeared in every issue since her debut in 2019.