His number one fan. While they aren’t married yet, Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab, has been his main support system off and on the football field.
When he was 5 weeks old, Colin was adopted by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, a white couple from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, who had two biological children: a son named Kyle and a daughter named Devon. The Kaepernicks decided to adopt after they they lost two sons to congenital heart defects.
“You have a family that you love, but you know you don’t look like. And at a young age, I understood that I was different; I didn’t understand what that meant. So, as I got older it was something that developed,” Colin said in VH1’s 2018 special, Dear Mama: A Love Letter to Moms. “As my identity developed and my place in society and my understanding of that developed, my parents and my family had develop as well,” he said. He continued,But it’s been one that [they’ve] worked through and [they’ve] always been really loving in the process…I wouldn’t do it with anybody else.”
Colin, who was raised in Turlock, California, and played football, baseball and basketball in high school, played as a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers from to 2011 to 2017. After he left the NFL, Colin signed a multi-million-dollar endorsement deal with Nike and wrote his own children’s book, I Color Myself Different, about growing up as the adopted child of white parents. He also starred in and created his own Netflix show, Colin in Black & White, which follows his high school years.
So that’s Colin’s career in a nutshell. But who is Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab? Read on about their relationship and what to know about the number-one woman in the former NFL player’s life.
Image: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Sipa USA.
When did Colin Kaepernick and his girlfriend, Nessa Diab, start dating?
Colin Kaepernick and his girlfriend, Nessa Diab, were first linked in 2015, but they didn’t confirm their relationship until February 2016 when they attended a Valentine’s Day charity event together. TMZ reported at the time that Colin and Nessa, who made their relationship official at the Valentine’s Hearts fundraiser benefiting Camp Taylor, had been dating for “months” before their romance went public. In October of that same year, Colin and Nessa founded the Know Your Rights Camp, an organization that “advances the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities and elevates the next generation of change leaders,” according to their website.
Though Colin and Nessa haven’t spoken about their relationship much, Colin did post an Instagram in February 2018, where he called his girlfriend his “queen.” “She is my Queen, my partner,” he wrote. He continued, “Words cannot express my gratitude for everything you’ve done with me, and I look forward to what we will accomplish in the future together! I Love You, Queen!”
For GQ’s “Citizen of the Year” award in November 2017, Nessa wrote about how Colin inspires her. “Colin has always been helping people, he has always been involved, because he has empathy,” she wrote. “Empathy was a reason why he was adopted: His parents — two of their children had passed away from heart defects. It’s why he helped so many young children with heart defects get proper care — he’s been doing that for years. I’m very fortunate that I have Colin next to me. It’s everything. We love each other, we care for each other, and we have to remind each other that, hey, we’re doing our part, we’re trying to make a difference.”
Who is Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab?
Who is Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab? Nessa was born in Los Angeles but split her time between America and Saudi Arabia as a child. She has two brothers and her parents are Egyptian. “Here is the thing, I was a young girl fearing for my life-I wore gas masks to school,” Nessa told Starcasm in 2015 about growing up in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. “I heard war sirens constantly and I knew at this point I had to break out of this lifestyle.”
In 2016, Colin defended Nessa, who is Muslim, from islamophobia she experienced after news broke of their relationship. Hre also responded to claims that he converted to Islam after they started dating. “I have great respect for the religion, know a lot of people that are Muslim and are phenomenal people,’’ he told USA Today at the time. “But I think that [rumor of conversion] comes along with people’s fear of this protest, as well as Islamophobia in this country. People are terrified of them to the point where Trump wants to ban all Muslims from coming here, which is ridiculous.”
Colin also responded to claims that Nessa impacted his political views. “The impact is just conversations that we constantly have,” he said. “This is an open discussion that I have with many people, not just my woman. She is Muslim, her family is Muslim, I have great respect for them. I have great respect for people’s right to believe what they want to believe. And I don’t think anybody should be prosecuted for judged based on what their beliefs are.”
What is Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab’s job?
When she was 20 years old, Nessa graduated with a bachelor’s of arts in mass communication from the University of California, Berkeley. While in college, she interned at the San Francisco Bay Area radio station, Wild 94.9, where she eventually got her own show, “The Baydestrian Report.” Nessa told Starcasm in 2015 about how she always knew she wanted to be a radio host. “I used to remix songs and even had one of my remixes played on air BEFORE I was officially in radio. It was a remix called ‘Rydaz’ of the Destiny Child song ‘Soldier,'” she said.
After her time with Wild 94.9, Nessa was the host of MTV’s Girl Code from 2013 to 2015. She also hosted other MTV shows and events like the MTV Woodie Awards, The Real World Aftershow and the Teen Mom Aftershow. She’s currently the host of her own radio show, Nessa on Air, on HOT 97. In 2018, she also became the host of NBC’s talk show, Talk Stoop.
Colin in Black & White is available to stream on Netflix.
I Color Myself Different by Colin Kaepernick
Image: Courtesy of Scholastic Inc.
Buy: 'I Color Myself Different' by Colin Kaepernick $11.99+
For more about Colin Kaepernick, read his children ‘s book, I Color Myself Different, which is based on his childhood as the adopted son of two white parents. “When Colin Kaepernick was five years old, he was given a simple school assignment: draw a picture of yourself and your family. What young Colin does next with his brown crayon changes his whole world and worldview, providing a valuable lesson on embracing and celebrating his Black identity through the power of radical self-love and knowing your inherent worth,” the publisher’s description reads. “I Color Myself Different is a joyful ode to Black and Brown lives based on real events in young Colin’s life that is perfect for every reader’s bookshelf. It’s a story of self-discovery, staying true to one’s self, and advocating for change… even when you’re very little!
I Color Myself Different is available on Amazon.
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