Jonathan added he previously proposed to her while he was incarcerated but told her not to respond, because he didn’t want to hold her back. “I wanted to marry her but at the same time protect her because being in a relationship with a man in prison, it’s extremely difficult and painful,” he explained. “And I didn’t want her to feel trapped and I wanted her to feel open and have the ability any time if this is too much for you, go and find somebody. Live your life. Because this is hard.”
However, his release from prison gave him the opportunity to make things official and take the next step in their romance. He said that he popped the question to Maya on the same day he walked out of prison. He shared, “When I got out we were in the hotel room we had some friends in the room, it was winding down and we were extremely tired, but we were still gassed up on excitement… And I got down on my knees and I looked up at her and she kind of knew what was going on and I said, ‘will you marry me,’ she said, ‘yes.'”
