How NFL Star Fred Warner First Got His Wife Sydney Hightower's Attention

The love story of San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner and his wife, Sydney Hightower, has echoes of another romance that is one of the biggest storylines of Super Bowl LVIII — that of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Just like his Kansas City Chiefs foe, Warner got starstruck by his partner long before she met him.

Warner's wife might not be a celeb of Swift's caliber, but fans of "The Bachelor" will recognize her from the show's 24th season. "Sydney loves love! She has always been a relationship type of girl," her 2019 cast bio reads. Hightower's goal was to win a proposal from pilot Peter Weber, who ultimately sent her packing despite deeming her the "best kisser" out of every contestant with whom he locked lips. Hightower felt enough of a connection with Weber that she didn't just kiss him; she also opened up to him about being bullied by racist classmates in high school. However, Weber later told ET, "She just kind of was hiding a personality I didn't necessarily know very well." This realization helped him decide that the Alabama native wasn't the right woman for him. Meanwhile, some of Warner's family members who were fans of the show realized that the former retail marketing manager was exactly his type.

It took a lot more than getting turned down on reality TV to bring Hightower and Warner together, though. A Super Bowl loss and the pandemic also played important roles in their romance. 

In a 2022 appearance on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, Sydney Hightower shared the story of how she and Fred Warner met. It started when her season of "The Bachelor" was airing in 2020. A month after the show's premiere, the San Francisco 49ers lost Super Bowl LIV to the Kansas City Chiefs. Hightower said Warner was really bummed out but it seems the two both had to miss out on getting rings to cross paths. "[He] was hanging out at his house, not leaving his room," said Hightower. "He would watch shows, but he didn't watch 'The Bachelor.' But his family did."

It was Warner's sister-in-law who first realized Hightower was Warner's type and encouraged him to reach out to her. Despite thinking his sister-in-law's idea was "crazy," he was interested enough in Hightower that he decided to take her advice. However, he waited until after Peter Weber sent her home on "The Bachelor" before sliding into her DMs.

Hightower revealed that what made her curious about Warner was the very short and sweet message he sent her: a basketball emoji. She didn't immediately understand its significance, so she asked him about it. "He was like, 'Oh, just shooting my shot,'" she recalled. The couple now has their own podcast, "The Warner House," and Hightower admitted in the first episode that she didn't even know the 49ers were an NFL team when Warner first contacted her.

Before Sydney Hightower and Fred Warner first met in person, Hightower had agreed to appear on "Bachelor in Paradise." However, production got delayed because of the pandemic. "Looking back, it was like my blessing in disguise because in that time I found Fred," Hightower said on "Bachelor Happy Hour."

Hightower was in Alabama when she and Warner began chatting but had to fly to Los Angeles to film the "Women Tell-all" special for "The Bachelor." While Warner's home was in San Diego, he was going to be in Orange County for training, which would make it easier for the two to meet up. But on "20 Questions with Kendra Scott," Warner revealed that they had few available restaurant options for their first date because Hightower ended up flying in later than planned. "So, we decided to go to In-N-Out," he recalled.

Warner popped the question during a romantic trip to Napa Valley in 2021. "It was just so beautiful, and he did it at somewhere that I just absolutely love," Hightower recalled on "Bachelor Happy Hour." They tied the knot in Vista, California, in June 2022 and Hightower told E! News the chapel where they said their vows was actually "flown over from France." (Très chic!) Their love story came full circle at the ceremony when one of Hightower's closest friends joined her at the altar: her fellow "Bachelor" contestant, Kiarra Norman, was her maid of honor.