Those who follow Victoria’s Secret supermodel Candice Swanepoel on social media have long pondered whether or not she’s single.
The mother of two regularly shares snaps of herself at work, travelling the world or hanging with her sons, Ariel, seven months, and Anacan, two, while entirely solo.
Since 2005, Swanepoel has been linked to fellow model Hermann Nicoli, with the pair even getting engaged in 2015 after 10 years together.
But in an Instagram Stories Q&A with fans in mid-2019, the model revealed she was single without offering any further details on her romantic situation.
The revelation did not come as a surprise to fans of Swanepoel, who had long speculated that the low-key duo had broken up after Swanepoel, 30, and Nicoli, 36, unfollowed each other on social media.
The last time Nicoli appeared on Swanepoel’s Instagram feed was back in September 2017, when they posed together for a raunchy shoot for Vogue Italia. Similarly, Swanepoel had been absent from Nicoli’s Instagram since October 2017.
Prior to their split, the pair’s avoidance of the spotlight was never an indicator of their commitment to each other.
Throughout their 14-year relationship, the supermodel’s social media posts about her longtime love were always been few and far between, and he was a rare sight by her side at shows, red carpet events and even social outings.
Swanepoel met Nicoli, a Brazilian model, when she was only 17 years old and modelling Paris. They spent the majority of their rare downtime together travelling to each other’s home towns of Brazil or South Africa or immersing themselves in secluded beachfront getaways.
Whereas other models like Behati Prinsloo, Josephine Skriver and Elsa Hosk are always flanked by their love interests at VS events, Swanepoel is typically solo.
In fact, Nicoli stunned fans of the model by attending the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show After Party with Swanepoel.
Of their three-year engagement, Swanepoel said she was in no rush as she already “feels married”.
“I kind of feel married already. 10 years is kind of a marriage, so I don’t really need papers to tell me that,” she told HELLO! magazine.
“It helps because we’ve grown together over the years. He’s helped me a lot through all the experiences and been a rock in my life,” she added of Nicoli.
“It’s hard… If I was to meet somebody [now] it’d be hard for them to understand all the things I’ve gone through and he’s been through that from the beginning.”