FBI Director Kash Patel Engaged to Country Star Alexis Wilkins

F.B.I. director Kash Patel popped the question to his country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, over the weekend. In an Instagram post on Sunday (Oct. 4), Wilkins proudly announced the news in a post in which the couple both smiled as Wilkins held up her engagement ring. “Went and got the law involved 💍❤️,” she cheekily captioned the pic .

According to The New York Times , Patel, 46, and Wilkins, 27, met at a party in fall 2022 and at country singer John Rich’s Nashville home, where a publicist had brought along Wilkins. The paper reported that Patel complimented Wilkins’ jacket that night and by early 2023 the couple were dating. Wilkins was also in the gallery during Patel’s combative Senate confirmation hearing, with Wilkins saying she was attracted to Patel’s honesty and his “incredible” values and character during an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show last July.

Patel’s relationship with Wilkins — who signed with WME and artist management company the AMG in 2020 — has come under scrutiny over the past year over claims that the nation’s top law enforcement agent had used taxpayer funds to pay for his trips to see Wilkins perform, as well as for the couple’s date nights. The Times also reported that the F.B.I. had dispatched tactical agents to drive the singer to hair appointments and to stand guard at a senior center in Dixon, Ill. where she sang for a small group of young conservatives.

Though SWAT teams are typically trained to arrest violent criminals, free hostages and break up terror cells, former F.B.I. agents told the paper that Patel’s reported demand that a rotating group of SWAT officers provide security for Wilkins during her gigs, personal appearances and errands is unprecedented. An F.B.I. spokesperson told the Times that the full-time security detail for the civilian romantic partner of a federal official was necessary due to a reported “hundreds” of death threats aimed at the singer; the paper noted that the spouses of cabinet and congressional officials do not routinely receive full-time government-funded security details.

To date, Wilkins, whose LinkedIn says she’s been a recording artist, performer and songwriter since August 2007 (when she would have been eight years old), has not released a full-length album, but has issued the six-song 2023 EP Grit , featuring the songs “Quite Like Whiskey,” “Heaven In a Stetson” and “Half as Cowboy,” and a handful of singles.

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/culture/politics/fbi-director-kash-patel-engaged-country-singer-alexis-wilkins-1236356099/)._