Georgina Rodriguez ended her relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo after her father suffered a stroke.
Georgina Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo's relationship didn't get off to a smooth start
The former Gucci sales assistant had been on a string of dates with the soccer star when her dad Jorge was hospitalised in 2016, so she pulled back from their burgeoning romance because she felt too "sad" to prioritise her personal life.
Speaking on new Netflix series, 'I Am Georgina', Cristiano said of their romance: "It wasn't sudden. It took a bit, perhaps a couple of months, because during that time we kind of stopped seeing each other."
Georgina - whose father died in 2019 - explained: "Cristiano had a lot of games, the thing with my father also happened then.
"For a bit I was a little absent, well I was sad... and one day we ran into each other at another event and he asked me for dinner I thought, 'Finally, my chance has come'."
The 28-year-old star - who is pregnant with twins - reflected on how much her life has changed since falling for Cristiano.
She said: "Five years ago, my life changed. Thanks to love, my life is now a dream. Nothing in life has come easy. I know what it is to have nothing and to have everything."
Georgina told how she met the striker by coincidence after staying late at work and was "very shy" around him.
She said: "My colleague said, 'I am on vacation, there's a client who wants to buy some coats, please stay half an hour and help her.'
"As I am leaving, I see a very handsome man appear almost two meters tall. He was a with a boy and some friends. I stand frozen.
"Junior [Cristano's son] stands in front of me. Very well behaved, he greets me. So it was funny, like the kid had said hi to me, of course to a young girl, pretty.
"I started feeling butterflies in my stomach and I thought, 'What is going on with me?' So I didn't even want to look at him. I was very shy."
Cristiano - who is dad to Cristiano Jr., 11, and twins Eva and Mateo, four, as well as his and Georgina's four-year-old daughter Alana - admitted he couldn't stop thinking about the brunette beauty after their first meeting.
He added: "So that's when I went in and Gio was there. She was already done with work and it was like a moment that - we clicked. And that's when she got stuck in my head."