Dane Cook reveals he's engaged to Kelsey Taylor after 5 years: 'I was ready to ask her out'
The Good Luck Chuck actor/comedian proposed to his singer/fitness instructor girlfriend Kelsey Taylor after five years of dating, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal. Cook asked Taylor the question on Wednesday, July 13.
"I was very ready to ask her. I was completely zen about it," Cooke, 50, tells People in this week's issue. "The evening of the proposal was incredibly beautiful, the weather was perfect, the sunset was spectacular, and I was just overjoyed."
He says of this moment, "I was asking my best friend, the woman with whom I've shared some of the greatest times of my life, to marry me so that we can move on to the next chapter of our lives. Let's start together. I was also thinking how amazing she looked."
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Taylor says she couldn't believe it was happening: "As he started reaching for his back pocket, my stomach swelled.
I couldn't have asked for this moment to be more perfect. All that was going through my mind was, 'Wait, is this really happening right now? Is he proposing?
"I was also really focused on what he was saying to me because I was trying desperately to carve out the words in my mind," she adds. "They were so beautiful, I really wanted to soak it up."
Cook says it was "the best feeling ever", and afterward, "we sat together on the deck, shared a laugh, held hands and watched that giant moon shine across the ocean."
"When we started dating, we went on our first trip together, so it was worthwhile for us to come back after five years," he says. "It's a place I spent a lot of time growing up, so I have such good memories there.