WNBA star Maya Moore marries Jonathan Irons, whom she helped free from prison

Couple first met 13 years ago when Moore was 18

Basketball star Maya Moore has married Jonathan Irons, whose wrongful conviction she helped overturn.

On Wednesday, Moore and Irons appeared on Good Morning America, where they shared the news of their marriage.

“We wanted to announce today that we're super excited to continue the work that we’ve been doing together, but doing it as a married couple,” Moore said. “We got married a couple months ago and we’re excited to just continue this new chapter of life together.”

The WNBA champion and Irons, who was serving a 50-year sentence for burglary and assaulting a homeowner with a gun, first met 13 years ago through a prison ministry program when Moore was 18.

“He had been wrongfully convicted, he had been in prison over a decade at that point, so I was just interested in learning," Moore said of their first introduction.

In the 13 years since, the two-time Olympic gold medalist said a friendship blossomed between herself and Irons, which eventually turned romantic.

"I got to know him and over the last 13 years we have just developed a friendship and [then] entered this huge battle to get him home and over time it was pretty clear what the Lord was doing in our hearts,” she said. “Now we’re sitting here today, starting a whole new chapter together."

In 2019, Moore announced she would be sitting out the season with the Minnesota Lynx so she could focus, in part, on helping to overturn Irons’ conviction. She also sat out the 2020 season. 

Irons’ conviction was overturned in March and he was freed from prison in July.

According to Irons, he and Moore had acknowledged they had feelings for each other while he was still in prison, but he didn’t want her to feel “trapped” being in a relationship with someone in jail.

“A few years ago, while we were on a visit in prison... we acknowledged, both of us, that we had really strong feelings for each other. So much so that I wanted to marry her," Irons recalled on GMA. "But at the same time, protect her, because being in a relationship with a man in prison is extremely difficult and painful. I didn’t want her to feel trapped."

Irons said he proposed that day, but told Moore not to give him an answer.

"I said: 'I just want you to wait until I’m home,' because I didn’t know if I'd be home and she’s such an amazing, beautiful person I could never trap her and not let her fulfill her dreams of being a wife and being a mother one day," he said.

After he was released, he proposed again, with the couple tying the knot shortly after.

Since then, Moore and Irons have continued their work educating the public about the importance of voting. The couple has also continued advocating for criminal justice reform.

“We're basically trying to just educate the public - get them engaged in the voting process and just being more involved in what's going on with our country and our government and local jurisdictions, prosecuting offices,” Irons said.

As for whether Moore plans to return to professional basketball, she said she is still “trying to be so present in this second year away from the game."

"I'm hoping sometime in the spring we'll be able to have a next step moving forward, but right now I am trying to really just breathe from this long, long battle and enjoy and rest,” she said.

Following the couple’s announcement, Moore shared a photo from their wedding on Instagram.

“Grateful to announce this new chapter of life! What a miracle,” she captioned the photo.