Steven Bartlett is engaged! Diary of a CEO podcaster and Dragons’ Den star to marry girlfriend Melanie Lopes after Christmas Day proposal in Morocco

Steven Bartlett is engaged to marry his long-term girlfriend Melanie Lopes, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.

The Diary of a CEO podcaster, 33, proposed to French-Portuguese yoga entrepreneur Melanie on Christmas Day during a romantic trip to Morocco.

During their festive getaway, Steven presented Melanie with a diamond engagement ring and popped the question, with the wellness influencer delighted to say ‘yes.’

Sources close to the couple say that after living together in both London and Los Angeles while navigating their demanding careers, they have never been happier and are excited to begin planning their wedding.

Multimillionaire Steven, who is also a star of Dragons’ Den and is said to be worth £320million, dated Melanie, 33, for a year before the couple briefly split as he focused on building his business empire.

However, after realising he could not live without her, Steven flew 22 hours to Bali, where Melanie runs a breathwork and yoga retreat, to win her back, and their relationship has gone from strength to strength ever since.

A source revealed: ‘Steven and Melanie have been together for a long time, but their relationship really went up a notch after they started living together in both London and Los Angeles a couple of years ago.

‘The proposal happened on Christmas Day while they were on holiday together in Morocco. 

‘Steven asked Melanie to marry him and presented her with a beautiful diamond engagement ring. She was thrilled to say, ‘Yes.’ They really are each other’s soulmates and couldn’t be happier.’

When approached by the Daily Mail, a spokesperson for the couple confirmed: ‘We can confirm Steven and Melanie are engaged to be married. They are, naturally, both very, very happy.’

The couple met on Instagram in 2016, but despite their careers being heavily focused on social media, they have chosen to keep their romance largely out of the public eye.

By his own admission, Steven struggled to maintain a healthy relationship with Melanie in their early days while pursuing his business ambitions, a challenge he discussed during one of his live podcast shows in 2022. 

He previously said: ‘The way it is with me, between the hours of say seven in the morning and nine o’ clock at night, I am in the zone, I’ve got total tunnel vision.

‘I honestly do not realise that there’s anyone else outside of my business and rooms I sit in that exists in terms of my personal and private life.

‘So if my family or girlfriend text me, or message me during the day, the chances of me engaging in that meaningfully in that period is virtually impossible.

‘In the evenings I’m often consumed with the day and I find it hard to switch off and engage with other relationships and that also costs those relationships.’

But after learning to maintain a healthy work-life balance, Steven and Melanie rekindled their romance and have since travelled the world together, all while supporting each other’s careers. 

Steven is best known as the host of The Diary of a CEO podcast, which regularly tops the UK charts and attracts millions of streams each month thanks to its engaging interviews and A-list guests.

Since launching in 2017, Steven has interviewed a wide range of high-profile figures, from Kamala Harris to Louis Tomlinson, Davina McCall, Lewis Capaldi, and Simon Cowell.

He is also the youngest Dragon on BBC’s Dragons’ Den, appearing alongside Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden, and is regularly seen investing in new and emerging business ventures. 

Steven, who moved to the UK from Botswana at the age of two, dropped out of university at 18 to pursue his ambitions as a businessman.

He fell out with his parents, particularly his mother, who was ‘heartbroken’ after believing Steven had thrown away the education she never had growing up.

However, Steven found success with his social media marketing agency, The Social Chain, which was valued at £300million when it first entered the stock market.

He is set for a busy year; alongside wedding planning, Steven will return to the upcoming series of Dragons’ Den and continue recording his podcast, one of the most successful in the world.

In October last year, his company Steven.com, which houses his media ventures, including the firm Flight Story, was valued at £320million.

Steven has said this will help him ‘build the Disney of the creator economy,’ referring to the multibillion-pound industry of influencers who make a living through streaming and posting on TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube.