Maui, Hawaii - McLaren Formula One driver Jenson Button entered the New Year as a married man after tying the knot with long-term girlfriend Jessica Michibata in Hawaii.
“Happy New Year from Mr & Mrs Button,” the 2009 world champion told his 1.9 million followers on Twitter shortly after midnight. “We're excited to see in the New Year with family and loved ones.”
Button, 34, and Japanese-Argentine model Michibata have been together since 2008; she is credited with taming his partying, and has been at his side for six years while he travelled the world.
“Of course, I read about him being a playboy, but I don’t see that side of him,” she once said. “We spend nights watching films and making sushi rather than going out to nightclubs”
THE MARRYING TYPE
They announced their engagement in 2014, shortly after Button’s father John, a popular and ever-present figure in the paddock, died last January.
While the 30-year-old lingerie model has always been happy for Button to put his career first, she made no secret of the fact that she had her eye on marriage. As far back as 2009 she said: “He told me he wants to get married - he said he is the marrying type. He told me I am the one for him. I hope he means it.”
Button’s Formula One future was uncertain until December, when McLaren finally announced his contract had been extended and he would be partnering arriving double world champion Fernando Alonso next season.
This year will be the 16th season in Formula One for the most experienced driver on the starting grid and winner of 15 Grands Prix.
Reuters