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Lin-Manuel Mirandais no stranger to the spotlight.
Thanks to his work on hits likeEncanto,Tick, Tick… Boom!andIn the Heights, the actor and composer is a regular fixture on red carpets and at award shows. In fact, with two Emmys, three Grammys and three Tonys under his belt, Miranda is well on his way to obtainingEGOT status.
However, there is one thing that theHamiltoncreator keeps relatively private: his nearlytwo-decade long relationshipwith wife Vanessa Nadal. The couple has been married since 2010 and share two sons together.
In March 2022, Mirandaskipped the Academy Awardsout of caution after Nadal tested positive for COVID-19.
So, who is Miranda’s number one supporter? Keep reading to find out more about Nadal and her long-term relationship with her husband.
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She and Miranda attended the same high school
Born in New York City, Nadal attended Hunter College High School just like her future husband — though they never actually spoke. Miranda developed a bit of a crush on Nadal, who was a sophomore during his senior year, but he was too shy to talk to her.
“She was gorgeous and I’m famously bad at talking to women I find attractive. I have a total lack of game,” hetoldThe New York Timesin 2010.
Fellow Hunter student Laura Weidman also told the publication that while Miranda was the center of attention and “a ball of energy” in high school, Nadal was incredibly focused on her studies.
“She was never looking to be popular,” she shared. “She danced her way through the hallways and studied like crazy for exams.”
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Miranda reached out to her on Facebook
Years after graduation, Miranda built up the courage to reach out to Nadal while scrolling through his former classmates on Facebook in 2005. He came across her profile and decided to invite her to a performance for his hip-hop improv troupe, Freestyle Love Supreme.
The two didn’t hit it off right away, however, as there was a large crowd of people around, and Miranda was simply too nervous to strike up a conversation. In fact, he asked one of his friends to get Nadal’s number for him. A few weeks later, Miranda called Nadal, inviting her to another one of his shows; this time, sparks flew.
“When he came onstage, I thought, ‘I really like this guy.’ He was up there free-styling and weaving rhymes together. It’s pretty impressive. He’s really, really smart,” Nadal toldThe Times. Things moved quickly from here, and the two were exchanging apartment keys and “I love you’s” within months.
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She married Miranda in 2010 — and he surprised her with a song at the reception
Miranda proposed to Nadal in Madrid in October 2009. He later shared a photo that the couple took together after he popped the question. “I took this on Photobooth while she called her parents,“he tweetedin 2017, along with a photo of Nadal with her left hand covering part of his face.
Nadal and Miranda tied the knot one year later. They exchanged vows at the Belvedere Mansion in Staatsburg, New York, on September 5, 2010. According toThe Times, the bride wore a strapless Oscar de la Renta gown.
At the reception, Miranda surprised his wife with a performance of “My Life” fromFiddler on the Roof.
“All of Vanessa’s close friends and family rehearsed for a month in secret, leading up to the reception,” hewrote in the captionof a video of the performance on YouTube. “What we lack in polish, we hopefully make up for in joy and love. In any event, everyone in this video has one thing in common: We’d do anything to show Vanessa how much we love her.”
She is an attorney with a degree in chemical engineering
According to her LinkedInaccount, Nadal graduated from M.I.T. in 2004 with a degree in chemical engineering. After undergrad, she began working in her field as a research and development intern at Johnson & Johnson, and was later brought on as an R&D scientist at the company.
Nadal left Johnson & Johnson in 2007 to attend Fordham University School of Law. After graduating, she started working at Jones Day until 2016, when she ultimately decided to branch out on her own.
In 2019, Nadal accepted a role as an adjunct professor at her alma mater. She co-founded the school’s first law school program on Cosmetics Regulation, which covers “the governmental, industrial, and societal regulation of cosmetics and other personal care products,” according to LinkedIn.
In December 2022, Nadal joined Estée Lauder Companies Inc. as their global marketing counsel — and her husband was ecstatic.
“My wife is the smartest person I’ve ever met,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’m no scientist (although she was) but watching her brain go to work on a challenge is like watching Jordan dunk or Phelps swim—years of training and God-given talent are converging to make what seems miraculous to the rest of us just WHAT HER BRAIN DOES.”
Miranda continued: “I’m no lawyer (she is) but if I could bill the number of times we’ve left some social gathering with someone offering her a job after a long talk with her, I’d have made partner (wow I really don’t know how lawyering works). I’m so proud that she’s stepping back into the workforce as Global Marketing Counsel for Estée Lauder, a gig worthy of her myriad talents and skills. Love you @vamnit: eat ‘em up.”
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She is a mom of two
Nadal and Miranda are parents to two sons, Sebastian and Francisco. After welcoming Sebastian in 2014, Nadal announced her second pregnancy in 2017 when the couple walked the red carpet together at the London Evening Standard Theater Awards.
Two months later, Miranda shared the news of Francisco’s birth with fans on twitter. “Int. Hospital Room. Night. [The screams reach a delirious crescendo. FRANCISCO MIRANDA enters. He is 7 pounds and 13 ounces.] Intermission,“he shared.
Sebastian and Francisco already seem to befollowing in their dad’s footstepswhen it comes to loving music.
“I have two incredibly smart and brilliant and creative kids who — and who knows if they would be doing this if I didn’t do what I do for a living — but they make up songs,” Mirandatold Kelley Carter on ABC’sClose Uppodcast.
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They are each other’s biggest supporters
Miranda and Nadal are cheerleaders for one another, and they aren’t shy when it comes to showing their support.
In April 2023, Nadal attended opening night of Miranda’s Broadway showNew York, New York: A New Musical. The playwright wrote several songs for the musical, which is loosely based on Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film of the same name. Miranda shared photos from the special evening onInstagram.
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Miranda has a tattoo in her honor
Miranda declared his love for his wife in a permanent way when he got a tattoo of the letter “V” on his ring finger in 2017.
“In other news, I got a permanent parking spot for V over the weekend,” the playwrightwrote on Twitteralongside a photo of his new ink.
America Ferrera portrayed Nadal onCurb Your Enthusiasm
In 2017, Miranda made a cameo on the HBO showCurb Your Enthusiasm. The episode saw the show’s star Larry David attend a performance ofHamilton— and fall asleep on Miranda’s wife’s shoulder.
However, Nadal opted out of portraying herself in the episode, instead telling her husband to “just get America” to play her role, as the show’s executive producer Jeff Schaffer later toldThe Hollywood Reporter.
Nadal joked about her resemblance to Ferrera after the episode premiered,writing on Twitter, “Which one of us was on #CYE last night with Alternate Reality Mean @Lin_Manuel? I DON’T KNOW!!!”
She and Miranda attended the 2023 US Open
In a rare public appearance, Nadal and Mirandaattended the first day of play at the US Openin New York City on Aug. 28, 2023. The lawyer dazzled in a plunging white dress, while the Broadway star was casually clad in a blue button-up shirt and maroon pants.
source: people.com
