NEED TO KNOW
Colin Kaepernick is married to Nessa Diab, an on-air personality and podcast host
The couple share one child who was born in 2022
In August 2025, Diab revealed that she and Kaepernick have been married for “years”
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab are married — and have been for a long time.
In August 2025, Diab told TMZ Sports that she and Kaepernick wed “years ago.” In a July 2025 Instagram post, Diab addressed publications referring to her as Kaepernick’s partner.
“I’m not Colin’s girlfriend or roommate or whatever — I’m his wife,” she said.
The news comes three years after the couple welcomed their first child in 2022.
Kaepernick and Diab have been romantically linked since 2015. Together, they founded the nonprofit organization Know Your Rights Camp to support Black and Brown communities, as well as Ra Vision Media — a company that showcases the talents of Black and Brown professionals.
So who is Colin Kaepernick’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Nessa Diab and her relationship with the former NFL star.
She comes from an Egyptian family
Diab is the daughter of Egyptian parents who emigrated to the United States before she was born. In a 2014 episode of the Guy Code podcast, she opened up about her parents’ sacrifices, including her father moving to America with only $200 in his pocket.
“My dad worked so hard,” Diab shared. “My dad had like three jobs when he came out to the U.S. [including] security guard. And he had to get his credits from Egypt transferred at UCLA so it could be equivalent to American degrees and whatever. But they just worked really hard. So every time I think I’m working hard, I just remember my parents. My mom used to clean up hotels. Even though she is a scientist, they wouldn’t give her a job because she was supposedly overqualified.”
She lived in Saudi Arabia
She was raised in Southern California, but Diab spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia when her father was transferred there for work. She recalled some of her earliest memories being fraught with conflict.
“Bombings and all that was so normal when I was growing up. Terrorist attacks were always happening in Saudi Arabia. Always,” Diab said on the Guy Code podcast. “We lived in a compound, and I was so used to it.”
She added, “I remember this one terrorist attack that happened in Saudi Arabia. I was making a friendship bracelet, and our air conditioning blew all the way in the apartment. And it was just a terrorist attack. It was just so normal.”
She is an on-air personality
Diab graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in mass communications.
After stints at iHeartRadio and L.A.-based station Power 106, she got her big break on MTV as the host of Girl Code, the spinoff of the popular reality comedy television series Guy Code. This paved the way for hosting gigs on other MTV and VH1 properties, including The Real World, Teen Mom, Snooki & J Woww after-show specials and multiple The Challenge reunions.
She is a prominent voice on New York City’s legendary radio station Hot 97, hosting Nessa On Air, a nationally syndicated radio show in over 15 markets.
In 2018, she succeeded Cat Greenleaf as the host of the long-running interview segment Talk Stoop, and a year later, Diab received a New York Emmy nomination for her work on the program.
Diab also hosts a podcast titled Nessa Off Air.
She is one of Kaepernick’s biggest supporters
Kaepernick Media
Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab.
The Talk Stoop host has long defended her partner amid NFL criticism. In 2019, Diab posted on X in response to a claim that rapper Jay-Z and the NFL consulted with Kaepernick ahead of the league’s partnership with Roc Nation, writing, “THIS is a lie. COLIN never spoke to JAY-Z and NFL ahead of that deal being done. They NEVER included him in any discussion.”
She also had Kaepernick’s back when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged the league was wrong for “not listening to NFL players earlier” and encouraged “all to speak out and peacefully protest” in June 2020. Diab reminded the commissioner that the quarterback was still paying the price for his activism.
“And you @nflcommish STILL have @Kaepernick7 blackballed for peacefully protesting,” she posted on X in response.
Diab has continued to support Kaepernick, often posting about him on Instagram. On Feb. 8, 2023, she praised the former NFL player for his work on Know Your Rights Camp’s autopsy initiative, in which Kaepernick worked to fact check police killings. She shared a video that featured a Sports Illustrated photo of the athlete with “The Reliever” written over the image.
“@kaepernick7 your consistency, dedication to help others is special and sadly it cost you to be exiled from something you worked so hard for since you were 8 years old. I do believe though when it’s all said and done you will always be loved and celebrated for being on the right side of history,” she wrote.
On March 9, 2023, Diab posted about Kaepernick again, congratulating him for the publication of his graphic novel Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game, which details the athlete’s high school years.
“Keep going Colin!!! @kaepernick7 everything you create is done with loving intention, clarity and grace. You make it look soooooo easy but I know how much time and energy goes behind everything,” Diab wrote in her Instagram caption.
“I’m always proud and inspired by YOU,” she added.
She is an outspoken activist
In October 2016, Diab and Kaepernick co-founded the nonprofit Know Your Rights Camp, with a mission to empower youth in Black and Brown communities.
Diab is also an advocate for women’s issues, including reproductive rights. In 2015, the radio host teamed up with comedian Carly Aquilino to tour college campuses as a part of Plan B One Step’s Perfectly Imperfect campaign, which educated women on the options available to them when faced with an unexpected pregnancy.
“There are so many myths floating around,” Diab told PopSugar in November 2016. “As women, it’s so important that we educate each other with actual facts and that we’re able to spread the truth about our health, our body and what matters to us.”
She shares one child with Kaepernick
On Aug. 28, 2022, Diab and Kaepernick announced the birth of their first child together. In a black-and-white photo posted on Instagram, the new parents sat on a hospital bed holding their newborn.
“I thought long and hard about sharing our life-changing news today. … Colin and I welcomed our amazing baby to the world a few weeks ago, and we are over the moon with our growing family,” Diab wrote, also calling Kaepernick an “amazing dad.”
The couple did not disclose the baby’s sex or name.
In October 2022, Diab opened up about her life as a new mom in an Instagram post, sharing a photo of herself pumping while surrounded by a hair and makeup team.
“I’ve experienced so much while I was on maternity leave and I look forward to sharing it with you,” she wrote in the caption. “It’s taken me a second to fully digest everything and to find different ways to express it.” She then listed things she’s felt and learned as a parent, including “Worried about my milk supply,” “Our baby is Colin’s TWWWWWIIINNN 🥰” and “Feeling LOVE I never knew existed.”
On Nov. 3, 2022, Diab wished Kaepernick the “happiest of birthdays” and called him the “greatest father” to their baby.
“I wish I could write more but our baby needs me lol,” she wrote on Instagram. “WE LOVE YOU!!!!”
She and Kaepernick wrote a children’s book
The couple wrote a children’s book, We Are Free, You & Me, which was published in October 2024.
“As parents, this project has been especially meaningful to us,” Kaepernick and Diab told PEOPLE at the time. “The book celebrates a fictional family enjoying a day together in their loving community. We hope this book inspires young people to live in the light of their own strength, truth and self-worth as they embark on their journey through life.”
Book proceeds would be donated to the pair’s nonprofit, Know Your Rights Camp, they said.
She and Kaepernick have been married for “years”
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab in 2017.
In August 2025, Diab told TMZ Sports that she and Kaepernick got married “years ago,” following up comments she made in a video she shared on Instagram a month earlier.
“For all the publications out there, do some research,” she said at the time. “I’m not Colin’s girlfriend or roommate or whatever — I’m his wife.”
Read the original article on People
