Who Is Los Angeles Chargers Running Back Austin Ekeler’s Girlfriend Melanie Wilking?
Running back Austin Ekeler played his college ball at Western Colorado University. In 2017, he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers and has been with the team ever since. Now that he and the Bolts are headed back to the playoffs, fans want to know as much as they can about Ekeler and the woman he’s dating.
Here’s more on the NFL player’s girlfriend, Melanie Wilking, and where you may have seen her before.
Ekeler’s girlfriend is a dancer
Ekeler didn’t know a ton about football when he was a kid because he didn’t grow up watching the sport. He was interested in rodeo instead as his stepfather was involved in team roping. Ekeler even pondered a career in bull-riding until he tried it when he was 12 years old.
“My bull-riding career lasted three bulls,” Ekeler told the Los Angeles Times. “I got bucked off every one of them before eight seconds. And I was terrified the whole time.”
Something else Ekeler didn’t know much about is dance but he’s learning from his girlfriend.
Melanie has a dance background having competed in and won several contests. She and her sister, Miranda, became popular on the internet for their dance videos. The Wilking siblings hail from Michigan but moved to Los Angeles after graduating high school. They have performed live on stage with celebrities like Joe Jonas, Bruno Mars, and Jason Derulo. They’ve also been in music videos for Chris Brown, Selena Gomez, and Iggy Azalea, and have appeared on the TV shows So You Think You Can Dance and Dance Moms.
Melanie has become a Tik Tok celebrity
In 2020, Wilking rose to fame as a social media influencer with her TikTok videos as her internet presence really picked up when everyone was staying at home as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. During the time in addition to dance, Melanie and her sister posted videos on the importance of washing your hands and fun ways to make your own face masks.
“We feel being social media influencers is especially important during this time because we encourage people to interact with their families, get up and get active, and be safe, all while laughing and having a good time,” the siblings told Forbes at the time. “This is much needed during a time when the news is generally so heavy and deep. Additionally, being social media influencers gives us an opportunity to earn an income and promote products at a time when brands are feeling the financial crunch.”
According to Sportskeeda, they accumulated about $2 million in net worth, thanks to their social media success.
The couple that exercises together …
Today, Melanie had over 3 million followers on TikTok and over 70,000 subscribers on YouTube.
And while she doesn’t do videos with her sister as much as she used to, she’s not always alone. Ekeler sometimes makes an appearance and they get in a couple’s workout.
