Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez are officially married, but the football superstar's latest milestone has also prompted renewed discussion online about the sexual assault allegation that followed him throughout his career.
Ronaldo, 41, and Rodríguez, 32, married in an intimate civil ceremony in Cascais, Portugal on 11 August 2026, after almost a decade together. The couple, who began dating in 2017, share a family of five children.
News of the wedding quickly spread across social media, where celebrations surrounding the couple were accompanied by renewed references to allegations made against Ronaldo over an alleged 2009 incident in Las Vegas.
Ronaldo faced allegations from Kathryn Mayorga, who accused him of sexually assaulting her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
The case became public in 2018 after Mayorga filed a lawsuit and Las Vegas police confirmed that they had reopened an investigation into the incident. Ronaldo strongly denied the allegation, describing it as false.
The controversy intensified after documents published as part of reporting on the case appeared to contain different versions of an account given by Ronaldo during the investigation.
The material included differences between an earlier account and a later version concerning what Mayorga allegedly said during and after the encounter. Those discrepancies have since been revisited online as Ronaldo's marriage brought his personal life back into the spotlight.
However, the existence of conflicting accounts should not be presented as proof that Ronaldo committed a crime.
Ronaldo's marriage to Rodríguez generated enormous interest because of the couple's long relationship and their status as one of football's most recognisable couples.
The pair first met when Rodríguez was working at a Gucci store and later built a highly public relationship that has included their family life, Rodríguez's Netflix series I Am Georgina and Ronaldo's football career. They announced their engagement in August 2025 before finally marrying a year later.
As photographs of the newlyweds circulated, some social media users began revisiting Ronaldo's past, including the Las Vegas allegations. In a Reddit post, someone actually posted the scandalous headline: 'Accused rapist Cristiano Ronaldo finally marries Georgina Rodriguez after nearly 10 years together: "C❤️G."'
One of the most important facts surrounding the controversy is that Ronaldo was never criminally charged over the Las Vegas allegation.
In July 2019, the Clark County District Attorney's Office announced that it would not prosecute Ronaldo. Prosecutors said that, after reviewing the available information, the allegations could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Ronaldo has consistently denied the allegation.
The decision not to bring criminal charges did not mean prosecutors had determined that the allegation was false. Rather, the stated legal conclusion was that there was insufficient evidence to establish the case beyond the criminal standard of proof.