Update!

Former Boy Meets World Star Rider Strong Engaged

TV actor proposes to longtime girlfriend Alexandra Barreto

By Bruna Nessif Dec 27, 2012 6:00 PMTags
E! Placeholder Image

Shawn Hunter, er, Rider Strong has found his soulmate (sorry, Angela).

The former Boy Meets World star is now engaged to longtime girlfriend Alexandra Barreto, the actor tells E! News. 

"I asked on Dec. 23, while her parents were visiting for the holidays," he said. "I took her for a walk under the redwoods on the property where I grew up in Northern California. It was pouring rain, but it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon, so I just decided to go for it." 

Strong said he "spent weeks making the [engagement] ring in secret." With the help of "an old-school jeweler who works out of his basement in Echo Park," he learned how "to do a lost wax casting."

After carving the ring himself, he cast it in white gold. "I had my dad make a wooden ring box for me," he added. "My dad made my mom's ring, so I was following in his footsteps."

The actor (and jeweler, apparently) met Barreto while working on the 2006 series Pepper Dennis, and then also worked together on a campaign video for Barack Obama. The rest was history.

Strong recently addressed that he will not be a part of the upcoming Disney channel spinoff, Girl Meets World, which will include his former costars Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel.

"At this point, I have no official involvement," he said. "There might be a chance to see some of the BMW cast in a guest spot, and I think it would be nice to find out where our characters have been all these years." 

—Reporting by Marcus Mulick