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“You’re Italian, right?”
“Yes.”
“Can you cook?”
“Yeah, I can cook.”
“I’m going to marry you.”
And that’s pretty much how the love story begins.
“She looked at me like I was crazy, but the rest is history,” states Jerry Citarella.
It was on the shores of Ventura when Jerry asked for JoJo’s hand in marriage just seven years after they met. “I gave her a simple silver band and she happily said ‘yes’.” I paused for a few moments then told her how happy I was that she happily said yes even with a very basic ring.”
And then Jerry took out the real ring…one that he had specially made for JoJo…the ring that replicated the one JoJo had cut out of a magazine when she was around 16 years old and carried in her wallet for nearly a decade.
“She did cry a bit more with the nicer ring, but for the record, she did say yes to me with just the band.”
On November 16, 1996, JoJo and Jerry were married in front of family and friends, and in 2004, the two became parents to twin daughters, Mia and Cierra.
“As a father, I fall in love with JoJo over and over again as I witness her passion for our children,” states Jerry. “It really warms my heart to see the deep love she has for our kids and the mutual love they have for her.”
“One thing I can say about Jerry is what I loved about him 23 years ago, I still love today,” states JoJo. “He is caring, honest, positive and a loving soul…but in all honesty, what’s most attractive about my hubby is his love for me and our girls.”
In January of 2012, after suffering a few injuries, Jerry decided to be a part of the Afterburn Fitness Challenge. “I joined it after one of the guys in my office told me about it,” states Jerry. In three months, he lost over 50 percent of his body fat and took third place out of about 150 of the participants. The following year, JoJo joined the Afterburn Challenge with Jerry. “I decided to be a part of the challenge after my husband did it the year before,” states JoJo ”I thought it would be a great thing to do together and a great way to keep each other motivated. Plus it was boring last time when he was dieting so intensely and I wasn’t. I joined him and we motivated each other.”
”It was a great experience to get in the best shape of our lives together,” states Jerry. “JoJo was already in really good shape but it brought her to a whole new level. I was able to improve on what I accomplished the prior year and got my body fat down to under six percent.”
What’s their recipe for success?
“Communication, commitment, patience, respect and understanding. We believe that in a relationship, you have to really appreciate who the other person is and how you fit together… We love our kids more than imaginable but we also know that we have a life together as a couple. After 23 years together, we truly do still love and enjoy each other.”
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