Christian Gonzalez is used to drawing attention on Sundays. This week, it was his apparent new relationship that had Patriots fans talking.
The New England Patriots cornerback has been linked to social media influencer Juliana Alvarado after she shared photos from the sideline of New England’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Alvarado wore a custom Patriots jacket with Gonzalez’s No. 0 splashed across the front, and Gonzalez made his feelings pretty clear in the comments.
“HER!” he wrote.
Alvarado responded, “mwah” with a heart emoji.
The two have not formally announced that they are dating, but the very public exchange quickly fueled romance reports and introduced Alvarado to a much bigger audience of Patriots fans.
She isn’t exactly new to having an audience, though.
Juliana Alvarado Already Has a Major Social Media Following
Alvarado is a social media creator with hundreds of thousands of followers across TikTok and Instagram.
She is best known on TikTok as @juliibbyyy, where she has built an audience of more than 230,000 followers and collected nearly 7 million likes. Her page mixes fashion, fitness, travel and lifestyle content, and she has been posting on the platform since late 2022.
Her Instagram following has grown considerably, too. As of Sept. 25, Alvarado had nearly 60,000 followers, with a feed filled with travel photos, nights out and snapshots from her everyday life.
According to Famous Birthdays, Alvarado was born on Nov. 1, 2004, and has Guatemalan heritage. She is also described as a fitness enthusiast, which tracks with much of the content she has shared online.
And lately, there has been a little more Boston mixed in.
Alvarado has referenced the city in recent social media posts, including one captioned, “Boston I’m in uuu ❤️.” Another asked her followers, “What’s there to do in Boston?!”
Those posts take on a little more meaning now.
How Juliana Alvarado and Christian Gonzalez Went Public
Neither Gonzalez nor Alvarado has explained how they met or how long they have been seeing each other. Their social media activity, however, has offered the first real look at their apparent romance.
Alvarado’s trip to the Patriots-Steelers game was the clearest sign yet.
She didn’t just attend the game. She did so wearing Gonzalez’s number, then shared several photos from the sideline. Gonzalez jumped into the comments shortly afterward with his emphatic “HER!” response, which Alvarado answered with a kiss and heart.
For a player who has kept most of his personal life out of the spotlight since arriving in New England, it was a noticeable change.
There may have been another clue this week, too.
Alvarado shared an Instagram Story showing an elaborate romantic setup filled with red roses, rose petals and dozens of candles. A large heart made from candles sat in the middle of the room.
She never said who was behind the surprise, so there is no indication that Gonzalez arranged it. But coming just after their public exchange, the post certainly didn’t quiet the interest surrounding her love life.
For now, Gonzalez and Alvarado seem content to let the pictures and comments do most of the talking.
And after one Patriots game, one custom No. 0 jacket and a two-word Instagram exchange, Alvarado suddenly has plenty of New England watching along.
Who Is Christian Gonzalez’s Girlfriend? Meet Juliana Alvarado