After seven years of dating, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas finally popped the question over the holidays to his long-time girlfriend, DreamWorks animation chairman, Mellody Hobson.
It will be the first marriage for Hobson, 43, and the second for Lucas, 68, who was previously married to film editor Marcia Lou Griffin and has three adopted children.
The couple first met during a business conference in Aspen in 2006, and have been dating long distance (he in California, she in Chicago) ever since.
"In addition to her gig with DreamWorks, Hobson also heads Chicago-based investment management firm Ariel Investments Llc. and is chairman of Ariel Mutual Funds," according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Ariel reportedly is among the largest African-American-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the U.S."
A Chicago native, Hobson graduated from Princeton University in 1991 and soon after joined Ariel as an intern, where she later became president in 2000.
In addition to managing more than a reported $3 billion in assets, Hobson also regularly contributes commentary on financial issues on ABC’s "Good Morning America" and hosted a 2009 show on ABC called "Unbroke: What You Need to Know About Money."
Hobson replaced former Dreamworks Animation Chairman Robert Enrico in October after the former Pepsi CEO mysteriously left the company for no apparent reason.
While Hobson is keeping busy, Lucas, meanwhile, will have more time to spend with his bride-to-be in 2013 as the filmmaker sold his Lucasfilm production company to Disney in October for a whopping $4.05 billion — most of which he donated to educational philanthropy.
“As I start a new chapter in my life, it is gratifying that I have the opportunity to devote more time and resources to philanthropy,” Lucas said at the time.
During a joint interview on OWN last year, Hobson told Oprah Winfrey of her relationship with the famed director:
"I think it works because we are extraordinarily open-minded people and we're open to what the universe brings us and I think we didn't have preconceived ideas about what a partnership should be and so we allowed ourselves to discover something that was unexpected."
Watch the couple's interview about their relationship below:
Now the couple just need to decide if they will spend more time at Lucas' Skywalker Ranch just north of San Francisco or in Hobson's hometown of Chicago ...
May the force be with them.
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