Burnette to marry an angel

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey Engaged
MONDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2006 05:20PM EST

By Sharon Cotliar and Cynthia Wang

Burnett and Downey

Photo by: Evan Agostini / Getty

Reality television producer Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Apprentice) and Touched by an Angel actress Roma Downey got engaged over the holiday weekend, PEOPLE has confirmed.

"The couple has never been happier," their rep, Jim Dowd, tells PEOPLE exclusively. "They're sharing their joy and excitement with their children and their families."

Burnett, 46, got down on his knee and proposed to Downey, 46, on a moonlit beach in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, where the couple were spending a Thanksgiving vacation.

Downey's 10-year-old daughter Reilly from a previous marriage and Burnett's sons James, 13, and Cameron, 9, also from a previous marriage, were present when Burnett proposed.

"I have found my angel," Burnett tells PEOPLE of Downey.

The couple had been Malibu neighbors for years when they started dating in January 2004. "I think we were both deliciously ignorant of each other," Downey told PEOPLE in June of that year, "and so when we met, we didn't bring any preconceived notions of who the other person was. The attraction was very real."

After spending nine years on Touched by an Angel, acting in a series of TV movies and doing worldwide charity work, Downey said, "I thought I really needed to slow down and adjust to my new life, which is life after Touched by an Angel, and it's interesting that I made the choice to slow down when I met the busiest man in show business!"

"We are people with similar backgrounds," Burnett told PEOPLE in 2004. "We are both from Great Britain and both living in Malibu and we both have kids. And we laugh all the time. We laugh all the time because we come from blue-collar families, so I tell her things she hasn't heard in years, and then she will tell friends, who won't even get that commonality, so we'll laugh even more."

Added Downey, "He's a super guy and we have a lovely time. We have children the same age so it's a very inclusive relationship. We travel together as a little group."

Burnett and Downey plan to marry in 2007. No date has been set yet

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Message edited 11/27/2006 7:59:41 PM.

Re: Burnette to marry an angel

Shes the one who was in an affair or a relationship with someone whose wife was sick or paralyzed...a famous actor whose name is escaping me. His wife was OK with the relationship or something... I have to do a search online and come back with the info


ETA: If anyone cares
Here: Why I know this, I do not know.

While she was on TV portraying the angelic one, she was living in sin with another actor, Michael Nouri (of Flashdance) whose WIFE has multiple sclerosis. (they were not divorced). Roma was upset with him because he would not "commit" to her. (In an even stranger twist, Nouri's wife is said to have given her blessing to the pairing, wishing her husband a "happy, normal sex life.")

Message edited 11/27/2006 9:30:38 PM.

Re: Burnette to marry an angel