Who is Avril Lavigne?
If you are not a fan of pop-punk music, Avril may have escaped your entertainment music radar. She pioneered female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Examples of her albums are “Let Go,” “Complicated,” and “Ï’m With You,” among others.
But let’s put the horse first before the carriage.
Early life
Avril Lavigne was born Avril Ramona Lavigne on September 17, 1984, in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. She is the second of John’s (her father’s) children. Her father was a technician for Bell Canada while her mother tended the house.
When she was five, the family moved to Napanee, a small farming town—smaller than her place of birth—of five thousand. As a child, Avril idolized her older brother and tried to do anything he could do. As she declared in Entertainment Weekly later in life, “If he played hockey, I had to play hockey. He played baseball, I also wanted to.” In fact, at age 10, she played in the Napanee boy’s hockey league. She also became known as a baseball pitcher.
As a teener, she earned the reputation of being a tomboy who preferred family outings, dirt biking, or camping over dating. She took to skateboarding when she was in the 10th grade. When she was not hustling with the boys, she engaged in another interest—singing.
Like most rural folks, the Lavigne’s were devout Christians and attended the Evangelical Temple at Napanee. This worship activity gave Avril the first venue for her love of singing. After having her fill of singing in the church’s choir, she sought other venues like county fairs hockey games, and company parties. She sang songs popularized by past popular singers like Martina McBride, and Faith Hill.
Of course, she was thrown a few bricks for lack of originality. To her detractors, she simply said, “Why should I care what other people think of me? I am who I am. And who I wanna be.”
First break
When Avril turned 14, Cliff Fabri (her soon-to-be first manager) discovered her while performing at a local bookstore. Fabri described the teener as a “frizzy-haired waif,” but liked her voice. and her attitude—the kind that helped her win a singing contest with fellow Canadian, Shania Twain in a jam-packed Corel Centre in Ottawa.
Though it was the first time she performed in front of such a huge crowd, she was fearless. She thought that it was what she was going to do with her life.
Two years later, at age 16, Fabri had her audition for L.A. Reid, head of Arista Records in York City. After a 15-minute workout, Reid signed an amazing $ 1.25 million contract. The first thing she did after that was to drop out of school to devote herself to start working on her first album. Then and now you can seldom see a 16-yr-old making millions, right?
But things did not work out as expected at Arista. So Reid sent Avril to Los Angeles with a team of producers and writers known as The Matrix. There, Matrix producer Lauren Christy asked Lavigne what she had in mind. To which the singer replied, “I am 16. I want to rock out.”
Thus, her song Complicated, was born. It was given a great deal of radio airplay and reached number one on the adult Billboard charts. But her debut album, Let Go, wasn’t released until June 4, 2002. Within six weeks it soared up to Platinum, meaning it sold over a million copies.
The rest is history…
Avril’s Love Life
Where Avril’s love life is concerned, your first impulse is to ask, how many times has Avril Lavigne been engaged? She’s been engaged three times. First to Deryck Whibley, then to Chad Kroeger. She eventually married both, one after the other. Both marriages ended up in divorce. Currently, she’s engaged to Mod Sun (more of these later).
In between relationships, however, she dated other men. They were:
- Brody Jenner
- Wilmer Valderrama
- Jesse Colburn
- Mitch Allan
- Justin Murdock
- Mod Sun (to whom she is currently engaged)
Avril and Deryck
Deryck was the lead singer of Sum 41, a Canadian punk group After dating for two years and four years after Avril’s song “Complicated,” they tied the knot on July 15, 2006.
Whibley’s engagement ring to Avril was a stunning 4-carat solitaire round-cut diamond (like the one in this Natalie Diamonds review set in white gold. Her wedding gown was no less stunning, created by Vera Wang, and the ceremony was done in Montecito California. She walked down the aisle, a veil over her face, and a bouquet of white roses to exchange “I dos” with Deryck.
“How much did Avril Lavigne engagement ring cost?” you might wonder. At today’s prices, that would cost more about $ 350,000.
Despite their gorgeous wedding, the marriage only lasted for three years, In October of 2009, Avril filed for divorce.
Avril and Chad Kroeger
After the breakup with Deryck, Avril dated actor Brody Jenner. Then in August 2012, after six months of dating, she announced her engagement to Chad Kroeger, lead singer of the Nickleback band.
Avril’s traumatic first marriage made her promise herself that she would not date anybody who is at least 10 years older than herself. That self-promise was fulfilled in Chad Kroeger.
Not only did Avril got what she wished for, but she also got a 14-carat engagement ring from Chad.
The couple’s wedding was gothic-themed and was held in Southern France in July 2013—a year after they started dating. Avril wore a stunning custom black gown designed by Monique Lhuillier. But their marriage was one of those “easy come, easy go,” affairs. In 2015, after just two years of togetherness, they divorced.
Avril, however, remained friendly with Chad, as she is with Deryck. She considers him a good cheerleader and a huge fan.
Mod Sun
After two failed marriages, Avril continued searching for that perfect love. Then on April 7, 2022, she announced her engagement to Mod Sun, her Love Sex album collaborator.
Mod Sun is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He hails from Bloomingdale, Minnesota and his real name is Derek Ryan Smith. He has had his share of landing in celebrity tabloids in the past when he was doing pop punk and hardcore roots. To his credit, he has four solo albums, three EPs, six mixtapes, and 31 singles.
Then he switched to rapping to the beat of what is apparently called hippy hop. His turnaround and resurrection did him some good and built him a fandom as well as being enmeshed with a very specific type of internet-famous LA denizens—and met Avril Lavigne.
Mod Sun must have gushed with excitement over his engagement, making him share several photos on his Instagram account captioned “Oui! Je t’aime pour toujours,” which means “Yes! I love you forever,” in English.
For the occasion, he gave Avril a heart-shaped engagement ring.
Avril Lavigne’s Heart-shaped Engagement Ring
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage,” Lao Tzu.
This quote by Lao Tzu is never more true about the love affair of Avril and Mod Sun—especially the courage thing. It gave Mod the courage to give Avril Lavigne a heart-engagement ring.
Not that Avril Lavigne’s engagement ring Mod Sun was the first engagement ring Avril is lucky to have. In 2005, Deryck Whibley gave her a 4-carat engagement ring. Then in 2012, she got another one from Chad Kroeger. It was a whopping 14-carat sparkler worth a fortune. As if this was not enough, Chad gave her another diamond ring with a 17-carat center stone on their first wedding anniversary.
Avril’s heart-shaped engagement ring is a flawless 5-carat diamond set on titanium with pavé diamonds around the band. It was custom-made by XIV, a Beverly Hills jewelry maker and the favorite of Hollywood personalities such as Lana Del Rey, Kylie Jenner, and Hailey Baldwin. To make it extra sentimental, the inside of the band is inscribed with the “Hi” icon and the words “Mod + Avril.”
Why heart-shaped?
This happens when people who are in love with each other seem to think on the same wavelength. According to Avril, on the day they first met, each was wearing a paved ring. And they’ve been wearing them since then. Hence, it is by pure instinct that a heart-shaped engagement ring would best define their affair.
And do you know how much Avril Lavigne’s engagement ring cost? Celebrity gossip puts it at $350,000. If you think this is excessive for an engagement ring, think again. Some celebrities got engaged in a more expensive way. For example, do you know “how much was Kanye’s engagement ring to Kim?”
It costs an astounding $2 to $4 million and was designed by Lorraine Schwartz. It carries a giant cushion-cut 15-carat diamond that doubled as a 33rd birthday present. The gem is a type D Flawless, which the designer described as a “perfect cushion-cut diamond. It is set on a platinum band featuring delicate micro-pavé of diamonds that cost around $8 million.
How the couple got engaged
Back to Avril’s heart-shaped engagement ring.
The couple got engaged on March 27 after dating for a year. It was the most perfect and romantic proposal—the couple was in Paris and having a boat ride on the Seine. They had a violin player, champagne, and a bouquet of roses. For Avril, time seemed to stand still and the world was empty except for the two.
Both were in France for a project which led to the engagement. Says Avril, “I knew we had a very strong unstoppable connection from the first week of writing and working together in the studio. Immediately.”
The two met while she was working on her latest album, Love Sux. For Avril, Mod made every day better…
People in love always feel like being in the Heaven
Top Celebrity Engagement Rings
For ordinary women, an engagement ring is a symbol of everlasting love and loyalty to a fiancee. For celebrities, it is a breaking news item that can go viral at the flick of a switch. And it is good business as shown by the chart below.
While much of this article is about Avril Lavigne’s heart-shaped engagement ring (which is one of the top engagement rings in 2022)), there are other more fascinating, and probably more expensive than hers. Here are some of them:
Jennifer Lopez
Whatever she does, J Lo always makes it to the headlines—especially her engagement with Ben Affleck.
The ring has 8.5 carats of extremely rare green diamond, purchased from Ilan Portugal of Beverly Hills Diamonds and designed by Rahaminov. It is set in classic platinum with trapezoid-shaped white diamonds on each side.
Sofia Richie
Sofia Richie is an American social media personality, model, and fashion designer. She made it to the list because of the engagement ring she got from Elliot Grainge—founder and CEO of the 10K Projects.
How many carats is Sofia Richie’s engagement rings?
It is 5 or 6 carats of emerald-cut solitaire diamond that sits on top of a platinum band to make it give more sparkle.
Simone Biles
Simone Arianne Biles is an American gymnast who has seven Olympic gold medals. Her engagement to Jonathan Owens, a Houston Texas football player, earned her an engagement ring a lot more precious that all the gold medals she won.
It is an oval-shaped ring designed by Zo Frost of Zo Frost and Co, mounted on a pavé diamond band, like the one in this Smyth Jewelers review.
These are just a glimpse of the celebrity engagement rings that made it to the top in 2022. No doubt, next year they will be shunted aside by more expensive, more exquisite, and more lavish diamond jewelry intended to adorn the ring finger of a would-be bride. The list may contain new names or re-engaged ones. Life is fickle, its evolution is endless—so are engagement rings.
Celebrity engagement rings truly awes anyone who sees them. If you’re interested in more such pieces, check out our post “Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Rings: A Look At One Woman’s Jewelry Box.