From surf buddies to soulmates: How Tulsi Gabbard and husband Abraham Williams fell in love

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence recently quit her job. While many anticipated the move due to her sidelining in the Trump administration, she revealed in an X post that she was stepping away to support her ailing husband, Abraham Williams.On May 22, she took to the social media app to offer her resignation and cited her husband's recent diagnosis with an "extremely rare form of bone cancer." "At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle," Gabbard wrote in a letter addressed to Trump, noting her resignation is effective June 30."Abraham has been my rock throughout our eleven years of marriage," Gabbard wrote. "His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge. I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position."Tulsi Gabbard has been married to her husband Abraham Williams since April 2015, as per The New York Times. The couple first met around 2012 when Abraham volunteered as a photographer and videographer for Tulsi's congressional campaign in Hawaii.What began as a collaboration soon turned into companionship with Tulsi describing their connection as "immediate and natural." However, they took their time with each other and it was only a year and a half later that he asked her out at her birthday party. "As we got to know each other, we realised how much we actually had in common," she wrote over email to People.Gabbard added that their friendship and relationship grew over their mutual love for the ocean and surfing. Thus, it was only fitting that Williams proposed to Gabbard on a surfboard. "I was in meetings all day, and by the time we left, the sun was starting to set. We got stuck in traffic at a really long red light, and he was getting so frustrated. I couldn't understand what the big deal was."As they paddled out just before the sun fully set, Williams pulled out the ring and asked her to marry him.Gabbard and Williams tied the knot in a Vedic ceremony in Hawaii in April 2015. "It was a deeply spiritual, traditional ceremony that held great meaning for Abraham and I," she told the outlet.Williams was raised in Hawaii by his mother Anya Anthony and stepdad Timothy S. Anthony. His mother once worked as the manager of Gabbard's district office in Honolulu in 2015. Whereas, his stepdad taught social studies and administered the English language learner program at Kalakaua Middle School in the town.He is a cinematographer who has worked on commercials, features, documentaries, music videos and short films. In 2023, he worked as the cinematographer on one episode of the TV series Magnum P.I.'s fifth season, per his IMDb.Abraham, who is of Maori and Samoan descent, has remained a "rock" for Gabbard during the numerous phases of her public career.