Brandy is engaged to music executive Ryan Press, insider says

Wonderwall, Wednesday, December 26, 2012, 2:39pm (PST)

Us Weekly

• Brandy will ring in the new year with a ring on her finger!

  The "Put It Down" singer, 33, is engaged to Ryan Press, Us Weekly has learned. According to an insider, "They are thrilled and happy and Brandy feels this is so right." Prior to accepting Press' proposal, Brandy had openly expressed her desire to marry the music executive.

  PHOTOS: 40 more star couples who got engaged in 2012

  "I keep hearing about a ring. People keep calling me, hinting to me about it, but I don't know," she told Sister2Sister magazine in August. "I'm going to be patient and let it happen and just let it be. ... I guess it will happen when it's the right time."

  That same month, the singer spoke to Us about how Press had restored her faith in men. "I had given up on love a long time ago. It just didn't seem to work for me, so I was single for a very long time," the "Moesha" star said. "I stopped looking for love and then I ran into my boyfriend."

  PHOTOS: Best celebrity engagement rings of all time

  She continued, "He just loves me for who I am. I don't have to camouflage anything for him or put on a mask. I can completely be myself and he loves me so much and I love him just the way he is, too."

  This will be the first marriage for the singer, who has a 10-year-old daughter, Sy'rai, with ex-boyfriend Robert Smith.

  PHOTOS: Celebrity bridesmaids

  (In 2008, Brandy admitted that she and Smith, a music producer, weren't married and had for two years pretended to be betrothed after the singer learned she was pregnant. "I lied because of the fear of what people would think and the pressure to be a good role model," she told Us. "Our relationship was very real -- we just weren't legally married.")

  PHOTOS: Most over-the-top star weddings

  Brandy released her sixth studio album, "Two Eleven," in October, and she currently stars in BET's hit comedy "The Game." She next appears in Tyler Perry's "Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor." The drama, arriving in theaters March 29, 2013, also stars Jurnee Smollett, Robbie Jones, Kim Kardashian, Jerry Stiller and Vanessa Williams.

  MORE FROM WONDERWALL:

  Motley Crue bassist is engaged

  Wedding bells in 2013

• First pics surface of Blake Lively's wedding