DISTURBED‘s David Draiman proposed to his girlfriend on stage during the band’s concert in Sacramento, California Friday night (May 9).
The emotional proposal took place before the second-to-last song of DISTURBED‘s set at Golden 1 Center, “The Light”, which was part of the band’s ongoing “The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour”.
After bringing Sarah Uli out on stage, David pulled her close to him and said into the microphone: ”Sarah, my love, you have made my life so much better. You are the light in the darkness for me. I love you more than anything I have ever loved in this world, and it would be the absolute pinnacle of my life and my existence…”
He then reached into his right pocket and pulled out a tiny box and opened it before getting down on one knee. The singer continued: “Sarah Uli, will you marry me?” Sarah quickly nodded yes before David got back up and put the ring from the box on her finger.
Draiman then addressed the crowd: “In case you didn’t hear, she said ‘yes’.”
“Go ahead and join the rest of your family, sweetheart,” he directed his soon-to-be wife.
David went public with his relationship with Sarah Uli in January 2024, less than a year after announcing that he had split up with his wife.
According to TheOrg.com, Uli — who, like Draiman, resides in Miami, Florida — has over 12 years of work experience, starting in 2005 as a sales manager at TNT Powersprot. Sarah then worked as a senior nightlife manager at GMR Marketing from 2011 to 2015. Afterwards, Sarah joined Young’s Market Company as a sales representative from 2015 to 2017. Sarah then worked as an independent marketing contractor from 2009 to 2017, handling marketing and promotional projects for various companies including Samsung, JBL, and Marlboro. In 2017, Sarah became a territory sales manager at Reynolds American Inc. and worked there until 2020. Sarah then joined AstroNova, Inc. as a regional account executive from 2020 to 2021. Sarah‘s next role was at secure staffing as a model account manager from 2020 to 2022. She most recently held the position of senior sales account manager at JDI Distribution since April 2022. Sarah‘s most recent work experience is as an account executive at eSpeakers since January 2023. Acccording to eSpeakers, she is passionate about being healthy and living life to its fullest. She loves to travel and see new places. She also enjoys being in the sun, at the beach, and spending time with her puppy, Raya.
In May 2023, Draiman said he deleted his account on Tinder, calling it “an absolute shitshow”. One week after he confirmed that he had been using the dating app to find “the right woman” following his divorce, Draiman offered an update on his search for romance, writing on Twitter: “Holly fucking dumpster fire Batman, @Tinder was an absolute shitishow. Scammers, grifters, fakes and phonies abound. What a colossal fucking nightmare. Deleted it. Dear lord.”
On May 5, 2023, one of Draiman‘s Twitter followers shared a screenshot of what appeared to be the singer’s Tinder profile, and he wrote: “Lol dude you see this?! I’m tagging you bc I believe it’s fake @davidmdraiman”. David quickly responded: “Not fake lol. It’s me”. This prompted the fan to write, “My bad bro for assuming”, to which Draiman replied: “All good. You’d be surprised. It’s hard for a guy like me to meet the right woman. I’ll tell you, it’s been weird so far. Lots of scammers. Trying to figure out how to navigate this new terrain.”
Another fan also chimed in on Draiman‘s presence on Tinder, writing: “Read: David Draiman can’t get laid anymore.” Draiman fired back with: “I can get laid anytime I want if I’m willing to drop my standards, but my standards are quite high, and I won’t dishonor myself that way. Looking for the RIGHT woman, not just ANY woman. Oh. And btw? You’re a dick”.
In April 2023, Draiman confirmed that he finalized his divorce from his wife of 11 years, Lena Draiman.
The singer opened up about his split in an interview with Kyle Meredith. Speaking about why DISTURBED continues to make music and stay creative after being together for nearly 30 years, David said: “Therapy. [Laughs] It’s as pure and simple as that. Right now for me it’s the most effective form of therapy.
“I’m very much looking forward to the performance end of things, which is coming up shortly, but the creative end is the perfect way to come to terms with your demons, and I’m definitely stocked up,” he explained. “I need this, and I need the music — creating it, performing it, living it — right now more than I ever have.
“I just recently finalized my divorce. I just recently said goodbye to my Akita [dog], my best friend of 14 years. There’s gonna be plenty of inspiration for the next body of work. Battling depression, battling all the demons that normally come along with it. And I know that music — our music, other music like it and different types of music in general — is just the perfect means of therapy for so many other people. And it really is my saving grace. I don’t know what I would do without it.”
Draiman touched upon his divorce again later in the interview when the conversation turned to the DISTURBED song “Don’t Tell Me”, which appears on the band’s latest album “Divisive”. A duet with HEART‘s Ann Wilson, the track was inspired by DISTURBED guitarist Dan Donegan‘s own recent divorce. “Mine hadn’t been finalized yet [when the song was written],” David revealed. “And to be honest, when I wrote the song, I didn’t realize how prophetic it was going to be. I kind of hate that shit. [Laughs] It ended up becoming not just about Dan‘s divorce, unfortunately. It wasn’t exactly the same situation, but I definitely have added reverence for the song, and it has added meaning and power to me, especially now.”
When David first announced his divorce on his Facebook page in February 2023, he described himself as “heartbroken” and “very lost” and revealed that there was “no infidelity” involved in the split. He went on to say that there was “no bad blood” between him and his now-ex-wife and added that they would “continue to be the best parents” we can be to their son Samuel, who was born in September 2013. “Lena is still the best mother I could ever hope for, so we’ve got that going for us,” he wrote at the time. He added: “I will continue to try to be the best father, and frontman that I can be, and I hope that Sam can forgive me one day for my part in this failure.”
In November 2022, Donegan told the Z93 radio station that DISTURBED drummer Mike Wengren also “went through a divorce early on in the pandemic.”
More than three years ago, Draiman and his then-wife and son moved to Miami, Florida after living in Honolulu, Hawaii for a few years.
Draiman first announced his family’s decision to relocate to Miami in February 2022, explaining on his Facebook page that he and his then-wife “gave it our best shot, but between the extraordinarily long travel times for business, island fever, and a bunch of other factors, we’ve decided to move on.” He also shared a link to a video tour of his then-Honolulu home which had just been listed. That house has since sold for more than $6 million, according to public records.
In September 2023, Draiman sold his house in the Miami suburb of Pinecrest for $5 million. David bought the modern Spanish-Moroccan villa for $5.22 million in March 2022 and first listed it for $5.75 million in January 2023. It was last asking $5.19 million.
This past March, Draiman filed a lawsuit against his former landlord, alleging that mold in a rental home in Coral Gables, Florida caused him to suffer health issues that negatively affected his singing career.
DISTURBED kicked off the U.S. leg of “The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour” on February 25 at Ford Idaho Center Arena in Nampa, Idaho. The trek celebrates 25 years of DISTURBED‘s seminal debut album which launched the band into public consciousness and is one of the most important and influential heavy metal albums of all time
On February 21, DISTURBED released a new single, “I Will Not Break”, via the band’s own label, Mother Culture Records.
Source: blabbermouth.net
