Hockey Star Jack Hughes At Center Of Ayesha Arora Wedding Rumors

U.S. Olympic hockey star Jack Hughes agent confirmed Friday he will not be marrying billionaire heiress Ayesha Arora on Saturday, debunking reports that had widely circulated in Indian news outlets ahead of her lavish wedding.

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Key Facts

Arora, the oldest daughter of billionaire and former Google executive Nikesh Arora, is several days into wedding celebrations for her upcoming nuptials to a different man with the same name, but several Indian outlets this week identified him as the Olympian from the United States.

Pat Brisson, Hughes agent, confirmed to Forbes on Friday that the mix-up was a case of mistaken identity.

Aroras multi-day celebration kicked off in Delhi, India, on Wednesday and guests then traveled to Jodhpur for a Holi party, multiple local outlets reported.

More events, including a Sangeet, were scheduled for this week and the wedding ceremony is set to take place Saturday at Umaid Bhawan Palace, the same venue actress Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas famously held their wedding in 2018.

Surprising Fact

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and his wife, Allison, are reportedly attending the wedding. Lutnick met with Indias commerce minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss strengthening trade relations, and traveled to Jodhpur after the meeting. Goyal is also reportedly attending.

Forbes Valuation

Nikesh Arora, once chief business officer at Google, left the company in 2014 to join Japanese investment giant SoftBank. He was promoted to president and chief operating officer of SoftBank in 2015 but stayed only one year before cashing out for at least $360 million. He has been chairman and CEO of cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks since 2018.

Key Background

Hughes became an icon to American hockey fans by scoring the winning goal in overtime of the gold medal Olympic game against Canada, shortly after losing multiple teeth in the game‘s third period when he was hit in the face with the stick of a Canadian player. But the team’s celebration became embroiled in a political firestorm as FBI director Kash Patel was recorded in the locker room drinking beer and laughing during a congratulatory phone call with President Donald Trump, in which the president joked he‘d be impeached if he didn’t invite the gold medal-winning women‘s hockey team along with the men to the State of the Union. Patel, an avid hockey fan, flew on an FBI jet to Italy but said the trip was primarily to meet with law enforcement there—not for personal reasons. Hughes later commented on the backlash, calling social media “so negative” and claiming the men on the Olympic team are big supporters of the women’s team. He and other members of the team accepted Trumps invitation to visit the White House and were photographed wearing 2024 Trump campaign “USA” hats. Trump honored the team at his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Tangent

Several tabloids have reported Hughes is casually dating singer songwriter Tate McRae. Rumors of their romance have been swirling since late last year.