Meghan McCain confirms engagement, says fiance proposed while Sen. McCain had cancer treatment

Meghan McCain announced on the Thursday episode of "The View" that she has not only been engaged to long-term boyfriend Ben Domenech for several months, but that she also did not plan for her engagement to become public.

"We've been together for years, and we have been engaged for a while, and it was a secret. I was hoping to get married and people wouldn't find out, but people talk sometimes," she told her co-hosts.

"I love him very much, and we're really happy," McCain said, adding that the couple became engaged while they were at Mayo Clinic. Referencing her father's battle with brain cancer, she said that the decision to become engaged was made to "celebrate life."

Though McCain didn’t believe so, co-host Joy Behar, who in 2011 married her long-time partner of 29 years in a quiet ceremony, called the story of the engagement, which happened while Sen. McCain was getting brains scans, romantic.

“Wait for people who love strong women,” McCain said to the audience. “The men who love strong, independent women, they’re out there. Don’t settle for less.”

The engagement was reported by Us Weekly Wednesday. The name of her fiancé was revealed by Page Six.

Domenech tweeted the PageSix article on his engagement to McCain on Wednesday night. “Love you bae,” he wrote.

Domenech, a conservative writer, is a publisher for The Federalist, a newsletter writer for The Transform and a radio host for CBS News.