Inside Olivia Dunne And Paul Skenes' Relationship
A famous gymnast and a professional baseball pitcher — Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes seem like they were made for each other, and their respective fans can't get enough of their relationship. Both Dunne and Skenes attend Louisiana State University, so it seems they were fated to meet. Dunne has been racking up various accomplishments — not only is it rumored that she's worth around $2.3 million (and she's only 21 as of this writing) but she was also a 2023 and 2024 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue model. Aside from the fact that she's an accomplished gymnast, Dunne has managed to make a name for herself on social media as well — when she's not dancing and lip-syncing on TikTok, she's posting snaps to Instagram that gather thousands of likes in record time.
Skenes, on the other hand, tries to avoid social media as much as possible because he realizes the impact it can have on his mental health. Skenes is expected to play in the major leagues come 2024 — he already made history in July 2023 when he landed a $9.2 million signing bonus with the Pirates. Before he was a rising baseball star, Skenes spent two years in the Air Force Academy. He regularly donates to Folds of Honor and dreams of joining the military after his baseball career comes to an end.
They say opposites attract, and perhaps that's why Dunne and Skenes fell head over heels for each other. Read on for all the inside details about their relationship.
The two met through mutual friends
Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes met the way many couples do — through mutual friends. It so happened that Skenes' friend Garrett Edwards was going out with Dunne's roommate, Elena Arenas, who is also a gymnast. While details about Dunne and Skenes' first meetup aren't really known, some believe that the two met sometime in June 2023, when Dunne was attending a baseball game with Arenas.
During an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Skenes said that Arenas and Edwards introduced him to Dunne and that it was "[j]ust a small world type of thing." The two of them bonded over their mutual understanding of what it's like to be professional athletes. Because they're both in the spotlight all the time, Dunne and Skenes presumably started dating not long after they met but didn't really confirm their relationship until a couple of months later, which was probably wise, given all the media attention they're both getting.
The couple initially kept their relationship quiet
Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes initially kept their relationship pretty private, but like many celebrities before them, they soon discovered that keeping it hidden for long would be impossible. Still, they did an admirable job of keeping their fans guessing. While they are rumored to have met in June 2023, media outlets started picking up on their possible romance around August 2023.
The New York Post ran a piece that speculated as to whether or not the two were, in fact, dating. It seems fans suspected romance was brewing before the media caught on, however. One fan spotted Dunne wearing a Pirates hat and took to X (formerly Twitter) to let the world know in late July. "#LivvyDunne is in Bradenton and sporting a Pirates hat after Paul Skenes is assigned to FCL Pirates in Bradenton," the fan wrote, adding the two big eyes emoji. Fans started to scour Dunne's pictures for more hints and noticed a baseball glove that looked like Skenes' in the background of one of her photos.
Aside from subtle social media hints, Dunne and Skenes were smart about keeping their relationship under wraps — they were never spotted going out together in public and never posted any pictures of them together on social media. Of course, the couple eventually had to address the rumors, and Skenes did the honors during his interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He didn't give much away but finally confirmed that they were indeed dating.
Paul Skenes admits that their fame makes going out a challenge
Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes have both managed to rack up an impressive following, which means they get recognized in public and therefore don't have much privacy when they decide to go out. Even though fame can become overbearing at times, Skenes admitted to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it's nice to date someone who gets what it's like to be in that position. "It's nice to be able to have that conversation. She does get it," he said of Dunne. That doesn't mean it's automatically easier — Skenes would love for Dunne to come to some of his baseball games without having to wade through thousands of adoring fans, but that's practically impossible. "It does irk me," he admitted.
It seems Skenes and Dunne are still trying to get used to their fame — the good and the bad. "It can be a pain in the butt sometimes, to be honest, in terms of actually going somewhere," Skenes told the outlet. "If one of us went out in Baton Rouge [Louisiana] by ourselves, there's probably gonna be someone there asking for something — picture, autograph, whatever." He accepts that neither he nor Dunne has any control over it but hopes that the frenzy will eventually wear off. Because Dunne and Skenes are one of the hottest couples in sports right now, they probably won't realize this dream anytime soon.
Olivia Dunne publicly cheers on Paul Skenes' accomplishments
Despite the fact that she gets bombarded with fans, Olivia Dunne still makes an effort to attend Paul Skenes' baseball games, and fans will often see an Instagram post pop up on her feed or Stories to celebrate her beau's game. She also posed for a photograph with Skenes and Louisiana State University alumnus and basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. Dunne and Skenes bumped into O'Neal while they were hanging out at local college watering hole Fred's Bar, and fans were delighted by the snap Dunne posted of the three of them to her Instagram Stories.
Aside from posing with baseball stars and cheering for Skenes at his games, Dunne also makes a point of making a big deal of Skenes' career accomplishments. When he won the College World Series' most outstanding player honors, Dunne was in the crowd, wildly excited about her beau's amazing accomplishment. She captured the moment on her phone and posted it to social media, captioning it, "#1 Fan." She also has an entire section of her Snapchat Stories dedicated to baseball, which feature snaps of her supporting Skenes at his games. We love it when couples cheer each other on.
There were rumors that Paul Skenes was dating someone else in addition to Olivia Dunne
When Olivia Dunne made a TikTok video in which she claimed that "my boyfriend has 2 girlfriends," it caused widespread confusion about her and Paul Skenes' relationship. Sportskeeda ran a piece speculating about the meaning of the video. The TikTok in question showed Dunne doing some of her signature gymnastic moves and then switched to her posing for the camera for her Sports Illustrated cover. In the caption, she wrote, "Choose your fighter!" To some, it wasn't clear whether she was being sarcastic, taking part in a TikTok trend, or whether she was being serious and calling Paul Skenes out for cheating on her. Speculation was plenty, and in retrospect, Dunne and Skenes probably had a good laugh about people's reactions.
As it turned out, the video was supposed to showcase the two sides of Dunne — the gymnast and the model — and yes, it was part of TikTok's "my boyfriend has two girlfriends" trend. While the video left some confused, some fans in the comments were already aware of the trend, with one commenting, "Paul Skenes really the goat." "Luckiest man alive," another said. We're just happy that those cheating rumors were one big misunderstanding.
Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes both find navigating social media challenging
Olivia Dunne may be the queen of social media, but that doesn't mean negative comments don't get to her. In his interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Paul Skenes said, "She doesn't like seeing some of [these comments]." Skenes tries to stay away from all social media platforms for his own peace of mind, something he learned to do from LSU alumnus Joe Burrow. "[He started] 0-2 last year, and somebody mentioned to him that he was getting a lot of hate on social media. He was like, 'I wouldn't know. I don't have it.' That's the best way that I think you can handle that. If you don't see any of it, nothing can get in your way," Skenes said. "I wasn't on it during the season because it's toxic," he added.
Dunne, however, has clinched plenty of paid social media partnership deals, which means she can't just step away from the platform without losing a lot of money. Skenes has tried to help her navigate the negativity she has to deal with on the platform, saying that she has it way worse than he does. "I've told her, 'People are gonna write about you. People are gonna write about me. If it rattles you, if it makes you upset, you gotta find a way to either not see it or not get upset over it,'" he said, adding that the former is way easier to do.
The couple's first official post on social media made waves
When you keep your relationship on the down-low, your fans only tend to get more curious. So when Paul Skenes finally posted a picture of him and Olivia Dunne on Instagram in September 2023, it went a little viral. In the picture, Dunne is cozying up to Skenes and both are beaming at the camera. "Back in the boot!" Skenes captioned the post, and fans immediately took to the comment section to discuss the couple's first Instagram snap. "He made it Instagram official," one user commented with a heart-faced emoji. Other fans offered their congratulations. Unfortunately, there were some negative comments as well, with one user saying, "Are you embrasses [sic] that your girlfriend never posts you and just the thirst traps for her 40 year old fans???? Literally won't acknowledge her relationship aside from WAG selfies but entertains the bath water comments. That has to be a kick in the (base)balls, no?" Haters gonna hate, right?
Dunne was in no hurry to appease the haters and only shared a picture of her and Skenes on her Instagram feed about two months later. The snap showed her and Skenes dressed in their finest for an event. Dunne blessed fans with two pictures — one with her and Skenes cozied up and grinning at the camera and another of the two of them lovingly staring into each other's eyes. "[M]y fav d8," she captioned the post.
Olivia Dunne wants to keep her relationship with Paul Skenes as private as possible
Olivia Dunne is still learning how to handle her fame. Dunne has become immensely popular, so much so that while she and her team were competing in Utah in January 2023, she took to X (formerly Twitter) to ask fans to "be respectful of the other gymnasts and the gymnastics community." Her post followed after a group of fans gathered outside the building where Dunne and her team were competing, shouting, "We want Livvy! Give us Livvy!" while Dunne's peers were busy with their routines. Sports journalist Josh Furlong reported on X that police had to barricade the building and the team's bus had to be moved so they could leave safely. Taking all of this into account, it makes sense that Dunne wants to keep her relationship with Paul Skenes as private as possible.
"I've definitely learned over the past few years that, this past year mostly, that keeping certain things private is okay," Dunne told People. She admitted that maintaining a healthy balance between her professional and private lives can be quite challenging at times. She also said she wasn't intentionally hiding her relationship with Skenes in the beginning, but she wasn't broadcasting it, either. People caught on anyway. "It's funny because there's speculations at first about it, but I guess people caught onto us having pictures and videos together out in public, so that's kind of how the news broke," she said.