Actress Nina Dobrev and Olympian Shaun White are officially an item. We know what you're
thinking. What could a pro snowboarder and a former CW star possibly have in common?
Well, it turns out quite a lot. Here's a look inside Shaun White and Nina Dobrev's relationship.
Shaun White and Nina Dobrev are a wildly unlikely couple, and that fact is only emphasized by
the actress' dating history. The former Vampire Diaries star hasn't dated anyone quite like
White before, at least not that we know of, because she's super private. In fact, Dobrev's
mostly stuck to actors, even dabbling in the dangerous art of dating her co-stars.
In the past, Dobrev has had a rumored romance with Degrassi co-star Evan Williams, a reported
fling with Vampire Diaries co-star Chris Wood, and a full-fledged long-term relationship
with Ian Somerhalder, who also starred on The Vampire Diaries. Beyond that, she's been
linked to James Marsden, Liam Hemsworth, and Orlando Bloom. Needless to say, they're all
actors. Dobrev hasn't dated a pro-athlete before, and those close to her have apparently
taken notice. A so-called insider who spoke to E! claimed,
"[Nina's friends are] pleasantly surprised [...] Shaun is a departure from previous guys
Nina has been with."
Nina Dobrev is actually super tight with her ex-boyfriend, Ian Somerhalder, and his wife,
Nikki Reed. According to Insider, the former couple, who both starred on The Vampire Diaries,
dated for three years before calling it quits in 2013. In a 2019 episode of Watch What Happens
Live, a fan called in to ask Dobrev if it was weird that she was friends with both Somerhalder
and Reed after the pair tied the knot, and she replied,
"I don't think that's weird at all. I think that's great …”
“Thats awesome!”
“Why can't everyone be friends?”
Dobrev also revealed,
"I think that they have a beautiful baby, and they are happy, and so am I, and what's
bad about that?"
Meanwhile, in 2015, she told E!,
"We didn't break up because anything bad happened or because there wasn't love or friendship.
I love him, and the friendship is still strong, and I think he's great, and I care about him.
And that didn't change. Yes, we're professional and that's fine. We were friends long before
we dated and we still are now."
Shaun White may be nothing like anyone Nina Dobrev has dated in the past, but both stars
have incredible work ethics. This likely stems from the fact that both Dobrev and White started
their careers as kids and have been aggressively working ever since.
White was discovered by Tony Hawk and landed a Burton sponsorship at the age of seven.
"They called him the flying tomato. It was all about his red hair and freckles."
At 13, he became a pro snowboarder. Three years later, he became the youngest snowboarder
in history to win at the US Open. At 19, he won his first Olympic gold medal. Basically,
he's been grinding since most of us were in second grade.
Meanwhile, Dobrev got her professional start a little bit later. In 2006, the actress was
17 years old when she debuted on Degrassi: The Next Generation. This was her breakthrough,
which she'd hold onto for three years until jumping over to The Vampire Diaries. Basically,
this couple deserves a vacation.
Nina Dobrev and Shaun White appear to be moving quickly, but could it be a case of the rebounds?
According to E!, the actress had been dating screenwriter Grant Mellon for less than a
year when they pulled the plug in November 2019, just four months before she was publicly
spotted on a date with White.
Now, Dobrev is extremely private about her relationships, so there's no real way to know
exactly when things fizzled out, but at the time, a source told the tabloid that Mellon
hadn't come to one of her events in about a month, and she hadn't mentioned him, either.
Dobrev reportedly didn't even bother telling anyone about the breakup.
White, on the other hand, hasn't been seriously romantically linked to anyone since the summer
of 2019 when he was last photographed with his former long-term girlfriend, Phantogram's
lead singer Sarah Barthel. The pair had been together for five years.
The COVID-19 pandemic has done two things to the world of Hollywood relationships. First,
it's driven apart couples who've realized that spending 24/7 with their spouse is actually
really, really hard. For instance, Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler, called it quits
after a decade, while Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph, and Kacey Musgraves and Ruston
Kelly, also split.
However, the pandemic has also allowed new romances to flourish, arguably a lot quicker
than they might have under normal circumstances. For their part, Nina Dobrev and Shaun White
appear to be in this happy, loved-up camp.
According to People, Dobrev and White were first romantically linked in March 2020 as
shutdowns swept the nation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were spotted riding
bikes together in Malibu, where White miraculously held Dobrev's dog like a purse as he steered
with one hand. The new couple were, apparently, keeping a safe distance from each other throughout
the date, but their romance blossomed from there.
Both Nina Dobrev and Shaun White are very private about their relationships, but their
love story just had to be shared with the world. Dobrev was dropping hints about her
quarantine beau before the pair became Instagram official, suggesting that she wanted the world
to find out about her new romance.
In April 2020, a month after the pair were spotted riding bikes together on their first
public, socially distanced date, Dobrev posted a cheeky IGTV video to promote the practice
of safely washing groceries amidst the pandemic, and captioned the clip,
"You can never be too cautious. Don’t just wash your hands, wash the groceries when you
come back from the store. Some reports say that COVID can live on plastic, cardboard
and produce for multiple days. I take extra measures to make sure I’m staying safe at
home. Hope you are too!"
In the funny video, the actress had a mysterious helper acting as her hands. According to People,
this was Shaun White, and fans reportedly noticed the hints Dobrev was dropping about
his identity. First, she claimed the video was inspired by Dakota Johnson, who made a
similar post with her boyfriend, Chris Martin, a month prior. Next, the arm had a tattoo
that looked exactly like White's tattoo. Basically, the secret was out.
Nina Dobrev and Shaun White's relationship seemingly moved at warp speed. They went from
having careful, socially distant dates at the end of the March 2020 to being literal
roommates just two months later. Nonetheless, their whirlwind relationship appears to be
going well.
According to Us Weekly, the swift ascent of Dobrev and White's relationship can be attributed
to COVID-19. They decided to shack up and weather the storm together, though it's not
clear whose house they're holed up in. A source cited by the magazine claimed,
"Shaun and Nina have really been enjoying quarantining and living together. They're
super compatible and both free-spirited people. They're very comfortable around each other
and both supportive of one another in their fields."
Nina Dobrev and Shaun White seem to share a deep, deep trust. So much trust, in fact,
that White allowed Dobrev to cut his famous hair during the pandemic. White's quarantine
haircut ushered in a new era for the stars' relationship, as it marked them going Instagram
official in May 2020. White even shared glowing before-and-after pictures of the haircut in
a separate post with the caption,
"My hairstylist said he wouldn't, so she did."
Honestly, Dobrev kind of nailed it, but that doesn't matter, because it seems like White
went to the professionals a couple of weeks later as he emerged with new icy white locks.
According to People, the new hair was Dobrev-approved, as the actress commented on White's photo
with a white heart emoji.
Nina Dobrev is a big deal to Shaun White, because the star has rarely admitted he's
seeing someone. One of the only times he's actually publicly acknowledged a relationship
was when he was dating the lead singer of Phantogram, and they were together for five
years. He didn't even speak about their split, either. While Hollywood Life reported that
White was last pictured with the musician in April 2019, he spoke about her in August
2019 in The Sydney Morning Herald and said,
"Sarah is a genuine and beautiful person. I travel so much and so does she, but we make
an effort to keep it together. I’m not in the kids and marriage head space now, but
one day for sure."
Though White generally keeps his mouth shut, it's not because he's permanently single.
There have been other women, we just didn't know about it. In his interview with The Sydney
Morning Herald, the athlete revealed that he dated fellow snowboarder Torah Bright when
he was 16 years old, but kept it very quiet. White revealed,
"Torah and I shared something very special but we were mindful that we didn’t want
the media attention. We hid our relationship and spent a lot of time together holding hands
at the movies. When she moved to Utah, things slowly fizzled out."
The star has a proven track record of only publicly revealing relationships when they're
serious, and it looks like Dobrev fits the bill.
"Um, honestly, it hasn't even sunk in yet, I'm tripping out still."
Nina Dobrev and Shaun White are one of the more unlikely Hollywood couples, and it's
not even clear how they met. However, according to reports, the couple's love story actually
makes a lot of sense. Of the partnership, a source told the People,
"Their friends were surprised at first about the relationship but now that they’ve seen
them together it actually makes a lot of sense [...] They’re both goofy and have a similar
sense of humor and are super adventurous. They have plenty in common."
It would appear as though Dobrev and White are two peas in a pod.
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