Olivia Rodrigo has a new romance brewing for the 2023 holiday season. On October 31, The Sun reported that Rodrigo is dating actor Louis Partridge. Neither Rodrigo nor Partridge confirmed that. Months later in December, they were photographed making out in New York City, proof then.
Back in October, fans suspected they could be dating the week before Halloween, as the two were photographed out together in London. In the shots, Partridge and Rodrigo’s arms were wrapped around the other’s waist. People covered the dating rumors on Halloween, citing the photo and noting that neither of their reps commented on the potential romance when asked.
Rodrigo spoke to Vogue in July about how she doesn’t “kiss and tell” when dodging a question about her relationship status. She conceded that she understands the public’s interest in her love life. “It’s an interesting thing to think about,” she said. “I understand it. I could sit here and be like, ‘I don’t get why people do that,’ but I do it so often.”
Here, everything to know about Partridge and his connection to Rodrigo.
A source claimed to The Sun that Rodrigo and Partridge were dating in October 2023.
Rodrigo appeared with Partridge in photos that surfaced on social media during her London visit in late October. In one shot, they appeared to have their arms around each other.
Days later, on Halloween, a source told The Sun that Partridge and Rodrigo were dating. “Olivia flew to London with her best pal, singer Conan Gray, but it was Louis who she came to see,” the source alleged. “They met through mutual pals earlier in the year and have been messaging quite a bit. She has spent a few days in the capital hanging out with them all but it’s been Louis who she has been inseparable from. They have been for dinners and nights out. They hit a club together on Friday night and were acting very coupley. It’s really sweet to see her happy.”
In December 2023, Partridge was seen supporting Rodrigo on her iHeartRadio Jingle Ball and SNL performances.
Partridge added to dating rumors between him and Rodrigo when he was seen supporting her the weekend of December 8-10 in New York City. He was first seen in the crowd that Friday during her Jingle Ball performance, at one point filming her. The next day, after Rodrigo’s Saturday Night Live performance, he was seen arriving to the after-party to celebrate with her.
Partridge arriving to the SNL after-party.
Rodrigo at SNL’s after-party in New York City on Dec. 10, 2023.
On December 13, Rodrigo and Partridge confirmed they were dating with a NYC makeout.
Paparazzi captured clear proof Rodrigo and Partridge were romantically involved ahead of the holidays. They were photographed kissing passionately at a gas station in their first major PDA moment.
Rodrigo and Partridge went on a trip to the Catskills in December before being spotted holding hands in NYC again.
Shortly after their gas station makeout, Rodrigo and Partridge went on a getaway. People reported that one day after the kissing photos were captured, the couple was seen in Tannersville in upstate New York.
“They were browsing the apothecary goods at a shop called Sundry on Main Street,” an eyewitness told People. “They were very cute and [were] overheard saying it was their first time in the area. They mostly spoke with gazes and body language. It was very cute.”
That Sunday, December 17, they were photographed back in New York City holding hands.
Rumors spread on TikTok in January 2024 that Rodrigo met Partridge’s family.
While Rodrigo and Partridge weren’t photographed by paparazzi in January 2024, a comment on TikTok went viral where a user claimed Rodrigo had spent time with Partridge and his parents. The user said that they saw the group at a pub in the Isle of Wight.
The couple was seen at Disneyland California in February 2024.
Footage surfaced of the couple with their arms wrapped around each other during a visit to Disneyland in California during Valentine’s Day weekend. It marks one of their most public dates of the new year.
He was supporting Rodrigo's Guts Tour in February.
On February 24, a fan account posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, with a clip from Rodrigo performing on her Guts Tour. The video pans over to Partridge, who is himself filming his girlfriend like a proud boyfriend would, and moving along to the music.
He attended Rodrigo’s St. Louis, Missouri, Guts show too in mid-March 2024.
Partridge was seen in the audience at the St. Louis stop of Rodrigo’s Guts tour on March 12. The coincidence of Louis...in St. Louis was not lost on fans:
He was also seen at her Nashville show the week before and appears to be traveling with Rodrigo from stop to stop.
Partridge made his first comments about dating Rodrigo to British Vogue in March 2024.
The actor spoke to the magazine about why he prefers to keep their relationship private. “Dating probably shouldn’t be done in the public eye,” he said. “There’s enough going on between two people. You don’t need the voices of thousands of others in your head. I think she’s got it a lot worse than I have. I can be a bit of a normal person. She’s got tons and tons of eyes on her case.”
He was asked how he handles the comments he receives from fans about his love life. He replied, “If there’s a load of people nattering in a room about you, you can choose to put your ear to the door to hear what they say or not. I think you’re probably better off not letting curiosity get the better of you.”
Rodrigo commented on Partridge’s 21st birthday post in a very public show of affection.
Rodrigo shared her public birthday wishes to Partridge on June 3 when he shared an Instagram post to celebrate turning 21. “Welcome to the 21 club angel boy,” she wrote, adding a string of pink heart emojis.
In August 2024, the couple made their red carpet debut at the Venice Film Festival.
Rodrigo joined Partridge at the premiere of his TV series Disclaimer during the Venice Film Festival on August 29. The couple held hands as they arrived at the event. They matched in dark ensembles, Rodrigo wearing a semi-sheer black floral dress. Partridge opted for a gray suit.
On Saturday, August 31, Partridge went Instagram official with Rodrigo by posting a black and white photo of them together at the festival in which they are holding hands and smiling at each other.
They also posed for a sweet photo at filmmaker dinner held to celebrate Disclaimer’s release in Venice on August 30. In the photo, Partridge is giving Rodrigo a gentle kiss on the forehead.
They enjoyed a date in the U.K. in November 2024.
The couple put in an appearance at Old Trafford on in Manchester, England, on November 3 to catch the Premier League match between Manchester United and Chelsea.
In footage seen on X, formerly Twitter, the couple enjoyed the warm up ahead of the game from a very close perspective. Rodrigo could be seen taking pictures and putting Partridge in position against the field for a photo op.
In several images from the event, Rodrigo could be seen wearing a small silver “L” necklace.
Partridge is a 21-year-old British actor famous for his roles in Enola Holmes and in the FX series Pistol.
Partridge has been acting since he was a kid, but his big breakout role was when he played Millie Bobby Brown’s love interest Viscount Tewskbury in the Netflix film series Enola Holmes. The first film came out in 2020, putting the spotlight on him.
Prior to that, Partridge acted in the BBC sitcom Boomers and shorts including Second Skin, About a Dog, and Beneath Water. Since then, he’s appeared in Medici, Paddington 2, and had a major star moment when he played Sid Vicious in FX’s miniseries Pistol.
Partridge is a Gemini.
Partridge was born in London on June 3, 2003. He marked his 20th birthday and the end of his teens with a selfie on Instagram. “Going into 20 with eyes half shut and a beard a quarter grown. Only way is up from here 🎂🕺🍊🍷⭐️♥️,” he wrote.
Rodrigo is a Pisces, so for the astrologically curious, they are dual signs, making their pairing a more intriguing match. As the AstroTwins wrote for ELLE.com, these signs can be a little wary of commitment, but the pairing offers a growth opportunity: “a golden chance to peer into love’s looking glass and see your own shadowy id mirrored back.”
Partridge was last romantically linked to actress Sydney Chandler.
Partridge told The Face in May 2022 that he had a girlfriend, an “ex-friend turned girlfriend [who’s] in the business.”
The Daily Mail later reported in September 2022 that he and 27-year-old actress Sydney Chandler, co-stars on Pistol, had struck up a romance. The outlet cited The Sun, and a source telling the outlet that they had been involved for quite some time privately. “They’ve been quietly going out for about a year now but have managed to keep it under the radar,” the source alleged. “They seem very close to going public with their relationship and Louis clearly played the role of the supportive boyfriend very well.”
They attended the British Fashion Awards together in December that year.
The length of their relationship isn’t clear, as the two stars kept much of it private.
Despite his acting success as a teen, Partridge remained committed to his education.
Following the first Enola Holmes’ release, the then-17-year-old Partridge told Gentleman’s Journal that he was “still focusing on school, so I don’t have that classic actor’s problem of waiting for the phone to ring. It has been difficult in the past, though. I remember sleeping in the car on the way to meet director Harry Bradbeer and Millie Bobby Brown for rehearsals—having already done 3 GCSEs that same day…”
He went on to complete his A levels in 2021, receiving two As (in English and French) and one A (in Film Studies), per The Face.
He likes older music.
Partridge spoke to Gentleman’s Journal about liking older music in his teens. “I’ve recently—and quite randomly—got into the doo-wop genre of the 1950s and 60s,” he said. “That’s all since stumbling across ‘In the Still of the Night’ by Fred Parris and The Satins on Spotify. Those songs are just so simple and usually don’t have great lyrics, but just feel warm. Other than that, I’m a big Shazammer—and take no shame in whipping my phone out in a restaurant to discover the name of a song.”
Partridge has mixed feelings about social media.
Partridge told Gentleman’s Journal that his relationship with social media is a little complicated. “Social media is a blessing and a curse,” he said. “So far, I’ve been glad of the opportunities it has brought me. However, I feel like it’d be easy to become completely wrapped up in numbers and likes and all of that. It’s still all relatively new to me, but I imagine, after a while, the novelty wears off. I’ve never been one to put my entire life out there, and I don’t think that will change. But, so far, all I’ve received are sweet comments—touch wood…”
Partridge currently has 9.2 million followers on Instagram.
Partridge is an ambassador for Prada.
Partridge does more than just act. He is an ambassador for Prada, posing in the brand’s 2023 holiday campaign most recently.
He spoke to Esquire in June 2022 about what he likes most about the fashion house. “I first admired Prada for their classic silhouettes,” he said. “I’ve always been a fan of simple and classy, and I think Prada does that better than anyone. With Raf, I became aware of his work when I started getting into fashion as a teenager. Walking round London, his clothes would always stand out to me as they always seemed to go against convention in one way or another. His first pieces I noticed were the Ozweego tennis shoes, his loose-knitted jumpers, and his denim with Calvin Klein. Though I couldn’t afford any of it, I used to go to Dover Street Market and try it all on. I think the combination of their two styles creates something classic yet constantly evolving, and I love that. I’m always surprised.”
Partridge didn’t have a goth or emo phase growing up, but he was a hypebeast.
The actor was asked by W in May 2022 about his teenage years, and whether he was punk or emo growing up. “Nah, [I didn’t have that phase].” he said. “I’m glad. Maybe this was my punk phase. I had a few weird phases, but I never went for emo. Early, early, it was Ben 10 t-shirts, this kid show that I used to love back in the day. It makes me embarrassed even talking about it now, but I used to wait outside shops in London for ages and buy these stupid clothes because I thought it was cool.”
He did add later that he was a bit of a hypebeast, calling his biggest fashion regret “queuing up outside of Supreme every weekend when I was about 13 years old. It was just a waste of time. I used to think all these clothes were so cool, but I’ve thankfully grown out of waiting outside to shops for clothes.”
He and Millie Bobby Brown are friends off-set.
Partridge spoke about his friendship with Millie Bobby Brown to W. He confirmed that the two keep in touch. “When she’s in London, we get together, but she’s off doing crazy things and I’m off in New York now, far from home,” he said. “It’s rare that we overlap, so it’s nice coming back to the film when we’re in town together for a while.”
Partridge opened up about the first time he was recognized in public.
Partridge spoke to W about his first brush with celebrity, saying he has been recognized in public “a few times. I had a little bit of trouble there because I was staying at the cheapest places possible, at hostels, because that’s how you want to do it, I guess. But the Brazilians were so lovely and friendly and welcoming and generous that I didn’t have any problems—too bad of problems, that is.”
He expanded on his experience to The Face. “It makes me more aware of myself, I’d say, out on the street, which I’m not a massive fan of, just because of photos and things,” he said. “But it’s not the worst thing in the world!”
Recognition out in public, “it comes and goes, to be honest,” he said. “Yesterday I went into town and I was recognized three times before I even got to Waterloo [station]. It was nuts. But then some days I can do anything, be on Oxford Street, and nothing. And I haven’t been recognized today, which is nice.”
As for what the sudden shift in attention following Enola Holmes was like, he explained, “It was just insane. I think it’s a little weird for my sister at school because, obviously, the kind of people that watch Enola Holmes are her mates and in her year, that demographic. But she really doesn’t care about it too much. My family are trying to keep things as normal as possible… even though it’s kind of fucking mad that it’s happening!”
Alyssa Bailey
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa is the Senior News and Strategy Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #OOTD pics of her, and exploring New York City.