Olivia Dunne’s life has drastically changed since finding internet fame, as everything she does went under a microscope. Rumors started floating around in the summer of 2023 that the Louisiana State University gymnast was dating baseball pitcher Paul Skenes. Fans noticed that she was attending games and posting about Skenes online. By the end of the summer, Skenes confirmed that he was indeed in a relationship with the social media star. “It can be a pain in the butt sometimes, to be honest, in terms of actually going somewhere,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in August 2023. He also mentioned the drawbacks of posting on social media. “I wasn’t on it during the season because it’s toxic,” Skenes told the outlet. Hints of that toxicity showed.
Once the couple were internet-official, Dunne said that their hands were forced to take their relationship public because of the internet sleuthing fans had done. “I guess people caught onto us having pictures and videos together out in public, so that’s kind of how the news broke,” she told People in November 2023.
Rumors about the LSU stars shacking up wound up being founded, but that was not where the gossip about their relationship ended. Fans pointed out what they thought was the weirdest thing about Dunne and Skenes’s relationship when he posted photos of them together on Instagram in December 2023. “She doesn’t post your pics big man,” one fan wrote. Of course, Dunne had been plagued by a litany of rumors involving her romantic life.
Did Olivia Dunne date Chase Elliott?
Before she was officially dating Skenes there was a long list of high profile men who supposedly romanced Olivia Dunne, with a few signs indicating that Livvy was involved with Nascar star Chase Elliott. Nascar posted photos to Instagram of the gymnast posing with Elliott while attending the ALLY 400 race in June 2023. Some fans were instantly convinced the two were an item. “Chase already hitting that, and I don’t blame him!!!” one Instagram user wrote.
The dating rumors hit overdrive when Elliott uploaded those snaps alongside Dunne to his X, formerly Twitter, timeline. Fellow racer Brad Keselowski replied to the post with a gif that said, “I’m rooting for you.” Elliott added fuel to the fire the next day when he deleted the pics. This had fans speculating that maybe those snaps caused trouble on the home front. “@chaseelliott deleted his tweet. Why you ask? His girlfriend Paige layethed the smackdown on him,” one X user posited.
Months after Dunne and Elliott met at the Nascar event, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shed some light on how the social media star ended up at the ALLY 400. “Chase went to NASCAR and said, ‘I think she’s cool, I’d love to meet her, and I think it would be great for NASCAR if you invited her to come to the track,” Earnhardt said on his “The Dale Jr.” podcast in October 2023 (via Whiskey Riff). There were whispers that unlike Elliott, not everyone was eager to spend time with Dunne.
Olivia Dunne had friction with her teammates
Due to her internet fame, Olivia Dunne cast a big shadow while at Louisiana State University. This led some to believe that perhaps Livvy’s gymnastics teammates were not overly thrilled to have her on the squad. Part of the reason fans believed there was friction between Dunne and her teammates came from a TikToker who asked “whether or not Livvy Dunn’s teammates are nice to her.”
@livvy #stitch with @ they hate me😣…. #foryou #lsu #gymnastics
That video became so popular that the LSU gymnast decided to respond with a TikTok of her own in January 2023. In that clip, Dunne walks into the locker room and enthusiastically greets her teammates, “Hey everybody!” They all just walked away from Dunne without responding. The bit ended with Dunne and her fellow gymnasts all dancing together with smiles on their faces. Dunne gave some love to a couple teammates on TikTok a month later. That clip featured her, and two LSU gymnasts dancing in the tunnel together. “friendships that started from a sport >>>” Dunne wrote over the TikTok.
Even though Dunne was the most high-profile student-athlete on the team, and made a killing with her name-image-likeness deals, she never let that overshadow the sport. “When I’m in the gym, I never talk about NIL with my teammates, or at all,” she told Outkick in June 2023. “When we’re in the locker room, it’s normal locker room talk,” Dunne added. Some fans believed teammates were jealous of the attention Dunne received, but part of that attention involved incessant dating rumors.
Olivia Dunne loses patience with fans
When Olivia Dunne collaborated with fellow social media athlete Jackson Olson, multiple fans took that as evidence that the two were collaborating off-the-field as well. In March 2024, Dunne uploaded a TikTok of her dancing on a baseball field, and later, Olson danced in a kilt from his Savannah Bananas team. Immediately the comment section devolved into followers pitting Olson against Livvy’s boyfriend, Paul Skenes. “Jackson Olson vs Paul Skenes in a hitting vs pitching matchup,” one TikTok user commented. Others believed Dunne’s beau could be jealous. “Paul skenes finna be mad,” a fan wrote. Dunne grew annoyed with the romantic speculating. “I’m just making content with the @thesavbananas relax,” she commented.
@livvy
A few days earlier, Olson had posted a different baseball video with Dunne to his own TikTok page. Olson was recorded walking out of the dugout wearing the same bright yellow kilt to join Dunne. This caused the same reaction as Dunne’s post. “Paul skenes punching the air rn,” a TikTok user replied. Olson also uploaded the video to his Instagram page, and fans commented on Dunne’s relationship status with Skenes. “Damn bro there’s more dudes in her vids than her own boyfriend being in it,” a follower commented. Just days before Olson uploaded the footage with Dunne he uploaded a video about having trouble meeting a girlfriend, which possibly planted the seeds for those types of reactions.
The Dunne and Olson dating rumors were tame in comparison to the ones involving a young social media star.
The Baby Gronk dating rumors
Fans took the ball and ran with it when Olivia Dunne met young football phenom Madden San Miguel, who is best-known as Baby Gronk. A video was uploaded to Gronk’s YouTube page in March 2023 of the youngster receiving a hug from the popular gymnast. “Livvy Dunne Knows I Got Rizz,” was the salacious title of the vid. The rumor mills started to churn when TikToker h00pify posted a clip of Dunne meeting Gronk. “Livvy just convinced Baby Gronk to commit to LSU … Livvy rizzed him up,” the TikToker said.
Dunne reignited the flames about her and the young football player when she posted a TikTok in February 2024 of her encounter with Gronk. “oh my gyat #rizz #babygronk #skibidi #ohio,” she wrote in the caption of the video which included footage of the Louisiana State University athlete hugging the child athlete. Dunne likely had no idea the can of worms she had opened by playfully mentioning the “rizz” of Gronk.
Dunne’s boyfriend, Paul Skenes, made his MLB pitching debut in May, and she celebrated the occasion by uploading snaps to Instagram of the pair embracing on the field after his performance. Trolls showed up in the comments. “I thought she was dating Lil Gronk,” one wrote with a cry-laughing emoji. The following month the trolling continued when Dunne uploaded photos of her and Skenes snuggling on a boat together. “Ay baby gronk coming for u,” a follower wrote. Despite the online attention, many overlooked what Dunne was initially famous for.
People forgot Olivia Dunne is a real gymnast
Olivia Dunne is known for her cute snaps and playful social media videos, but some fans forgot how she sprung into the limelight in the first place. According to her, many online followers underestimated her athletic prowess. “I came to LSU right after COVID and most people didn’t even know I actually did gymnastics,” Dunne said on the “Twin Talk” podcast in March 2023. “People thought I was just a full-time beach flipper. People had no clue I actually did college sports,” she added.
Livvy made a name for herself on the gymnastics circuit long before her college career. Clips posted to X in 2015 and 2018 showed her talents at a young age. Dunne said that she first started posting to Instagram when she was 10-years-old. “I did Elite Gymnastics growing up, so I accumulated a following for gymnastics first,” she said on the “Twin Talk” podcast.
The social media star spread herself fairly thin by maintaining her online presence, and meeting the demands of being a student-athlete. “My summers are usually pretty hectic,” she told WBRZ in March 2024. “[T]hese brand deals that I put off during season and that I end up doing during the summer and staying in shape to be a D1 athlete,” Dunne said. That work paid off, and she was part of a record breaking Louisiana State University team score of 198.475 in February. Dunne contributed with a score of 9.875 for her floor routine and 9.775 on bars.
