Red Flags We Missed In Nina Dobrev And Shaun White's Relationship

It's safe to say that many of us thought "The Vampire Diaries" star Nina Dobrev and former Olympic snowboarder Shaun White were endgame when they began their romantic journey in 2019, though they didn't become a publicly certified item until mid-2020. However, six years later, the two stars called off their engagement, leaving fans confused and shocked. Dobrev and White always put on a happy front, and it's particularly because of their happy-go-lucky social media presence that most of us believed these two were meant for each other. Of course, keeping your relationship issues off social media is key, and Dobrev and Shaun knew that.

So, in hindsight, we should have known better — after all, social media is never an accurate representation of real life. What's more, sources close to the two have contradictory reasons for why the two split. "She is devastated," an insider told People in September 2025, when news of the romance's conclusion broke. "There was one reason: She wanted a family and wanted to get married — and he didn't." A separate source completely disputed this, saying that both Dobrev and White wanted the same type of future. Naturally, this left fans to draw conclusions of their own.

Before the cancellation of Nina Dobrev and Shaun White's engagement had been announced, the "Love Hard" actor's fans had noticed something was off. Dobrev had unpinned her engagement announcement post from the top of her Instagram page, potentially indicating that her relationship wasn't thriving.

Additionally, just days before news of their breakup hit the media in early September 2025, Dobrev was photographed at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where she attended the premiere of her friend Miles Teller's film "Eternity." Dobrev looked gorgeous, but fans quickly noticed that her Lorraine Schwartz five-carat diamond engagement ring was missing. While the timeline of when exactly the two had decided to end their relationship remains unclear, it's worth noting that Dobrev and White were photographed hand in hand in Los Angeles, California, engagement ring still on her hand, mere days before her appearance at TIFF.

We can't deny that there weren't a ton of red flags in Nina Dobrev and Shaun White's relationship, which is why the end of their courtship came as such a huge surprise. However, we can't help but wonder about the fact that the two never set a strict wedding date or timeline — as least not publicly. After all, it's no secret that a too-long engagement can spell the end for a relationship. 

While Nina Dobrev and Shaun White were engaged for a little less than a year, the fact that no sources ever confirmed that the two had a general timeline in mind could mean that doubts about the relationship were still present. Speaking to E! News, Dobrev attributed their hectic careers to the nonexistent wedding planning. "We're just enjoying being engaged at this point and being in that sort of phase because a lot of your life is—you have a boyfriend for half of your life and then you have a husband for half of your life but the fiancé period is very short," she told the outlet.

The lack of a wedding date or concrete plans could indicate that the two were planning to have a longer engagement, which is considered by many a red flag. Celebrity gossip site Deux Moi reported that Dobrev and Shaun had been going to couples counseling for a while, which, if true, could suggest that the happy facade they showed off online was just that — a facade. Of course, there are reasons why you should still seek couples counseling if you have a healthy relationship, but with their busy schedules, it's doubtful that Dobrev and White went for preventative reasons.