Strange Things About Olivia Jade And Jacob Elordi's Relationship We Can't Ignore

As if romantic relationships weren't complicated enough, just imagine your breakups, reconciliations, and every other moment together being dissected by the internet. Jacob Elordi and influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli, who's the gorgeous daughter of actor Lori Loughlin, know that reality all too well. Since first being sighted together in late 2021, the pair's on-again and off-again relationship has unfolded under public spotlight, with each apparent breakup and quiet reunion sparking attention and curiosity about what keeps pulling the two back into each other's lives over and over again. 

Relationships are rarely ever just sunshine and rainbows to begin with, but for Elordi and Giannulli, navigating a connection that garners so much public attention and scrutiny alongside busy schedules and high-profile careers adds another layer of challenge. Moments that are supposed to be private quickly become internet gossip and make headlines. This leaves very little room for trial and error, which is an element that's crucial for romantic relationships to grow and evolve.

Unlike many high-profile couples who lean into official red-carpet debuts, or social media confirmations at least, Elordi and Giannulli have been keen on keeping their relationship largely private. Since 2021, their on-again, off-again relationship has been a frequent topic of discussion. With 2026 starting off with news that they just may be back together again, the internet interest in their complicated connection has only been reignited. And, it's brought a lot of attention to the strange things about their relationship that are seriously hard to ignore, from the refusal to put a label on it to possibly overlapping romantic timelines.

When you're one of Hollywood's most in-demand actors, romantic attention tends to come from all directions. From co-stars to supermodels and influencers, Jacob Elordi's dating pool can be described as anything but limited. So it really shouldn't come as a surprise that Olivia Jade Giannulli entered his life during an especially crowded dating window. Jacob Elordi and Kaia Gerber, who has had quite the stunning style transformation, were together from September 2020 to November 2021. Their breakup came as a surprise for many as Gerber told Vogue in May 2021 that she was in a "safe, steady relationship." The couple had also made their red-carpet debut as a couple in September 2021.

Elordi was then spotted with Giannulli in December 2021, just a month after his split with Gerber. With no confirmation from either side, many assumed it was a casual hangout rather than the start of anything serious. The two were not publicly seen together again for months, and in between that time, Elordi was photographed in March 2022 with another supermodel, Bianca Finch. This added another layer to the already crowded dating timeline of the "Frankenstein" actor. 

Finally, in May 2022, Elordi and Giannulli were seen together again having yet another casual outing, and just a few weeks later Us Weekly reported the two had made it official and were a couple. If the overlapping timelines weren't eyebrow-raising enough, the refusal to label whatever they have together has left us with some questions.

While nobody ever owes anyone an explanation for their personal life, it's unusual when a relationship unfolds in plain sight for years without it ever being publicly confirmed. Jacob Elordi and Olivia Jade Giannulli have been linked since late 2021 yet neither has ever officially confirmed the relationship, even as their relationship continued to resurface publicly. A hard launch isn't everybody's cup of tea, but these two didn't even soft launch their relationship on social media.

While this may be unusual for Giannulli who had a very public Instagram-official relationship with her ex-boyfriend Jackson Guthy, this isn't unusual for Elordi. Despite being linked to multiple high-profile figures, from co-star Zendaya to Kaia Gerber, Elordi himself has never explicitly confirmed a relationship on his own. Even during his time with Gerber, which was the relationship he had been most public with to date, he occasionally shared thoughtful or lighthearted insights, such as a quirky story of the couple during COVID, the "Euphoria" actor has also been clear about drawing boundaries when questions become too personal.

In a late-2021 Esquire interview, Elordi was asked about his partner Gerber at the time, and he quickly declined to further answer questions about his relationship as he said, "Oh, no, I don't really want to talk about my relationship." The moment highlighted how intentionally he manages what he chooses to share about his private life, and this pattern appears to have carried into his long-running and complex dynamic with Giannulli. 

The summer of 2025 marked a period of major changes for Olivia Jade Giannulli, and most of it unfolded while she and Jacob Elordi were still reportedly together. In early August 2025, People exclusively reported that Jacob Elordi and the influencer had gone their separate ways. Yet weeks earlier, when the couple were seemingly still together, Giannulli made some major life changes that included one huge move. In hindsight, it signaled a shift that was already underway before the news of their breakup became public. 

In July, the influencer posted a vlog showing how she'd temporarily moved to Paris. While life changes are always bound to happen and sometimes quickly, relocating to a different continent, even temporarily, was an odd thing for someone in a committed relationship to do. This stood out as unusual to fans, especially after years of Elordi and Giannulli being linked to one another.

On internet discussion threads and social media even before People confirmed their split, some users questioned if the couple were still together as they had not been seen together in quite some time. Reddit users felt Giannulli's big move to Paris, as well as a new haircut, were the dead giveaways that the couple were either broken up or taking a break. While none of the speculation was confirmed at the time, it emphasized just how unclear the status of the pair's relationship appeared even before the breakup became public news. Following the breakup announcement, Giannulli made the reality crystal clear when she announced another significant shift: a move to New York City.

From the beginning of the pair's connection in 2021, neither Jacob Elordi nor Olivia Jade Giannulli publicly confirmed their relationship, which led fans to rely on paparazzi sightings, online rumors, and indirect signs. At one point, Elordi's dog even became a reference point for fans, as the dog would began appearing off and on in Giannulli's YouTube vlogs around the same time reports surfaced that the pair were officially a couple.

That uncertainty has been mirrored in the amount of apparent breakups that the couple has gone through, at least as reported by the media. In fact, some outlets estimate that they had broken up and gotten back together at least five times by January 2026.

One particular telling moment was in August 2022, when sources close to the pair suggested to Us Weekly that the relationship was over and Elordi in particular was "not looking for anything serious." After they rekindled things the very next month, another split came in February 2023 and was confirmed by J-14, per Cosmopolitan. A source allegedly close to the pair described their dynamic as a constant loop of fighting, breaking up, and getting back together again. They even compared it to "something you see in high school." 

When Jacob Elordi and Olivia Jade Giannulli were first photographed together, the timing of their connection raised eyebrows due to how closely it followed the end of a relationship for the actor and public sightings with other women. Years later, a similar pattern appeared to resurface right around the time of their January 2026 reunion. 

Just weeks before paparazzi shots of the pair reuniting in New York City in early January of 2026 began circulating online, Elordi had been seen multiple times in Los Angeles with model Kristen Kienhel in early November. She even attended the Los Angeles "Frankenstein" premiere. 

While Elordi and Giannulli weren't technically together at this time, it clearly didn't help his blurred dating timeline and it prompted many observers to question Elordi's pattern of rapid back-and-forth. Some Reddit fans even joked about which partner might be the toxic one in the situation, with several pointing to Elordi's history of on-again, off-again relationships as a possible pattern.