Olivia Rodrigo may have a new romance brewing for the upcoming holiday season. On October 31, The Sun reported that Rodrigo is dating actor Louis Partridge. Neither Rodrigo nor Partridge confirmed that, but they are at the very least friends.
Fans suspected they could be dating the week before, 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.”
Partridge is a 20-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!”
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey 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.