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Olivia Dunne’s Dating Life: Meet Her Boyfriend Paul Skenes

The 2025 SI Swimsuit cover model and the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher have been going strong for over two years.

Bailey Colon

Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes
Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes / Lucas Casel/MLB Photos/Getty Images

Meet 2025 SI Swimsuit cover model Olivia Dunne.

The retired Louisiana State University gymnast—who announced her departure from the program in April—skyrocketed to fame during her five-year stint with the Southern Conference program and was deemed the top-earning female NCAA athlete in the nation. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Dunne’s booming success with monetizing her brand with NIL deals and additional outside endeavors has landed her an estimated net worth of around $6 million.

The 23-year-old New Jersey native has also been featured in SI Swimsuit every year since her debut campaign in 2023. In May, she notched her first-ever cover spot alongside Salma Hayek Pinault, Lauren Chan, and fellow gymnast Jordan Chiles.

Olivia Dunne was photographed by Ben Watts in Bermuda. Swimsuit by Reina Olga.
Olivia Dunne was photographed by Ben Watts in Bermuda. Swimsuit by Reina Olga. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Dunne’s success has captivated fans around the world, so when she was first linked to a certain Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher and fellow LSU alum, their relationship not only piqued curiosity but also quickly propelled the duo to new heights in their respective careers.

  1. Meet Dunne’s boyfriend: Paul Skenes
  2. Dunne and Skenes’s love story
  3. Inside their relationship dynamic
  4. How the spotlight affects their romance
  5. What’s next for the duo?

Meet Dunne’s boyfriend: Paul Skenes

Paul Skenes
Paul Skenes / Justin Berl/Getty Images

Skenes has embarked on an impressive athletic journey all his own.

Before transferring to LSU in the summer of 2022, the Lake Forest, Calif., native spent two seasons with the United States Air Force Academy baseball program and earned a handful of accolades, including the Collegiate Baseball National Co-Freshman of the Year, Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year and two first-team All-American nods.

During his sole year in Baton Rouge, the 23-year-old pitcher secured a College World Series Championship, alongside National Player of the Year and National Pitcher of the Year. That same year, he was drafted No. 1 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates and earned a history-making $9.2 million signing bonus.

By 2024, Skenes’s career only continued to soar. According to the MLB, the National League Rookie of the Year also etched his name into the history books as “the first-ever No. 1 overall pick to make the All-Star Game the season after his draft year.”

He also secured an All-MLB Team selection that season, as well. Currently, he has two All-Star selections in just two seasons in the league.

Dunne and Skenes’s love story

Paul Skenes and Olivia Dunne
Paul Skenes and Olivia Dunne / Rob Tringali/MLB Photos/Getty Images

Dunne—who has been romantically linked to the pitcher since 2023—has been by his side throughout the entirety of his professional career. Skenes officially shared the news of their relationship to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in August of that year, before going “Instagram official” with Dunne in September.

Over a year later, the duo disclosed the details of their first official date with GQ. The outlet reported that they got ice cream together at the beginning of 2023, and Dunne instantly felt their connection.

“Our first and second date, I was like, ‘Oh, I really like him,’” she told the publication. The date was also long-awaited, the duo also disclosed. Skenes added, “She didn’t know who I was,” while Dunne clarified, “[I] would see him around every now and then. I was like, ‘Who is this tall, mysterious man that never smiles?’”

The couple has Baton Rouge to thank for their introduction, and Dunne further told the outlet that it will always hold a special place in her heart for that reason. “Whenever we come back to Louisiana, it’s like the first time we met,” she shared.

Skenes is based in Pittsburgh for the baseball season, while Dunne splits her time between New York City and Jupiter, Fla. But during monumental moments in each other’s careers, you’ll find the couple with their arms linked.

For example, Dunne has been spotted at several Skenes’s games, along with both of his All-Star appearances and Rookie of the Year announcement. Additionally, they attended the Super Bowl in February and recently traveled to Europe following the 2025 MLB season.

Inside their relationship dynamic

Before her relationship with Skenes began, Dunne felt their introduction may have already been predestined.

In July, she shared that her “first college baseball game ever” was when LSU hosted Air Force, when Paul was still playing for the Colorado institution. “I didn’t know him,” she told her TikTok followers. “I always knew he played LSU, but I never thought I was at the game... I don’t know, it was meant to be.”

Paul Skenes, Olivia Dunne pose together at the 2025 BBWAA Awards Dinner.
Paul Skenes, Olivia Dunne at the 2025 BBWAA Awards Dinner. / Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos/Getty Images

This accidental symmetry is a testament to their own dynamic, which Dunne deems as “yin and yang,” she told PEOPLE. There’s balance, and they always find their way to each other, even in unexpected moments. “We’re just very opposite and I feel like it really works,” the model continued, adding, “I think that we play off of one another and make each other better.”

Perhaps the duo is also learning a thing or two from their partner’s career. Dunne told For The Win, “I think Paul could be a good bar swinger because of how tall he is,” on a gymnastics move that would suit the pitcher. For herself, she said, “I taught him [how to throw a splinker] in the offseason. No, I’m kidding. I didn’t teach him that, but I think I could do it.”

How the spotlight affects their romance

Paul Skenes and Olivia Dunne
Paul Skenes and Olivia Dunne / Todd Kirkland/MLB Photos/Getty Images

Due to their immense popularity in their respective fields, fan fascination has magnified the duo’s relationship, designating them as a high-profile couple since their first public outing.

“It can be a pain in the butt sometimes, to be honest, in terms of actually going somewhere,” Skenes told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the beginning of their relationship. At the time, Dunne was still attending LSU, while Skenes was preparing to embark on his MLB journey.

“I do wish she could come to a baseball game and just enjoy it,” he added, and followed up that both of them “don’t have any control over” the spotlight that they are under. Over two years later, the model has been the subject of several viral moments in the stands while cheering on her man.

However, Dunne has found a way to navigate the spotlight—during both her collegiate career and now on the sidelines. She told Page Six that she looks towards another sports power couple—Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce—as an example.

“[Taylor] has her boyfriend, that’s a professional athlete, and my boyfriend is a professional athlete as well,” Dunne explained to the outlet. “And she has her own success, and I have my own success, so I try to look at her perspective on things and how she handles criticism, how she navigates.”

Given Dunne’s own career in the public eye, the duo has found a way to grow alongside each other. “I love doing social media and I enjoy being in the spotlight,” Dunne told PEOPLE in Oct. 2024, adding, “He’s now in the spotlight, which I’ve had for quite some time now, and hopefully I’m able to help him in ways like that.”

What’s next for the duo?

As Dunne and Skenes continue to build their relationship, they are also building their own careers.

Following the three-time SI Swimsuit model’s debut cover spot on the fold in May, she walked in her very first runway show with the brand for Swim Week 2025 in Miami. The former gymnast also partnered with Fanatics Sportsbook in August, attended the VMAs in September, and celebrated her birthday on Oct. 1 with an elaborate surprise from Skenes.

As previously mentioned, Skenes’s career is also on the rise. His second season wrapped up at the end of September, and to start the offseason, he has been helping Dunne decorate her Florida home and recently took a European bae-cation with the model.

The duo appears to balance their individual schedules and flourish during their time spent together, which mirrors a sentiment that she shared with PEOPLE in June.

“I think that everything is a two-way road,” she said. “He has a job to do and I have a job to do—I know that’s so important for two young kids in a relationship to realize.”

As for what’s on the horizon, perhaps we’ll see them on the cover of SI Swimsuit together one day—after all, Dunne hasn’t closed off that option. “It would take a lot of convincing, but I think I could give him a few tips,” she told SI. “I’d love to share a cover with Paul.”

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Bailey Colon
BAILEY COLON

Bailey Colón is a writer on the Breaking and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Before joining SI Swimsuit, Colón worked at the National Basketball Association where she served as a founding member of the ‘Starting 5’ newsletter and led editorial operations for the NBA App and dotcom. Colón is particularly passionate about the impact of athletics on popular culture, fashion and media. The New England native has a bachelor’s degree from Marist College in journalism and political science.

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