All-Star Red Carpet Show presented by Frutitas Agua Fresca - Source: Getty — Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes made their relationship public in August 2023. (Image by Getty)

How did Olivia Dunne meet her boyfriend Paul Skenes? Everything about the LSU couple's relationship

Modified Sep 20, 2024 09:17 GMT

America's highest-paid female athlete and social media star Olivia Dunne met her boyfriend Paul Skenes at LSU in 2023, when he transferred to LSU from Air Force Falcons.

The couple made their relationship public in August 2023, the year when Skenes contributed to the LSU Tigers' success at the 2023 Men’s College World Series. In the same season, he was named 2023 National Player of the Year, 2023 National Pitcher of the Year, and 2023 College World Series Most Outstanding Player.

The following year, Dunne also made headlines by contributing to the LSU Tigers' historic victory at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships. Recently, after extending a year with the purple and gold team, she reflected on how she met Skenes.

During an interview with Flau'jae Johnson, Dunne described her first impression of Skenes as a "tall mysterious man" she often saw around. During baseball season, she spotted him in the dugout and thought "he's cute". After their initial encounter, they started hanging around for casual outings which blossomed their relationship.

"I saw him in the dugout and I was like there he is," Dunne said. "I was like he's cute I like that side profile. He didn't have a mustache yet so he wasn't even like the Paul Skenes that we all know and love yet, like he was mustache-less. So after that, I ended up following him and we hung out and we got ice cream and stuff and it was chill,"

Dunne and Skenes are well-known in their respective sports. Apart from gymnastics, Dunne also plans to aid more female athletes like her in their careers.

"Being able to provide knowledge and help girls out is a dream of mine": Olivia Dunne opens up on her plans to assist female athletes with NIL after her fifth-year

Olivia Dunne at the Dickies Arenas for the NCAA Championship in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo via Getty Images)

Olivia Dunne recently shared her plan to support college female athletes in navigating the NIL (Name, Image Likeness) policy following her fifth year.

With her experience as a successful athlete and social media influencer, she aims to empower collegiate female athletes to prosper as much as their male counterparts.

"I think for me to keep doing NIL and stay in the NIL space is something that I would love to do because I now have so much knowledge about it," Dunne said.

"I finally think I got it down and I think I understand it and balancing it with everything. I know at first how confusing that can be for a lot of especially girls because there's not a lot of NIL opportunities for women athletes in the first place so just being able to provide knowledge and help girls out is a dream of mine,"

With around 153k followers on X and 5.3m on Instagram, Olivia Dunne assists the women athletes at LSU through 'The Livvy Fund'.