Zendaya and Jacob Elordi have never officially confirmed dating each other, yet their names have been linked since 2019, when the two Euphoria co-stars were first spotted together outside of work. Over the following year, paparazzi photos, anonymous sources, and a handful of guarded interview comments painted the picture of a real, if brief, romance that came and went quietly, long before either star settled into the high-profile relationships they are each known for today. Here is a complete look at everything that has been reported about their time together, how it ended, and what their relationship looks like now that Euphoria has finally come to a close.
How Zendaya and Jacob Elordi Met
Zendaya and Jacob Elordi met in 2018 on the set of Euphoria, HBO’s drama about a group of teenagers navigating addiction, trauma, and first love. Zendaya played Rue Bennett, the show’s central character, while Elordi, an Australian actor who had just broken out in The Kissing Booth, was cast as Nate Jacobs, a controlling high school football captain. Their characters never had a romantic storyline together on the show itself, but the long hours spent filming season one throughout 2018 reportedly brought the two actors close as friends. By the time the season wrapped and aired in the summer of 2019, whispers about their real-life friendship turning into something more had already started to spread among fans and entertainment reporters.
How the Relationship Rumors Began
Speculation about a real romance took off in August 2019, when fans spotted Zendaya and Elordi vacationing together in Greece. Photos showed the pair touring the Acropolis in Athens, and the timing lined up closely with Zendaya’s birthday at the start of September. The trip reportedly also included her longtime stylist and a close friend, which some read as a sign the getaway was more of a group trip than a romantic one, though onlookers described the two as looking unusually close and comfortable together throughout. Not long after, reports surfaced that Zendaya had also spent time with Elordi’s family in Sydney, Australia, reportedly around the Thanksgiving period that same year, a detail many took as a serious relationship milestone. When GQ Australia directly asked Elordi about Zendaya for a December 2019 cover story, he downplayed the romance, describing her as “like my sister” and praising her talent and work ethic. It was a clear denial, but coming so soon after the family visit, it only made fans more convinced something real was going on.
The Kissing Photos That Changed Everything
By early 2020, the rumors reached a new level. Paparazzi photographed Elordi and Zendaya kissing during an outing in New York City, where the two had reportedly been grabbing matcha and shopping together. Around the same time, they were seen cuddled up while watching the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, reportedly skipping photos with the cast afterward to keep a low profile. Sources close to the pair told entertainment outlets that the two had quietly been dating for months, describing them as having grown from close friends into a couple once filming wrapped and noting that Elordi had already met and won over Zendaya’s family. For the first time, most entertainment outlets stopped treating the relationship as a rumor and began reporting it as an established, if unconfirmed, fact.
How Long Zendaya and Jacob Elordi Were Together
Piecing together the public timeline, the relationship appears to have lasted roughly a year, from the first Greece sightings in the second half of 2019 through the kissing photos and family visits of early 2020, before quietly ending by around September of that year. Neither Zendaya nor Elordi ever confirmed an exact start or end date, so this estimate comes entirely from paparazzi sightings and insider reports rather than a statement from either star. Compared to Zendaya’s long-term relationship with Tom Holland or Elordi’s years-long, on-and-off relationship with Olivia Jade Giannulli, their time together was brief and largely conducted out of the public eye, even as photos of them together continued to circulate widely for years afterward.
Why They Eventually Broke Up
No official reason was ever given for the breakup, and neither actor has directly addressed it since. The most commonly cited factor is timing: the COVID-19 pandemic hit not long after their most publicly visible period together, and Elordi reportedly spent the early months of lockdown in his native Australia while Zendaya stayed in Los Angeles, putting real distance between them at a pivotal moment in the relationship. Around the same time, Elordi began being photographed with model Kaia Gerber, and the closeness of that timing led some fans to speculate about overlap or infidelity, though nothing along those lines was ever confirmed by anyone involved. Because the relationship had never been officially announced in the first place, it also never received a public ending. It simply faded from headlines as both actors quietly moved on with their lives.
Jacob Elordi’s Life and Relationships After Zendaya
Elordi’s dating life has stayed fairly public in the years since his split from Zendaya. His relationship with Kaia Gerber lasted from around September 2020 until November 2021, ending on reportedly amicable terms. Weeks later, he was linked to influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli, and the two have been on and off ever since, splitting and reconciling multiple times over the following years, including trips together to Italy and Idaho, a reported breakup in 2024, a reunion the following year, and further splits and reunions reported through 2025 and into 2026. His earlier relationship with Kissing Booth co-star Joey King, whom he is often mentioned alongside Zendaya, actually ended back in 2018, well before the rumors about Zendaya even began, meaning the two relationships never overlapped.
Zendaya’s Relationship With Tom Holland
Zendaya’s personal life settled into a much more public and stable chapter through her relationship with Tom Holland, her Spider-Man co-star, whom she first met back in 2016. The two confirmed they were a couple in 2021 after being photographed kissing in a car, and have since become one of Hollywood’s most closely watched yet private couples. Zendaya sparked engagement rumors at the 2025 Golden Globes when she was seen wearing a large diamond ring, and the engagement was later confirmed by sources close to the couple. Marriage speculation followed in 2026 after her longtime stylist told reporters on a red carpet that the wedding had already taken place, though neither Zendaya nor Holland has directly confirmed the news themselves.
Are Zendaya and Jacob Elordi Still Friends Today
For years, Zendaya and Elordi were described as cordial and on good terms behind the scenes, continuing to work together on Euphoria without any visible tension. That reputation grew more complicated ahead of the show’s third and final season, when reports suggested real distance had grown between Zendaya, Elordi, and co-star Sydney Sweeney, driven partly by packed individual schedules and partly by the emotional weight of losing castmate Angus Cloud in 2023. Despite that reported strain, the full cast, including Zendaya and Elordi, appeared together at the Euphoria season three premiere in Los Angeles in April 2026, posing for photos on the same red carpet. Neither has spoken publicly about the state of their friendship, leaving their current relationship somewhere between professional courtesy and genuine closeness.
Height Difference Between Zendaya and Jacob Elordi
One detail that regularly comes up whenever old photos of the two resurface is their height difference. Elordi stands at roughly six feet five inches, making him one of the tallest leading men working in Hollywood today, while Zendaya is about five feet ten inches herself, leaving a gap of around seven inches between them. The contrast is especially noticeable in red carpet photos and throwback pictures from their rumored dating period, and it remains one of the more talked-about details whenever fans revisit their history together.
Conclusion
Zendaya and Jacob Elordi’s relationship remains one of those Hollywood stories that was never officially confirmed but never entirely denied either. The evidence, from the Greece vacation to the New York kissing photos to the insider reports of a serious relationship, points toward something real that lasted roughly a year before quietly ending in 2020. Since then, both have moved on to long-term, high-profile relationships of their own, while continuing to share a set and a red carpet for Euphoria without any public drama between them. Whether their bond today is genuine friendship or simple professional courtesy, neither has ever said so directly, and that lingering silence is exactly why their brief relationship continues to draw curiosity years later.