Shaun White and Nina Dobrev have called off their engagement and brought an end to their five-year relationship, a person close to the couple told The Associated Press.
The three-time Olympic champion snowboarder and the former star of “The Vampire Diaries” made a mutual decision to part, according to the person.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
People magazine first reported the breakup.
White, 39, and Dobrev, 36, went public about their relationship
in 2020. One of their first Instagram posts, which came toward the start of the COVID lockdown, showed Dobrev giving a “quarantine haircut” to the Olympic halfpipe rider known in his younger days as “The Flying Tomato” for his long shocks of red hair.
They shared occasional posts about their travels over the next few years, and supported each other's careers. Dobrev followed White on his frenetic road to qualifying for his fifth and final Olympics in 2022 and White was front and center in 2023 for the Los Angeles premier of Dobrev's Netflix movie, “The Out-Laws.”
After finishing fourth at the Beijing Olympics, White credited Dobrev for pushing him to make a to-do list for retirement "so I’m not sitting around twiddling my thumbs.”
They announced their engagement in October 2024, posting a picture of White kneeling in front of Dobrev at a New York restaurant, the couple surrounded by white rose petals and candles. “She said YES,” White wrote in the post, adding an emoji of a diamond ring.
People reported the couple was seen together in public as recently as Aug. 31, but Dobrev was spotted walking a red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival last week without her engagement ring.
White has spent the last two years starting up The Snow League, a pro halfpipe circuit he hopes will lead to more opportunities for people in his sport. Dobrev has reportedly been cast to star in a rom-com “It Happened One Summer” based on a best-selling book by Tessa Bailey.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics
