Laying low. Cole Sprouse hinted at how his split from Lili Reinhart has changed the way he approaches his relationship with current girlfriend Ari Fournier.
The former Disney Channel star, 29, told GQ Hype in an interview published on Wednesday, March 30, that his romance with Reinhart, 25, was “as real as it gets” before they called it quits in 2020. The Riverdale costars were placed under a microscope when they split, and Sprouse said that the “public currency” surrounding their breakup was at times hard to handle.
Sprouse was first linked to Fournier in February 2021 after they were spotted holding hands while out for brunch in Vancouver, Canada. However, the twosome have kept their romance under the radar.
“Followers report everything about Ari and me as bullying, and it gets taken down pretty immediately,” the Suite Life of Zack & Cody alum told the outlet. “Even on my other friends’ accounts, it gets taken down.”
In July 2021, the Five Feet Apart actor poked fun at the intense Riverdale fandom, some of whom aren’t supportive of his relationship with Fournier. “Time to piss off the 14yos again,” he captioned a series of Instagram photos with the model.
One social media user replied in the comments, “My heart broke with this photo,” while another wrote, “I’m not OK,” alongside a broken heart emoji.
Before moving on with Fournier, the Friends alum dated Reinhart on and off for three years, confirming the end of their relationship via Instagram in August 2020.
“Lili and I initially separated in January of this year, deciding to more permanently split in March,” Sprouse wrote at the time. “What an incredible experience I had, I’ll always feel lucky and cherish that I had the chance to fall in love. I wish her nothing but the utmost love and happiness moving forward. All I’ll say about it, anything else you hear doesn’t matter.”
That same month, the Swimming Lessons writer compared her heartbreak to “dying” during a candid interview with Refinery29. “It was f–king rough, and there’s no other way through it than just through it,” Reinhart said. “I’ve seen a lot of people when it comes to heartache and grief and breakups, and they try to get that void filled with sex, with coke, with food, with drinking, [but] the void is still there. I took the road less traveled and just dealt with my s–t. I had to face my own pain head-on.”
The former couple have continued to share the screen on Riverdale, which was recently renewed by The CW for season 7. Earlier this month, Reinhart and Camila Mendes joked about their histories with their costars. (Mendes, 27, previously dated Charles Melton from 2018 to 2019 and were spotted getting cozy again in 2021.)
“Us trying to figure out how to date people we don’t work with,” the pair wrote in a clip shared via their joint TikTok account, adding in the caption, “#readingrainbow ❤️ #learninglessons #growing.”
