Olivia Rodrigo is pushing back on the intense online scrutiny surrounding her recent dating rumors, revealing that the man at the center of the speculation was never her boyfriend. In a new Hollywood Reporter cover story published October 7, Rodrigo says she is single and describes the attention surrounding her private life as invasive.
The discussion follows a summer of sightings involving Julian Croonenberghs, a private-equity associate at Hg Capital who previously worked as an investment-banking analyst at Goldman Sachs. Gossip accounts and outlets linked the two after a June dinner in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, followed by photos of them traveling from Iceland in late July and spending time together at a park.
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Those sightings quickly became the subject of fan debate, with some questioning how a relationship with someone working in finance could align with values Olivia Rodrigo has expressed through her music. The conversation also revived lyrics from “Expectations,” in which she sings about refusing to settle for a guy with a “fake job.” Rodrigo previously explained that line as a criticism of people from wealthy families who adopt impressive-sounding titles while doing little actual work.
“It’s so hard and kind of sad, especially because relationships are supposed to be something private,” Olivia Rodrigo tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I feel like every time I go on a casual date with a guy, there’s a picture of it on the internet, which feels really invasive.”
She says casual encounters are routinely transformed into something much bigger online. “Sometimes you’re out with a guy who’s not your boyfriend, and suddenly the internet’s like, ‘They’re married, blah blah blah.’”
Rodrigo initially suggests that this kind of attention may simply come with being famous before stopping herself. “It actually really sucks, and it feels really invasive,” she says. “It feels like you’re being stalked and then judged for pictures.”
The singer then directly addresses the assumptions made about her personal life: “Like I said, I’m single, I don’t have a boyfriend, and to be stalked outside of your home and then these pictures are being used as evidence that you’re a bad person, it’s just the craziest thing.”
Her comments arrive as Olivia Rodrigo enters another major chapter of her career. The Hollywood Reporter interview also touches on her upcoming album, widely linked to the end of her relationship with actor Louis Partridge in late 2025, as well as Daisy Chain, the festival she has developed as a way to channel her platform into something constructive.
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