Last week, short girls and saucy lads received upsetting news: Sabrina Carpenter and Barry Keoghan decided to “take a break” from their relationship. The news came one year to the day after they were first seen on a date, though rumors that they’d parted ways have been swirling since August. Still, they had an incredible run, which involved Keoghan leaving quirky little comments on a lot of Carpenter’s Instagram posts and also starring in the music video for “Please Please Please.” Here’s a timeline of everything that happened.
December 2023: Carpenter and Keoghan are seen together for the first time, looking a little bit lost in a Brentwood parking lot after what the Daily Mail referred to as a “romantic dinner date.” They’d reportedly met a few months earlier at the Givenchy show during Paris Fashion Week.
January 2024: People claims Carpenter and Keoghan “shared a little kiss” during a date at Luna Luna, an L.A. pop-up inspired by the 1987 German theme park designed by contemporary artists like Salvador Dalí and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Do you think they paid a visit to the André Heller Wedding Chapel?
February 2024: After popping up at W magazine’s Grammys after-party together, the duo is seen on a string of romantic outings: first on a Friday night at Nobu before apparently heading to Hotel Bel-Air, and then the following morning kissing each other good-bye outside Carpenter’s home. A few days later — and one night before Valentine’s Day — People published images of the two of them leaving Delilah in West Hollywood before grabbing cocktails at Ysabel, where they looked absolutely over the moon.
March 2024: Carpenter opens for Taylor Swift on the Singapore leg of her Eras tour, where Keoghan is seen in the crowd looking appropriately rapt at her improvised “Nonsense” outro:
A few days later, he was seen wearing a Swiftian friendship bracelet with Sabrina’s name on it.
April 2024: Keoghan continues his Carpenter groupie tour, commenting “Tuuuuunnnnne M’darlin!!” when she announces the release of “Espresso” on Instagram. (He also dutifully tossed some horny emojis into the comments section of her Skims campaign post.) That week, he whipped out his best silk Burberry scarf to block out the desert dust during her Coachella set. (Don’t worry, his pants matched the pattern.) Carpenter returned the favor during another outro, where she used a lyric to reference Keoghan’s Saltburn scene: “He’s drinking my bathwater like it’s red wine.” The next morning, she admitted to Vanity Fair she hadn’t even thought to warn Keoghan the line was coming.
May 6, 2024: Keoghan swings by Carpenter’s Met Gala BTS video, looking like a proper little lad. The two of them make their red-carpet debut as a couple later that evening.
May 27, 2024: Our boy is at it again! Decked out in a sheer violet shorts set, he took in yet another rendition of “Espresso” during BBC’s Big Weekend Luton. If loving his girlfriend’s music is a crime, lock this man up immediately.
June 6, 2024: Carpenter releases “Please Please Please,” along with the music video starring Keoghan as her ne’er-do-well boyfriend. Keoghan, of course, dedicated an Instagram post to the video, and Carpenter commented on it with a winking lyric from the song, writing, “I heard that you’re an actor!”
August 16, 2024: Just a week before the release of Carpenter’s album, Short n’ Sweet, DeuxMoi shares a tip that the couple have split up.
Two days later, seemingly in response to the rumor, Keoghan likes Carpenter’s most recent Instagram post. At this point, it’s unclear whether or not these two are together, and if it will remain that way.
August 19, 2024: People reports that the couple is “on and off.”
August 23, 2024: Short n’ Sweet is released, and it’s revealed that “Please Please Please” isn’t Keoghan’s only connection to the album. “Bed Chem” is seemingly about Carpenter’s “on and off” beau. “Who’s the cute boy with the white jacket and the thick accent,” she sings on the song, which is all about the period before you start going out with someone where you imagine your sexual chemistry.
In a profile in The Guardian released the same day as Short n’ Sweet, Carpenter deflects when asked a question about Keoghan. She said that working with him was “one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I’m very honored and I got to work with such a great actor!” (In the piece, she immediately makes fun of herself for this answer.)
Later that day, Entertainment Tonight reported that the couple is “definitely broken up.” However, their source kept the door open, saying, “There’s a chance they will get back together eventually.”
August 28, 2024: Keoghan seems to quell the breakup rumors with more strategically placed thirsty Instagram comments. Bratz apparently launched two dolls inspired by Carpenter and Jenna Ortega in the music video for “Taste,” and Keoghan eagerly weighed in with “Can I have one?”
For a less subtle approach, he also posted Carpenter’s bonus-track announcement to his own Instagram, writing, “BED CHEM my fave just sayin m’darlin. Tap that link lads!!”
October 20, 2024: Keoghan was spotted lingering stageside near some sound techs at Carpenter’s Charlottesville, Virginia, stop on the Short n’ Sweet tour. Carpenter doesn’t do “Nonsense” outros on this tour, so there were no spontaneous horny riffs to surprise him with, but he looked, per usual, plenty supportive.
December 3, 2024: People reports that, after a year of dating, Carpenter and Keoghan have parted ways, because they are “both young and career-focused.” In the immediate aftermath, DeuxMoi claimed Keoghan had exchanged flirty messages with an influencer.
December 7, 2024: A few days into the rumor-mill churn, Keoghan announced on X that he had “deactivated my account” (on Instagram, presumably). “My name has been dragged across the internet,” he wrote. “The messages I have received no person should ever have to read them. Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent and every other inhumane thing I can imagine.” He said people were “knocking on my grannies door” and “sitting outside my baby boys house intimidating them,” asking, “Please be respectful to all.”
This post has been updated.