Phoebe Dynevor was not prepared for the fame that would envelop her when she starred in Bridgerton, nor was she prepared for the attention she would get when she casually dated Hollywood’s boyfriend, Pete Davidson.
In an interview for Elle’s October issue, the actor reflected on her six-month situationship with the comedian, and observed how the incessant media buzz around it changed the way she lives her life today.
“It just goes back to being naïve—I didn’t think anyone would care,” she told the magazine of her short relationship with Davidson. “I was just being a young woman and dating and somehow that provokes a conversation.”
She added that she had to learn “lots of hard lessons” during that time.
“You realize, Oh, I can’t live my life in the way that I used to. I have to keep my cards slightly closer to my chest. There was a time, for example, when I’d post anything on my Instagram, and now I’m very, very careful about what I put out into the world,” Dynevor explained.
Dynevor and Davidson dated from March to August of 2021. During that time, they were spotted being affectionate on low-key outings. The former Saturday Night Live star had once referred to her as his celebrity crush. While it’s unclear why they broke things off, sources said at the time that the relationship got too complicated with Davidson living New York and Dynevor in England.
Dynevor called her time with Davidson “very surreal”—not because of him, necessarily, but because of how it put her new fame into perspective.
“This whole world that I was opened up to was really intimidating. Having men outside your house with cameras is super scary when you live on your own,” Dynevor recalled. “There were men who would wait outside my house with cameras, and it was the same men a few times. I don’t want to go on the record and say that I was being stalked, but when you have paparazzi who are waiting outside your house, it definitely feels like that.”
She also had to learn how to react—or not react—to false reports about her life.
“People are going to make up whatever story that they want to make from a few pictures, that’s fine,” the actor said. “I had to learn to let things go and let it wash over my head instead of the normal reaction, which is to be like, ‘But that’s not true, and that didn’t happen.’ You have to let it go and focus on the work. I really am just here to act; I love my job so much, and it was weird for me that the attention was being taken away from my work.”
Dynevor is currently dating fellow actor Cameron Fuller, though the two have kept their romance mostly out of the spotlight.
“The more you prioritize the simple things in life, the easier the outside noise becomes,” she said.
