Kendall Jenner and Jacob Elordi’s budding romance may be the worst-kept secret in Hollywood, but the pair are doing their best to keep things low-key to keep the sparks flying, sources tell Page Six.
Meanwhile, the source added that Justin and Hailey Bieber played the role of Cupid that brought them together in the first place.
The 30-year-old supermodel and the 28-year-old Euphoria star were first spotted making out at Justin’s Coachella afterparty in April, and the matchup was made possible with encouragement from the Bieber couple and their friends.
Grainy footage of them smooching was leaked to gossip account DeuxMoi, but they’ve been doing their best to avoid the shutterbugs ever since.
But with the cat out of the bag, it’s never easy to escape the probing lenses of dads, as evidenced by Jenner and Elordi’s harrowing attempt to save face (while driving!) in an SUV in Los Angeles on May 16th.
Also at the back of the celebrity-filled ride were Kendall’s sister Kylie Jenner, 28, and her boyfriend Timothée Chalamet, 30, with whom she was on a double date.
Sources say Jenner wanted to keep her relationship with Elordi going for as long as possible, rather than make a hard public announcement, after previous high-profile relationships with Bad Bunny and Devin Booker ended in flames.
“She knows that the more public a relationship is, the more complicated it becomes. She’s trying to have a real relationship, not a public one,” a source close to Jenner told Page Six.
“She wants it to be between her and her boyfriend first, not between her and Jacob or the public.”
Another source told Page Six that Jenner was “very chill, very relaxed and easygoing about herself” at the Coachella afterparty, but couldn’t resist Elordi’s charm.
“As long as he doesn’t look like his character from Euphoria, I’m happy for her,” a second source joked, referring to Elordi’s angry psychotic jock Nate Jacobs on the HBO show.
No matter how you look at it, the real Elordi is a soft-spoken, down-to-earth, and charming man. He bears no resemblance to Jacobs or the equally manipulative and overbearing Heathcliff he recently played opposite Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights.
The new couple was spotted having cocktails over Memorial Day weekend with matchmakers Hailey and Justin at the San Ysidro Ranch, a five-star hotel in Santa Barbara near Jenner’s six-acre home.
According to DeuxMoi, one onlooker described Jenner as “very sensitive” to men. Earlier in the day, they had dined together at Little Mountain Restaurant, a hidden gem for seafood.
The new couple just returned from a trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauai earlier this month, where they were spotted laughing as they sat on a private oceanside beach.
A bikini-clad Jenner was seen enjoying a bottle of rosé wine next to the shirtless actor wearing a green baseball cap, and the couple seemed engrossed in conversation.
A source close to Jenner told Page Six that Elordi, who briefly worked as a model as a teenager, has a lot in common with the “Kardashian Family” reality star.
“When Kendall first started modeling, everyone was like, ‘Nepo baby.’ But she put in the work. She worked hard and impressed those around her,” the source said, adding, “[Elordi]is a hard-working guy who seems grounded in who he is. She’s attracted to those kinds of people.”
Representatives for Jenner and Elordi did not respond to requests for comment from Page Six.
Elordi, who is from Brisbane, Australia, is also being talked about as a possible candidate to be the next James Bond in the casting process for the film, which is still only known as Bond 26.
Page Six Hollywood reports that studio Amazon MGM is looking for a young actor, ideally under the age of 30, to fill the coveted role of 007, which will lead the multi-film franchise.
The last movie starring Daniel Craig, No Time to Die, was released in 2021, so it’s been a long wait for fans.
“Jacob Elordi is probably the type of actor who can grow — if someone were to remake ‘Gone with the Wind,’ he could star. He’s the guy. A timeless male lead,” casting director Gary Zuckerbrode, who discovered Elordi and cast him in the 2018 teen rom-com “The Kissing Booth,” previously told Page Six about the actor’s talent.
Elordi comes from a poor family, growing up in working class Brisbane where his father was a painter and his mother worked in the school cafeteria.
After graduating from high school, Elordi took acting lessons in Melbourne and began making self-tapes for auditions. After that, he saved up his money, was discovered, moved to America, and appeared as an extra in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” at the age of 17.
Two years later, Elordi landed his breakthrough role as the male lead in Netflix’s romantic comedy The Kissing Booth, and his professional and personal life took off from there, and in 2018 he began dating his co-star in the film, Joey King, now 26.
That relationship didn’t work out, but as Elordi’s profile in Hollywood has grown, he’s been seen in the arms of some of the most eligible young women on the scene, including model Kaia Gerber, whom he dated for about a year starting in September 2020.
After that relationship, Elordi dated lifestyle influencer Olivia Jade. Olivia Jade is the daughter of Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, who were in prison for the “College Blues” scandal. The two dated on and off, but broke up completely in August last year.
Jenner, on the other hand, became famous after first appearing on Keeping Up with the Kardashians at the age of 11. Over the years, she has been linked to numerous A-listers, from Harry Styles to Nick Jonas to A$AP Rocky.
Jenner and Phoenix Suns basketball star Devin Booker dated for about two years before splitting in October 2022. She has also had an on-and-off relationship with reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny, with whom she appeared in two major Gucci fashion campaigns in 2023 and 2024.
Sources in the modeling industry say Jenner’s last name and coming from a reality TV family make it difficult for her to find people who will settle down with her and understand showbiz, and although she has spent years watching TV cameras at every milestone, she is much happier shielding her life from prying eyes. And Elordi certainly fits that bill.
“He’s a kind person. He’s very close to his mother. Men who are close to their mothers are kind to women. I think she wants to get married. I’m not saying marriage, but I think they should live together,” said a source in the modeling industry.
“They’re two good-looking guys. Let’s see what happens. Every pot has a lid.”
But after her sister Kylie has recently returned to the spotlight, supporting Chalamet’s Oscar win at countless events earlier this year and being a highly visible courtside presence during New York Knicks games, insiders hope Kylie will persuade her sister to be more public about her relationship with Elordi.
And soon, they’ll have a great opportunity to make their public debut – on the red carpet when the Elordi star premieres his new post-apocalyptic thriller The Dog Stars on August 28th.
