Love Triangle Plot Twist: Thomas Doherty Dates Cole Sprouse's Ex

What could’ve been awkward is shaping up to be the year’s messiest celebrity shuffle. Thomas Doherty, 31, is now dating model Ari Fournier, 27, after she quietly split from her longtime boyfriend Cole Sprouse—and if you thought the connections ended there, think again.

The Paradise star and Fournier have been seeing each other for a few months now, according to sources, with their relationship becoming more public after they attended the 2026 Indianapolis 500 together on May 24. Photos show them holding hands at the event, where Doherty rocked an all-black look while Fournier kept it casual in a leather jacket and jeans. They’ve also been regularly liking each other’s Instagram posts since March, so this didn’t exactly come out of nowhere.

Here’s where it gets interesting: Sprouse and Fournier were last photographed together back in April 2025, meaning their breakup was indeed quiet. The two had been together since January 2021—nearly five years—and seemed genuinely solid. During a March 2023 appearance on Call Her Daddy, Sprouse called Fournier“my best friend”and credited her with completely transforming his life.“I’ve gotten sober. I’ve questioned my existence in a way that I never have before. I’ve had my best financial years. My career is doing better,”he said at the time. That’s not throwaway podcast talk—that’s a man speaking about real, foundational partnership.

But wait, there’s more. Sprouse, 33, is currently filming a movie titled Hot Year with Dove Cameron, Doherty’s ex-girlfriend. Doherty and Cameron, 30, dated from December 2016 to October 2020 after meeting on the set of Descendants 2. So we’ve got exes working together while their former partners are now an item. It’s the kind of interconnected drama that makes you wonder if Hollywood’s social circles are just way too small, or if the universe has a wicked sense of timing.

What makes this particularly poignant is Sprouse’s own account of how he and Fournier found each other. He told Call Her Daddy that they first met when she was in a five-year relationship, and they didn’t speak again for two years. When they reconnected at a party, it felt like destiny—a“handshake agreement,”as he put it. They went from that moment to not spending a day apart. For someone to go from crediting his partner with his sobriety and financial success to a quiet breakup? That’s a fall, no matter how amicable it might be behind closed doors.

The real takeaway isn’t the gossip—it’s how fast everything can shift. Fournier and Doherty seem happy, Sprouse is moving forward, and Cameron and Sprouse are professionally entangled. Everyone’s grown up enough to handle it without public drama. Still, it’s hard not to notice that sometimes the person you thought was your foundation just becomes another chapter in a very small, very interconnected story.