Joey King Says She 'Couldn't' Date Another Actor After Breakup With 'Kissing Booth' Co-Star Jacob Elordi
Joey King is saying, "Thank you, next" to ex and Kissing Booth co-star Jacob Elordi. During a new interview on The Howard Stern Show, King opened up about what she learned from her year-long relationship with Elordi and why she's sworn off dating fellow actors—for now.
King and Elordi fell in love playing onscreen couple Elle Evans and Noah Flynn in the first Kissing Booth film. They quietly split in 2018, reuniting for two sequels to the hit Netflix rom-com soon after. "I think it’s a good thing we dated in the first place. I learned the most I’ve ever learned in my life from him,” King said of Elordi, who is rumored to be dating Euphoria co-star Zendaya. But when pressed about whether she'd "ever date another actor again," King had a quick response. “No. I couldn’t,” she replied. “I think that it’s awesome to date someone in your field, who gets it, but doing the same exact thing as somebody is tough. It’s really tough."
King also addressed rumors about a recent tweet involving Elordi that sparked confusion. Shortly after the release of The Kissing Booth 2, Elordi stated in a Variety interview that he hadn't actually watched the movie. Later that day, King jokingly tweeted, “Jacob watched it. He’s capping.” But the tweet was soon deleted with no explanation.
King explained to Stern that "'capping' means lying," adding, "I heard the term ‘capping’ on, like, TikTok and Twitter and Instagram, through friends, and I was like, ‘I guess this is the new thing.” After the tweet disappeared, some speculated that it had to do with Elordi. But the actress confirmed she did receive permission from her ex to write the tweet and that he "had a good sense of humor" about it. "It’s something I should not have used as a white person. I took it down … two accounts on Twitter called me out for it, that’s why I deleted it,” King clarified.
This isn't the first time King has had to answer questions about working with an ex. During a recent interview with Cosmopolitan, she admitted to understanding fan speculation about on-set tension. “No one’s thinking to themselves, That was easy, because it wasn’t," King said of working with Elordi. "I’m sure people will analyze every movement and every detail. And you know what? Let them. But at the end of the day, I was just thrilled to be Elle Evans again."
Back in October, King said the "sacrifice" of working with her ex-boyfriend was "totally worth it." "I'm a fan with how [the film] resonated with the world, it resonated with me," she said on the Mood With Lauren Elizabeth podcast. "So going back and doing that and making the sacrifice of what, obviously, everyone is thinking about—outwardly addressing, but what I'm kind of on the sly addressing, making those sacrifices was totally worth it."
It appears that King has stuck to her no-actor dating rule. She's reportedly linked to The Act producer Steven Piet, whom she met while giving her Emmy-nominated performance as Gypsy Rose on the Hulu series. King referred to Piet as her "sweet boyfriend" in an April essay for InStyle, curbing rumors she's dating Kissing Booth 2 co-star (and second love interest) Taylor Zakhar Perez.
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