Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse’s Relationship: A Complete Timeline

The minute Riverdale premiered on The CW in January 2017, its cast of young stars became tabloid fodder. In a matter of months, rumors starting swirling that maybe Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse, who play Betty and Jughead on the hit show, were dating. That was later confirmed. But in August 2020, Sprouse revealed the couple had split. 

The two remained fairly private over the course of their relationship. Nevertheless, here’s a complete timeline of everything that happened to the IRL Bughead. 

April 2017: Sprouse posts photos of Reinhart to Instagram but keeps quiet about the nature of their relationship.

July 2017: People reports that during an Entertainment Weekly party at Comic-Con, Reinhart was spotted wearing Sprouse’s jacket, sparking conversation. Later that month the two were spotted showing some PDA on the Riverdale set in Vancouver. “Cole and Lili were holding hands and looked really coupley,” a source told Us Weekly. “Also, the way he grabbed her waist to bring her in for a photo seemed more than friendly.”

August 2017: Reinhart posts a very sweet message on Instagram for Sprouse’s birthday. “To the man who has showed me more beautiful places in this past year than I have ever seen in my whole life,” she wrote. “Happy birthday, Cole. Thank you for all of the adventures and here’s to many more 🌙.”

November 2017: Sprouse reflects on being in the public eye but still gives up nothing on the pair’s offscreen relationship. “Lili and I are constantly talked about in the public eye, and for me I think that it is being deeply informed by the love of the characters and wanting to see us together,” he told People. “I think that in many ways it’s offensive and an invasion of privacy, but it’s also a badge of honor because it means you’re creating a chemistry onscreen that is so understandable that people want to see it in real life, which is flattering from a professional perspective.” He succinctly answered, “No comment,” when asked if he and Reinhart were dating.

Then he went on to further explain why he wasn’t talking. “Because whether you dismiss those rumors or whether you encourage those rumors, it’s giving people who are in my opinion are a bit entitled to your personal life more power, and you have to have spaces for reverence in the industry…. The more you let people in on that, the more people feel entitled to it and the more it becomes problematic with whoever you end up being with in the future, so I take that very seriously,” he said. “So I just never talk about it because it’s not anyone’s right to know. People can speculate all they want, people speculate about me with every member of the cast practically, but it’s really no one’s right to know. It’s also sexy, these parts of the relationships that are just yours.”

January 2018: Reinhart talks to V Magazine about her relationship status after vacationing with Sprouse in Hawaii.

“People are just dying to know information about if I’m in a relationship or not. I understand the interest, but it’s called a private life for a reason. And it’s not something that I owe the world. People are going to say anything and everything,” she said. ”They’re going to say that I love KJ, they’re gonna say that I love Cami, and they’re gonna say that I love Cole: it’s inevitable. But I’m not at a point in my life where I’m ready to openly confirm, deny, or talk about a relationship that I’m in, because I think it’s brutal to have a relationship in the spotlight where I can be scrutinized by anyone and everyone. Being in a relationship with someone, it’s a relationship between those two people, and I feel like when you let enough people in, it’s not about those two people anymore. It’s about everyone.”

March 2018: A fan at PaleyFest directly asks if the costars are dating. Sprouse responds with his now standard, “No comment.”

April 2018: Us Weekly publishes pictures of the duo kissing in Paris.

May 2018: Reinhart and Sprouse make their relationship red-carpet official at the Met Gala.

July 2018: Even after the public moments of the Met Gala, Reinhart is still not interested in speaking about Sprouse. “I’m not okay talking about my relationship,” she told Harper's Bazaar. “I’m not going to tell you my love story. That’s just not appropriate right now.”

August 2018: It’s Sprouse’s birthday, which means another lovey dovey post from Reinhart. “It seems as if the world would still be a stranger to me, if not for you,” she wrote. “I’m so thankful that our paths intertwined to form this beautiful adventure~Happy birthday, my love.”

Riverdale costar Madchen Amick opened up about the couple to Entertainment Tonight. “It’s great. I mean, they didn’t talk about [their relationship] the entire time, until just recently,” she said. ”So, it’s nice that they’re able to now, like, be public with it, so it’s not so under wraps. But at the same time, they’re in complete control of what they want to share and how they want to share it,” she added. “Behind the scenes, they’re so sweet with each other and they’re both just exceptional people."

September 2018: Sprouse posts a revealing shot on his Instagram to honor Reinhart’s birthday. “Both the birthday and the gift. My little muse, happy birthday my love,” the captions reads.

October 2018: Little by little, we start to learn more about how the couple likes to spend their time together. “I like to go on adventures with Cole,” Reinhart told Teen Vogue. “Truly, adventures. He takes me to places where I’m like, ‘How did you find this?’ He’'s made me see these things that I would have never seen otherwise. It’s escapism, which is so beautiful and wonderful.”

The two also began to get more playful with each other on social media.

November 2018: Sprouse spends part of the holiday season with Reinhart’s family, so we assume this relationship is serious.

December 2018: Sometimes a simple Instagram comment reveals a lot.

February 2019: In an interview with GQ, Sprouse opens up more than usual about his girlfriend. “It’s not something that we hide, or it’s not something that we show off,” he said. “It’s just something that exists.”

The couple also posted about their love in honor of Valentine’s Day.

May 2019: We’re back at the Met Gala—this time with more elaborate outfits for the Notes on Camp theme.

July 2019: The couple attends Comic-Con, but days later reports emerge that they have broken up. “At the end of the day, their personalities are very different and their lifestyles often clashed,” a source told People. “Things have felt super heavy in the relationship for a while, and it got to be too much. They’re both very professional, though, and trying to be as amicable and friendly as possible.”

August 2019: Plot twist! The couple confuses fans with their social media posts amid breakup rumors. “BREAKING: A reliable source has confirmed that none of you know shit,” Reinhart wrote on Instagram. She also warned people not to believe everything they read.

Then she posted a poem for Sprouse’s birthday and people think maybe they never broke up at all—or if they did, that they’re now back together.

September 2019: Reinhart very slyly confirms that the two are still a couple while discussing her Halloween plans in an interview with The Coveteur. “I think I’m leaning in towards a character for Halloween. I think I’m going to do it with my boyfriend, Cole,” she said. “I don’t want to spoil it if it’s not going to happen, but it’s a TV duo.”

On September 13, Sprouse posts four loved-up photos with Reinhart on Instagram to celebrate her 23rd birthday. It served as further confirmation that the two are definitely back together.

“Lil @lilireinhart was born on a Friday the 13th and haven’t I just been so lucky ever since?” he captioned the shot.

May 2020: E! News reports that Sprouse and Reinhart have called it quits again. “Lili and Cole were in a good place when Riverdale was shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, but they isolated separately and distance has never been a good thing for their relationship,” an “insider” told the outlet. “When Cole and Lili are around each other often, things are very good. Their relationship is very intimate and affectionate, but things become much more complicated when they’re apart.”

But don’t think this means the couple is over for good. “They know they will likely reconcile once filming resumes,” a second source also told E!. “Both aren’t interested in dating other people, just using this time to chill and focus on themselves.”

A third source also revealed to E!, “It seems unlikely that this will be the end of their relationship for good. Once Riverdale resumes production, Cole and Lili will have to be around each other and they have this fiery attraction to one another that always seems to bring them back together.”

August 2020: Sprouse confirms that he and Reinhart split in January 2020. “Lili and I initially separated in January of this year, deciding to more permanently split in March,” he wrote on Instagram. “What an incredible experience I had, I’ll always feel lucky and cherish that I had the chance to fall in love. I wish her nothing but the utmost love and happiness moving forward. All I’ll say about it, anything else you hear doesn’t matter.” 

Originally Appeared on Glamour