Those Milo Ventimiglia and Diane Guerrero Dating Rumors Are Just That—Rumors

Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

From Oprah Magazine

  • In the three years since This Is Us debuted on NBC, Milo Ventimiglia's character Jack Pearson has rapidly become one of America's favorite fictional husbands. (Season 4 premieres on September 24).

  • Ventimiglia is not married in real life, but was reportedly last dating girlfriend Kelly Egarian since 2017.

  • In the past, Ventimiglia has dated co-stars including Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) and Hayden Panettiere (Heroes).

  • He was nominated for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for This Is Us at the 2019 Emmys.

  • In October, the actor was linked to Orange Is the New Black actress Diane Guerrero—but the reports turned out to just be rumors.


If you were compiling a list of America's favorite fictional husbands (not to mention fathers), Jack Pearson from This Is Us would surely rank near the top. As played by Milo Ventimiglia, Jack is a dedicated family man whose untimely death scarred many a viewer, and it's no surprise that some fans are curious about the actor's real-life romantic situation.

Ventimiglia, who turned 42 this summer, has never been married in real life. He has been linked to several of his high-profile co-stars on past projects, including Gilmore Girls and Heroes, and has recently revealed that he does not plan to repeat that pattern again. Asked in 2017 what he learned from dating co-stars, he responded: "Never do it again," explaining that it took him until his mid-to-late 20s to realize that "the job wears on you, relationships wear on you."

In October, reports surfaced about a potential fling between the actor and Orange Is the New Black star Diane Guerrero. Why? Simply because they were spotted having lunch together in Los Angeles, first going to the Mexican restaurant Escuela Taqueria, later to an ice cream shop called The Milk Shop. But according to a People source, they're simply just "friends."

So is he or isn't he single? Here's what else we know.

He brought his last love interest to the 2017 Emmys.

We should preface this by saying that Ventimiglia is understandably tight-lipped about his private life, so the information we have is scarce. But as of the 2017 Emmys, he was seeing Kelly Egarian, a marketing coordinator for fashion designer Stella McCartney. The couple made their first public appearance together at the awards ceremony, where People reported that they did not walk the carpet together, but sat together at the ceremony and post-ceremony dinner. According to Just Jared, they were first spotted together in December 2016. That said, he was spotted with an unidentified woman enjoying a Disneyland date in March 2018. So is he single? We'll wait for his official response.

When The New York Post asked Ventimiglia about the romance in 2017, he firmly responded, "We won't talk about it." And given how hard it can be for any relationship to survive the spotlight, who can blame him?


He's dated several of his co-stars in the past.

No, not on This Is Us! More than a decade before he became Jack Pearson, Ventimiglia had his breakout role in Gilmore Girls as Jess, a bad boy love interest for Alexis Bledel's wholesome Rory. Though Rory and Jess's relationship was short-lived on screen (much to the disappointment of some fans), Ventimiglia and Bledel dated in real life for four years, from 2002 to 2006 per PopSugar, and reportedly even discussed marriage.

Photo credit: Patrick McMullan - Getty Images
Photo credit: Patrick McMullan - Getty Images

In 2006, Ventimiglia scored a leading role in NBC's superhero hit series Heroes, and was romantically linked to his co-star Hayden Panettiere. It was reported in 2009 that the couple had split because they led "different lifestyles."

In a 2017 interview with Mr. Porter magazine, Ventimiglia was asked what he had learned from being "subjected to the 24/7 media attention that comes with being one half of a famous hot couple," he responded: "Never do it again ... There are things that happen to you in your life that shape who you are. Everything I’ve been through from jobs to friendships to partnerships, everything has built me to who I am. You learn from it. You learn a better way of doing things. It wasn’t until my mid to late twenties that the job wears on you, relationships wear on you."

But he added that he wouldn't change anything about the relationship, explaining "when you get knocked over the head in life, it builds your perspective.”

Photo credit: Michael Buckner - Getty Images
Photo credit: Michael Buckner - Getty Images

He's in no rush to be a father in real life.

It's easy to imagine that playing Jack Pearson might stir the paternal instinct in real life, but Ventimiglia doesn't sound like he's in a rush.

"Not so much," he told Esquire, when asked if the role had changed his feelings on fatherhood. "I am truly one of the luckiest people in the world with the parents I got; my mom and dad are magical and I continue to learn from them, and that’s helped me a lot in playing Jack. I’m playing almost directly the era of when my parents raised my sisters and me; there were three of us, we grew up in the ’80s, I was a teenager in the ’90s. Everything [on the show] feels very close to how I was raised. The show hasn't inspired me to go have kids, I'll tell you that much, but I think the value of family—and not only the family you're born into but the family that you make and you create with your friends—that’s a message I’m often reminded of."

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Home away from home. Hollywood, CA. MV

A post shared by Milo Anthony Ventimiglia (@miloanthonyventimiglia) on Mar 28, 2019 at 6:21pm PDT


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