True love sometimes begins with a simple slide into their DMs. This was the case when Dylan Sprouse, actor and one half of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody's Sprouse twins, reached out to a model he met at a 2018 industry event. The future bride, Barbara Palvin, left him on read for almost a year.
"I was like, 'Hey, I don't know if you're in New York for very long, but we should hang out if you want to. Here's my number,'" he recalled to W Magazine. "And she didn't message me for six months."
The Hungarian-born beauty had her reasons. Despite all the reports linking her to the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Justin Bieber, she wanted to see if this bold-faced name would stick – as long as they didn't mess it up. "I took my time," she explained. "I knew I wasn't in a good mindset at the time, and maybe deep inside I knew that it could be something more."
Forever, possibly? The couple, who wed in 2023, announced in a joint Instagram post on May 14 that they're expecting their first baby. It's just the latest chapter in the tale they began sharing during their first joint photo shoot for W back in 2019.
The too-long-didn't-read version of their origin story: The actor, 33, didn't want to look desperate, so he booked a gig in China, where he'd spend six long months filming Xiaolong Zheng's Turandot. "I'm not one to chase," he noted. "If I get left on read after putting out my number, f--- that."
The time away meant he missed the long-anticipated opening of his Brooklyn meadery, but not his shot with Palvin. Because just as he was wondering what happened to that girl, she finally texted. And now the former Disney Channel star and the Giorgio Armani beauty ambassador are husband and wife, marrying in her native Hungary mere weeks after finally sharing their already-months-long engagement with the world.
But Palvin's initial text launched an endless chain with the multilinguist (in addition to her native Hungarian, she speaks German, English, French and Japanese) quickly finding her digital footing. "There's a little language barrier for me, so I was never good with texting or flirting," she admitted to W. "With Dylan, everything seemed so easy."
Eager to see if giving good text translated to IRL chemistry, Palvin booked a flight to China, deciding not to cancel even when her planned job in the country fell through. "I was like, 'Do you think that's crazy that I still want to go and see you?' because I was so excited," she recalled in a 2019 interview with People. "And he's like, 'Please come.'"
Though she initially rebuffed his requests to be exclusive, she knew she was done considering other prospects "the first minute we met," she admitted. "I just sat down, took a deep breath and I'm like, 'What am I waiting for? There's no other guy I would love more than I love him and he's got everything that I need.'"
By August 2018, Palvin was fully committed to their romance by wishing the actor a happy birthday, noting she had received "the biggest present of all." And with the confirmation band-aid ripped off, there was no reason not to be very public on the Internet, posting snapshots of their August trip to her native Hungary. Though the couple explored the sites of Budapest, the getaway's major attraction was one not listed in tour guides: meeting the fam.
Sprouse studied Hungarian, taking particular note of common phrases during the earlier part of their trip and listening to Palvin's advice that he accept any offers of sausage and pálinka, a traditional liquor. Mastering his role as Palvin's plus-one has been infinitely easier since making their red carpet debut in a very on-brand way at a New York Fashion Week party in September 2018. The couple have become step-and-repeat regulars. Most memorably, Sprouse turned up with Shake Shack in hand to watch Palvin work the Victoria's Secret runway in 2018, then hand-delivered her requested post-lingerie splurge.
He's also the guy in the front row offering endless encouragement. His vows to thoroughly embarrass her with his over-the-top cheering leave her grateful her family attended the runway show's earlier viewing. And when she walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show mere weeks after breaking her foot and months after she "went through endosurgery," he revealed to E! News of the procedure she endured following her endometriosis diagnosis, well, proud doesn’t cover it. "The adrenaline’s gonna kick on and she’s gonna walk just fine," he noted to E!, "but I am nervous at the same time for her."
As for the after party... While Sprouse told E! News in 2019 that they like to scope out new food spots, when it comes to their preferred date night, "Honestly, we’re pretty low-key," he said. "We like watching anime and chilling inside and eating ice cream together. That’s kind of our thing."
Of course, as two young attractive public figures, duty calls at times. So in February 2019, they turned up at Vanity Fair’s post-Oscars fete to hobnob with the rest of the industry’s hot young things but mostly to hold court with one in particular: Dylan’s brother Cole Sprouse who hadn’t yet made Palvin’s acquaintance thanks to Riverdale filming requirements that kept him tied to Vancouver. And while there are times that he and Palvin have to forge through a bit of distance, "We make sure we FaceTime once a day," she told ET in 2019. "And we just text and send a lot of memes to each other."
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