Two of LSU’s most well-known athletes are officially an item.
The rumor mill has been abuzz lately that former LSU pitcher Paul Skenes was dating LSU gymnast and social media superstar Olivia Dunne.
Now Skenes, who left LSU when he was selected first overall in the recent Major League Baseball Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, has made the relationship officially public in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Skenes said one thing he has in common with Dunne is handling life in the spotlight.
“It’s nice, for sure,” Skenes said. “It can be a pain in the butt sometimes, to be honest, in terms of actually going somewhere. If one of us went out in Baton Rouge by ourselves, there’s probably gonna be someone there asking for something — picture, autograph, whatever.”
“It’s nice to be able to have that conversation,” he continued. “She does get it. I do wish she could come to a baseball game and just enjoy it. It does irk me. I don’t have any control over it. She really doesn’t either. I’m sure it’ll get better as I go up levels, but that’s something I want for her.”
Skenes said the relationship because his best friend was dating Dunne’s LSU Gymnastics teammate Elena Arenas. As of late, Dunne had been down in Florida where Skenes is playing in the Pirates’ minor league farm system, according to the Post-Gazette, but she has returned to Baton Rouge in preparation for the fall semester and the continuation of her own athletic career.
He says that, while Dunne is a major social media influencer, he has cautioned her to not take people’s opinions online too seriously.
“She doesn’t like seeing some of it,” Skenes said. “It’s worse for her. I’ve told her, ‘People are gonna write about you. People are gonna write about me. If it rattles you, if it makes you upset, you gotta find a way to either not see it or not get upset over it.’ In my mind, it’s a lot easier to not see it than not get upset over it.”
