Dropping hints? Lili Reinhart seemingly deleted the “love poem” she wrote for ex Cole Sprouse’s 27th birthday amid news the on-and-off couple called it quits after nearly three years of dating.
“I tried to find a poem that I could send to you. Because my words were failing me,” the Hustlers actress, 23, captioned a photo in August 2019 of her former beau smoking a cigarette across from her at a table. “But I searched and found nothing that did you justice. All of these love poems can’t get it right. No one else’s words could ever fit. They haven’t known the fortune it is to love you. -sappy nighttime birthday poem for @colesprouse.”
While it’s not clear when exactly Reinhart nixed the picture from her feed, the fact that she removed the sweet message to her ex-boyfriend is quite telling.
On Monday, May 25, Page Six reported the Riverdale stars ended their relationship “before the pandemic hit.” The two “have been quarantining separately,” a source told the outlet, but they “remain good friends.”
Reinhart’s missing Instagram post wasn’t the only sign there was trouble in paradise. Just a few days prior to news of their split, actor Skeet Ulrich, who plays Sprouse’s on-screen dad FP Jones on Riverdale, made a cryptic remark that sent Bughead shippers into a full frenzy.
When a fan asked the actor, 50, during an Instagram Live Q&A if he thought Sprouse and Reinhart are “a cute couple,” Ulrich responded, “I think they were a very cute couple.” He repeated his comment, emphasizing the word “were.” “They’re both beautiful people,” the CW star added.
Speculation that Reinhart and Sprouse broke up for a second time after briefly splitting in summer 2019 began in April 2020 when rumors circulated that the Suite Life of Zack and Cody alum cheated on the Swimming Lessons author with model Kaia Gerber. Fans assumed they were seeing each other after the former Disney star and Cindy Crawford‘s daughter appeared to be together in Los Angeles.
At the time, Sprouse slammed the accusations in a heated Instagram rant. “I tolerate a lot of rumors and slander from people online claiming to be my fans,” he wrote on his Stories. “Fans who feel entitled to my privacy precisely because I never indulge them. Attacking my friends, baseless accusations, leaking my address and sending death threats are all qualities of insanity and fanaticism.”
Reinhart even defended the Five Feet Apart actor after vicious internet trolls started a “#ColeSprouseIsOverParty” on Twitter. “This is why people choose to keep their relationships private . . . this is why people don’t have social media . . . because of this bullying,” the Cleveland native wrote in a now-deleted tweet.
“Twitter is actually the most toxic form of social media. People are a–holes for the sake of being a–holes,” the Surviving Jack star continued. “Do you not understand karma? It’s fine if you don’t, you’ll understand when it bites your miserable ass.”
The longtime lovebirds, who play on-screen lovers Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones on Riverdale, were first romantically linked in 2017 shortly after the show began filming. They made their first public appearance together at the 2018 Met Gala and went Instagram official a few months later. “It’s pretty, pretty late,” Sprouse captioned the photo of him and Reinhart lovingly looking into each other’s eyes and laughing.
Time will tell if it’s truly the end for these two.