Gymnast and social media star Livvy Dunne is a certified Swiftie.
Dunne, who is dating Pirates All-Star pitcher Paul Skenes, tells Page Six she looks to Taylor Swift, who is famously dating Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce, to see how to navigate dating a pro athlete while being in the public eye.
“[Taylor] has her boyfriend that’s a professional athlete and my boyfriend is a professional athlete as well,” the former LSU gymnast tells us. “And she has her own success and I have my own success, so I try to look at her perspective on things and how she handles criticism, how she navigates.”
Dunne, who will be appearing in a new series of ads for Fanatics Sportsbook, explained that aside from being in the limelight, “Being with a professional athlete in itself is difficult because they’re always traveling.”
Dunne also looks at the “Bejeweled” singer as a role model in other areas.
“I admire her in so many different ways. Her work ethic, how much she cares about what she puts out there and how the meaning behind everything is very admirable,” Dunne continued, calling Swift a “trailblazer” and “savvy business woman.”
“I love that,” she said.
Last week Dunne posted part of Swift’s viral appearance on the “New Heights” podcast where the Eras icon joked, “I think we all know that if there’s one thing that male sports fans want to see in their spaces and on their screens — it’s more of me.”
Dunne reposted the video, adding a crying laughing emoji on her Instagram Story.
Dunne realizes when it comes to being a WAG, Swift is facing extreme challenges.
“I think that she takes the heat a lot worse than I do, because, I mean, the bigger you are, the more people you have trying to tear you down,” she said. “It just really resonated with me. It’s a unique position to be in. And I think for some people, women in sports is uncomfortable for some reason.”
Dunne has previously called out fans for flooding her social media accounts with comments about Skenes. The pair have been dating publicly since August 2023.
Meantime, she is keeping busy. The Fanatics ads will starting running on Aug. 18, and one even features Dunne in a saucy scene.
“It’s not every day where you get to be in the Rose Bowl Stadium, in a bubble bath on the 50 yard line,” she told us. “I think that it was one of the coolest experiences of my life.”
Dunne is currently looking for apartments in NYC after being turned down by the co-op board for Babe Ruth’s former apartment, telling us she thinks she found a place.
The recent Sports Illustrated model is also interested in acting.
“I love that I get to try and play somebody that’s not myself,” she said, telling us she is in acting classes. “It’s a challenge for me, but I’m always open to a challenge because I did gymnastics for crying out loud.”