Kylie & Timothée’s Tennis Tournament Body Language Was A Lot
An expert says their PDA was “somewhat performative,” but also playful.
Awards season may be over, but Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet’s public appearances have not slowed down. On March 9, the couple attended a tennis match during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. While watching Ugo Humbert and Holger Rune compete, the couple packed on the PDA. According to the comments section and X (formerly called Twitter), their touchiness looked slightly “forced” — and an expert agrees, calling their viral moment “somewhat performative.” However, other photos from the match show a different, more “joyous” vibe to the outing.
In a viral video of Jenner and Chalamet at the match, she seemed to be posing for a photo and trying to get him to join in, while he was paying attention to the game. It might seem awkward, but body language expert Patti Wood says this dynamic is pretty common in this setting. If one partner is more interested in the match than the other, their energy might feel mismatched. (It’s hard to be fully focused on your significant other *and* a game at the same time.)
Wood says that Chalamet seemed pretty clearly distracted in the video. “You can see where he wanted to be looking: the match,” Wood says. “His arms were crossed over his lower body, which is a blocking gesture. It shows that he was resisting this moment with her because his attention was elsewhere.”
Here’s every body language cue Wood noticed in *that* video and photos from the star-studded outing.
Kylie Wanted A Cute Kissing Photo
Despite Chalamet’s focus on the match, Jenner seemed undeterred, still posing for a photo of them kissing. “She was pulling his head in, toward her. That was her putting in enormous effort to make that kiss happen,” Wood says. “When he did go into the kiss, his face did not relax.”
After the kiss, Chalamet took a quick sip of his drink. According to Wood, that gesture is considered a “mouth cleanse.” She says, “He didn’t linger in the moment. He was not savoring the kiss.”
Later in the video, Wood notes that Jenner “pressed down on his chest and did a rubbing motion — which was an ownership gesture.” Afterward, Chalamet zeroed back in on the game and Jenner looked at her phone. “Overall, it seems like he was pretty happy but seemed to think she went too far for the photo. He wanted to focus on the game,” Wood says.
They may not have been on the same page for that one photo opp, but at other moments during the match, they seemed more in sync, laughing and smiling together.
They Had A Sweet Layered Handhold
In one snapshot, Chalamet and Jenner were both grinning as they held hands. “He was lit up and sincerely enjoying whatever was happening here,” Wood says. “The three-handhold — she had one hand on top of his, and then he put his other hand on top of hers — is nice here. It tells me that for him, it was not enough to have her hand there; he had to touch her in addition.”
However, Wood notes that Jenner looked slightly “unsure of herself” in the photo. “Notice the way she pulled down on her hair? That was a sign of tension,” Wood says. “Touching your hair is a comfort cue.”
Plus, putting her hand there created a protective “block to the viewer and public.” Wood adds, “He’s having fun, but her body language is more self-conscious.”
They Seemed To Be Posing
In a different picture, Jenner and Chalamet linked their arms to drink out of their glasses. “This is something you do to pose for a photo,” Wood says. “It was a performance move.”
Wood adds, “You can tell it was for the camera because if they had been doing it for each other, their arms would have been more relaxed, and they would have had mutual eye contact.”
The couple has been photographed quite a bit over the past few months with public appearances at the Oscars and Golden Globes. Now that the awards circuit is finished, there’s plenty of time for more tennis match dates — and more opportunities to perfect that kissing photo pose.
