Joey King's Dating History Is A Little Awkward
To say people are intrigued by Joey King's love life would be an understatement. I mean, Joey King's dating history includes her on-screen boyfriend — with whom she had to film some very intimate scenes post-breakup — so it makes sense. But luckily, The Kissing Booth actor doesn't seem to mind. During an August 2020 interview with Cosmopolitan, King said it's understandable for people to speculate on her and her ex Jacob Elordi's working relationship. "No one's thinking to themselves, 'That was easy,' because it wasn't," she said. "I'm sure people will analyze every movement and every detail. And you know what? Let them."
It probably helps that King has since moved on to someone new, and no, it's not her other on-screen love interest from The Kissing Booth 2, Taylor Zakhar Perez. Despite the super-close bond the two seem to share, both have insisted their relationship is merely platonic, so my apologies to anyone who's Team Marco. Though King reportedly met her actual boyfriend on the set of The Act, he's not an actor, and apparently, that's a good thing.
"I couldn't," King said when asked during an August 2020 appearance on The Howard Stern Show if she would ever date another actor. Fair enough! Here's the full low-down on King's dating history.
Jacob Elordi (2017-2018)
Elordi first met Joey King on the set of The Kissing Booth in 2017, and they felt good vibes from the start. "Right away we were talking about gross things with each other," King revealed to Bello Mag in May 2018. "But before long I started to realize, 'Hey, I think I kind of like this person!' It was such an interesting experience meeting your boyfriend on set because you spend so much time together and become so close so fast." A few months later, following The Kissing Booth's Netflix debut, King told The New York Times, "It's exciting for people to know what they saw on screen was real."
After more than a year together, the actors reportedly decided to go their separate ways in November 2018, per Us Weekly. Later, in March 2019, King opened up about her "recent ex" during an interview with Refinery29 and admitted the breakup had been tough. "All you can really do at that point is shut your phone off and crawl into your sister's bed and watch Friends with her, because when you're going through something and the world wants to go through it with you or [wants] to get every piece of detail from you about it, it's really difficult," she said. "Some of these things are just meant for you." And it seems like things on the set of The Kissing Booth 2 were kind of awko-taco.
During her August 2020 appearance on The Howard Stern Show, King revealed she's pretty over actors. "I think that it's awesome to date someone in your field, who gets it, but doing the same exact thing as somebody is tough," she said. "It's really tough." However, she said she didn't regret the time she spent with Elordi. "I think it's a good thing we dated in the first place," she told Stern. "I learned the most I've ever learned in my life from him." But she also totally called her co-star out after he claimed he hadn't watched TKB2, so the two don't seem totally cool just yet.
Steven Piet (2019-2020)
After breaking up with Elordi, King sparked dating rumors with director Steven Piet, whom she reportedly met on the set of The Act. On Aug. 31, 2019, King attended a screening of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where she was reportedly spotted getting cozy on a blanket with Piet, according to E! News. At the time, a source for E! News claimed, "They were very affectionate and were with her two sisters sitting watching the movie together. Joey and Steven cuddled the entire time, and looked very happy together."
Since then, she's posted plenty of loved-up pics of her and Piet on the 'gram. Together, the couple has gone to Disneyland, visited Tokyo, celebrated their first Valentine's Day, eaten too much bread in Paris, and had (many) themed at-home date nights. In an April 2020 essay for InStyle, King finally confirmed their romance by referring to Steven as her "sweet boyfriend," so there ya go. When asked about her ~someone special~ during her August 2020 interview with Cosmopolitan, King was apparently "hesitant to say much" but she was "not… not smiling." Cute!
Here's hoping King and Piet have many more themed date nights ahead of them.
