Olivia Dunne struggling to handle fame: Can’t find balance

Olivia Dunne is finding it hard to manage the balance between her public and personal lives as she continues to grow in fame and status within the US and the world.

The Louisiana State University gymnast has millions of followers on her social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok and she has earned countless endorsements due to the popularity of the young blonde.

Some of the brands she’s sponsored by includes: Accelerator energy drink, Motorola, Vuori clothing, EA Sports, Body Armor, Grubhub, Linktree, Forever 21 and American Eagle Outfitters.

It’s estimated the name, image and likeness (NIL) is worth approximately $3.5m (USD) according to On3 Sports, and she has spoken about how the fame and popularity has taken a toll on her mental wellbeing previously.

“The past few years, juggling NIL or ever since my sophomore year, since the summer of 2021, I’ve definitely had a hard time finding balance,” Dunne said to People. “That’s really important because if you don’t have balance, that can affect your mental health.

“I finally feel like I got a grasp on it this year. It’s just compartmentalizing things mentally is very important in my everyday routine.”

Impact on her love life

She did, however, note that she has seen an improvement in her senior year after she earned a full athletic scholarship and began a relationship with Paul Skenes.

Skenes, who is contracted to the Pittsburgh Pirates of the MLB, is an ex-LSU pitcher and the pair have been dating since August when Skenes confirmed the relationship.

Nonetheless, Dunne discussed the impact of the public discovering her love with the number one overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft.

“It’s funny because there’s speculations at first about it,” Dunne said. “But I guess people caught onto us having pictures and videos together out in public.

“That’s kind of how the news broke, but we try to keep things private.”