Is Zac Efron dating? What we know as Nina Dobrev spotted with actor on a yacht following Shaun White breakup

Zac Efron’s love life has never stayed out of the headlines for long. According to an article in The Daily Mail, published May 13, 2025, the actor has actually been single for a while. Still, that didn’t stop speculation from exploding when he turned up on a yacht in Italy with Nina Dobrev. The two were photographed looking close during the trip, which quickly sparked talk of a possible romance.

But Cosmopolitan noted it wasn’t just the two of them on board, Chace Crawford and his girlfriend Kelsey Merritt were there, along with Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry. In other words, more group holiday than secret getaway. Of course, timing played its part. Dobrev had only recently ended her relationship with Olympic snowboarder Shaun White, and the sight of her in a cut-out black swimsuit beside Zac Efron's shirtless dives into the sea made for the kind of images that always fan rumors.

Zac Efron reveals the real reason he struggles with romance:

Zac Efron’s story had all the makings of a Hollywood fairy tale, the boy-next-door looks, the breakout role as Troy Bolton in High School Musical, and the kind of charm that turned him into a global crush overnight. But if his career soared, his personal life told another tale. Despite a string of girlfriends and short-lived romances, the actor admitted to Ellen DeGeneres during a 2016 appearance on her talk show, that love had never come easily.

“Dating is actually kind of hard, a forced awkward situation is very strange. Especially for me, for some reason. I like to go out and do something adventurous. I like to go out and do some sort of crazy activity,” he shared.

In a separate interview with The Times, he spoke more bluntly about the issue.

“Dating is something I’ll never be able to do, as in the dictionary definition of dating, because one way or another, I’ve impacted that person’s life and they’ll soon realise it. A date has to be very long to dispel whatever people think about me,” he explained.

Even dating apps weren’t much help.

“Amazingly, when I signed up for Tinder, nobody swiped me! They thought [my profile] was fake,” he admitted.

By 2022, he seemed to be taking a step back from the chase. Opening up to Men’s Health, he said:

“I’ve really been taking time to focus on, you know, self-fulfilment and trying to find my groove. I know that probably when I meet the right person, it’s going to be when I least expect it.”

From wedding plans to heartbreak: Nina Dobrev’s sudden split from Shaun White

According to a report in Us Weekly, Nina Dobrev was picking up the pieces after her split from Shaun White.

“Nina is devastated,” a source told the outlet.

“They had finally started planning the wedding and things were in motion,” added the source.

The breakup was confirmed on September 11. Friends said it was “still very fresh.” Dobrev, according to the insider, had her close girlfriends around her, checking in and making sure she wasn’t alone. Soon after, an old TikTok of hers started making the rounds again. In it, she mouthed:

“How do you sleep at night knowing people don’t like you? With no underwear, in case they want to kiss my ass.” She followed with: “What’s your advice for women trying to fix their man? Listen, Bob the Builder, he’s got 10 other women trying to fix him too, and you all look like a damn construction crew.”

The timing had fans talking, but people close to the couple pushed back.

“There was no cheating at all during the course of their five-and-a-half-year relationship,” one insider said.

“They were very loyal to each other, any online speculation that suggests otherwise is ridiculous,” the source added.

Fans remember Zac Efron and Nina Dobrev’s YouTube workout as chemistry shines:

A year before Dobrev began dating White, Dobrev had joined Zac Efron on his YouTube channel, where they trained together at the gym. In that video, the two laughed through a series of planks, sled pushes, and other workouts. Fans quickly picked up on their chemistry, particularly when Zac Efron asked her to name her favorite piece of clothing and she responded with “lingerie.”

For now, Zac Efron and Nina Dobrev have kept things mostly private, leaving fans to read between the lines. Whatever the truth, their past friendship and that infamous gym session will keep fans talking for a while.