A few weeks after returning from his beach getaway, Juan Soto’s offseason quiet was shattered, not by a trade rumor, but by a viral photo linking him with Lebanese-American internet personality Mia Khalifa. Calling it viral doesn’t even do it justice, given how the internet reacted to those pictures.

The picture shows Juan Soto walking outside at night in a luxury resort or hotel lobby while holding hands with Mia Khalifa.

While some quickly recognized it as AI-generated, most assumed the two were romantically involved. But that’s not the case. The above image is AI-generated. According to Grok, this was created using a picture of actor Mark Wahlberg and his wife, Rhea Durham, from their 2018 Barbados holiday.

Yet, fans have all the hysterical things to say.

“Juan Soto is going 50/50 in 2026” and “50 walks? No way he steals 50 bags lol.”

Even with his $765 million contract, Juan Soto prefers to maintain a private personal life. As of 2025, he remains single and committed to his career.

On the other hand, Mia Khalifa has been single recently. She has been married twice before: first to her high school boyfriend Wyatt O’Brien (2011–2016) and later to Swedish chef Robert Sandberg in 2019. Khalifa split with him just a year later.

Earlier in 2024, there were even rumors about Mia Khalifa dating former Premier League footballer Julian Alvarez.

To clear the air, Khalifa went public and said, “I’m not dating anybody, and if I were, it certainly wouldn’t be someone not old enough to remember where they were on 9/11.”

It’s unlikely that Khalifa or Soto will comment on this rumor, since it’s been confirmed that it’s an AI-generated image.

Verdict: The answer is hell no, they are not dating, it’s all AI. 

While the dating rumor proved false, it wasn’t the only recent off-the-field incident that put Soto’s private life under the microscope.

Fans rally behind New York Mets’ Juan Soto following reported incident

Fans around the world have come out strongly in defense of the Mets’ superstar, who recently finished third in MVP voting.

Juan Soto faced criticism for allegedly denying a photo request while dining. Evelina Garcia, ex-wife of the late MLB pitcher Odalis Pérez, took to social media to accuse Soto of refusing to take a picture with her daughter at a restaurant in the Dominican Republic.

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The incident quickly sparked a debate on X about respecting celebrities’ personal space. Many fans criticized Garcia for what they saw as entitlement. They defended Juan Soto’s right to enjoy a quiet dinner.

Comments like “Let the man enjoy his private dinner time” and “Respect someone’s space” flooded X.

Soto’s on-field performance is probably what makes his off-field life such a topic of interest.

Over 160 games, he slashed .263/.396/.525 with a .921 OPS, hitting a career-high 43 home runs and driving in 105 RBIs. He led the NL in on-base percentage and walks (127), while also stealing a career-best 38 bases to top the league and become the fifth Met ever to join the 30-30 club.

That’s not something a machine is doing!