Olivia Dunne is famous. With a whopping $4 million coming from her NIL deal every year, Dunne has quickly become the epicenter of interest for the fans. While the young gymnast has excelled in her quest to be a world-class gymnast, her huge social media following has led her fame quotient to skyrocket. With overwhelming responses from the fans coming in, there have been instances when the popularity got a little too close to comfort. 

For the moment, Dunne is looking to put a stop to her trolls trying to win the NCAA championships for the second time. Now, she did have the honor of lifting the championship for LSU previously. But Dunne did not play in the finals. Sitting on the reserve, the eagle-eyed fans did not miss the point. Constantly bugging her and questioning her credibility to be called a champion, Dunne sometimes might have wished to let go of all the fame all at once.

Paul Skenes left overwhelmed by fan reception

While Dunne struggles to manage the immense involvement of the fans in her life, her MLB boyfriend thinks otherwise. Paul Skenes was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates as their number-one pick back in 2023. Within a year, Skenes matured and took the MLB by storm. After having a stellar debut season, Dunne’s romantic partner got his joy doubled. He won the NL Rookie of the Year award and was also nominated among the three finalists of the CY Young Award. 

Expectedly, with his growing popularity, Skenes too, have started to gain a significant amount of fan interest. But he is quite positive about the same. Speaking to MLB.com, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ star stated, “It’s super humbling the way I’ve been accepted and embraced by Pirates fans, and I like to think of it as by the city of Pittsburgh as well. It’s really cool to see them show up at the ballpark and root for us. It’s one of the reasons why we play the game — to see the fans in the stands…just an awesome experience.”

Skenes also doubled down on his feelings about his recent accolades. Dunne’s boyfriend mentioned that winning the award was extremely special for him. Especially, considering how tough the rookies were this year. However, instead of latching onto the sense of achievement, Skenes now wants to keep up the good work and mesmerize more fans in the future. Now, this is in stark contrast to what Olivia Dunne has in mind. 

Olivia Dunne details her scary experience with fame

Too much fame can sometimes be dangerous. And Olivia Dunne is a first-hand witness of the same. Being the most followed NCAA athlete on social media, Dunne boasts of a whopping 7 million TikTok followers and 4.4 million Instagram followers. Now, it is a given that with such huge traction, there will always be some negatives thrown her way. But things got serious when it got out of the virtual realm and into her real world. 

Dunne mentioned how she has been getting lewd comments and threats on the internet. In order to not let anyone know about her routine, Dunne stopped attending her regular college classes. Speaking with Elle magazine, Dunne stated, “There were some scares in the past, and I just want to be as careful as possible… I don’t want people to know my daily schedule and where I am.”

Dunne also recalled how a group of fans got over excited and started chanting “We want Livvy” during a game. The incident led to Paul Skenes escorting Dunne out of danger. She also has a dedicated security personnel appointed by the LSU to take care of Dunne’s security. Thus, with both Skenes and Dunne experiencing the opposite spectrums of being famous, it remains to be seen what happens next.