Barbara Palvin’s most romantic gesture for husband Dylan Sprouse is sweet in more ways than one.
“[I’ll tell the] PG version. When we were early in our dating phase, we were essentially living in two different places, and I was having a tough time not seeing her because our jobs are always taking us away from each other for weeks at a time,” Sprouse, 32, revealed exclusively in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. “I was working on something and I had a rough day, and literally the roof of the Greenpoint apartment in New York I was living in at the time started to collapse.”
The actor explained that after Palvin, 31, heard what was going on, she booked them a room in a hotel and showed up with a pumpkin pie — Sprouse’s favorite dessert — with a special message on it.
“He opens the door and I’m standing there, and then I open up this box and there’s a pumpkin pie, and there’s a sign on it that says exclusive with a question mark,” Palvin told Us while promoting the couple’s Dress to Express campaign.
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While the pair — who started dating in 2018 — look back fondly on Palvin’s dessert-aided leap of faith, the model told Us that Sprouse’s September 2022 proposal in Big Sur was his most romantic gesture for her.
“We went camping and in Big Sur you can see otters in the wild and otters are my favorite animals,” Palvin recalled. “So we went on a hike … and he proposed. And then when we turned around, there was an otter in the water. And it was the first time the otter came back in months. … We were freaking out.”
Keep scrolling for more fun anecdotes from Sprouse and Palvin as Us puts them to the test with the Mr. and Mrs. Game:
Who is your partner’s celebrity crush?
Palvin: Don’t have any?
Sprouse: Yeah, don’t have any. Mario?
Palvin: Anime characters. And video game characters.
What actor, dead or alive, would play your partner in a movie?
Sprouse: You should probably cast Cole [Sprouse] as me.
Palvin: No, someone dead. I want — what’s his name? Dean.
Sprouse: James Dean?! That’s crazy. No. It’d be really hard casting for Barbara because there’s no one in the world who would meet her level of beauty.
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What’s your partner’s go-to karaoke song?
Palvin: “[No] Scrubs.” Dylan’s is “[No] Scrubs.”
Sprouse: Yeah, I do love “Scrubs.” It’s always a banger. Barbara sings Hungarian karaoke.
Palvin: I don’t sing karaoke. I’m not a big fan of karaoke.
Sprouse: I’ve seen her sing.
Palvin: If I have to, it’s ABBA.
What is your partner’s hidden talent?
Sprouse: Barbara’s a remarkable dancer. She’s really good. Like, offensively good. And it makes it really hard to dance with her.
Palvin: Dylan’s secret talent is that he, uh, it’s not a secret. He is really good with his hands.
Sprouse: [laughs]
Palvin: No, but he’s painting all these little tiny figurines and he’s just so good. I don’t know. He’s an artist.
Who said “I love you” first?
Palvin: I did in Hungarian, but he didn’t know.
Sprouse: Yeah. She did it in Hungarian, I guess. And then I said it, obviously in English, but I thought I said it first.
Palvin: Yeah, I never told him.
Who is the first to fall asleep at night?
Palvin: Me.
Sprouse: Barbara. Hands down.
What is your partner’s favorite TV show?
Sprouse: She has comfort shows. Like right now, her comfort show has been for the last year and a half, Gilmore Girls. She falls asleep to it every night.
Palvin: Because it was fall. But anyway, I don’t have a favorite of anything to be honest. I can’t pick favorites because then I feel like I hurt the feelings of other things and I can’t do that. Dylan loves The Office.
Sprouse: I do love The Office. I think it’s hilarious.
Palvin: Oh, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Sprouse: Always Sunny is my favorite show. It’s the funniest show.
Where was your first date?
Palvin: China.
Sprouse: China. We were both in China at the same time. It’s where we really started dating. And we actually found a Mexican food place in China, which is crazy in Beijing.
Palvin: And he had a burrito.
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Has marriage changed your dynamic at all?
Sprouse: It’s certainly changed. I think the thing is, when you’re dating and you’re not married, you’re always trying to get to the goalpost that is marriage. At least, it’s in the back of your mind, you know?
Palvin: We always knew we were gonna get married.
Sprouse: We always did. But when that’s in the future and it’s not already happened, you’re thinking about how you get there. So when you do get there, now the goalpost is in a completely different location, if you want a goalpost at all. There’s a new set of priorities that you’re confronted with. … But honestly, we’ve acted like a married couple since we started dating. So it hasn’t changed to the point where it’s pretty drastic. Now we’re living together as a married couple.
Palvin: [It’s] a little calmer now. We’re not questioning, like, are we gonna get there? Are we gonna get married? Like, it happened and now we’re a team. Forever!
What is the most romantic gesture you’ve done for your partner?
Sprouse: The pumpkin pie one was pretty good for you. [I’ll share] the PG version. When we were early in our dating phase, we were essentially living in two different places, and I was having a tough time not seeing her because our jobs are always taking us away from each other for weeks at a time. … I was working on something and I had a rough day, and literally the roof of the Greenpoint apartment in New York I was living in at the time started to collapse. Under this rain or something that was happening. And I was going home grumpy because I knew I had a bunch of stuff to do. And then, Barbara was in town for a minute and she was like, “Hey, you know what? I’m gonna get us a staycation hotel.”
Palvin: That’s not how it happened. I already booked a hotel and I just told you to meet me there.
Sprouse: Yeah, but it was nice. It was like a stay-cation for me, right?
Palvin: Yeah, but I didn’t tell you like, “Maybe I’m gonna get a…”
Sprouse: OK. Do you want to tell the rest of it?
Palvin: No.
Sprouse: Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Palvin: I’ll just correct you.
Sprouse: Yeah, that’s what I thought. I ended up going down, I think it was the 1 Hotel in Brooklyn, went down there and she knows I love pumpkin pie. It’s, like, my favorite dessert ever. I wait year round to have it at Thanksgiving. And I get there and we had — there’s so many things I can’t tell about [because] it’s not PG.
Palvin: You’re saying it wrong. So I was already in the hotel. He comes up, opens the door, and I’m standing there.
Sprouse: In a very nice dress.
Palvin: And then I open up this box and there’s a pumpkin pie, and there’s a sign on it that says exclusive with a question mark. And that’s how I asked him to be exclusive. This could have been a much quicker story if I told the story. That was embellishing…
Sprouse: Because it’s romantic, babe.
Palvin: His favorite thing for me was when he proposed to me, obviously. We went to Big Sur. We went camping and then in Big Sur you can see otters in the wild and otters are my favorite animals. We went on a hike to search for otters and then after two hours of hiking, we stopped and he proposed. And then when we turned around, there was an otter in the water. And it was the first time the otters came back in months. It, like, turned around, waved at us, tapped its tummy and then swam away. We were freaking out. It was almost like, “OK, we approve. You guys are good to go.”
Sprouse: The otters gave us the blessing.
With reporting by Kat Pettibone
