From Imprinting on a Twilight Hunk to Loving as Her Authentic Self: Charting Kristen Stewart's Dating History

It's been over a decade since she became a bona fide star—and total tabloid fixture.

By Billy Nilles Apr 09, 2019 10:00 AMTags
Watch: Kristen Stewart Gets Candid About Female Sexuality

It's been over a decade since Twilight turned Kristen Stewart into a bona fide star.

And in the time since the actress, turning 29 on April 9, became the leading lady of one of the biggest film franchise's in the world, she's also managed to become something of a tabloid fixture thanks to her endlessly fascinating dating history. But as her tastes in partners have evolved and broadened, with Kristen openly declaring in a 2017 interview with The Guardian that she's, in fact, bisexual, so too has her position on the way she approaches the public's role in her relationships.

While she's always been fiercely private and surely always will be, there was marked shift in Kristen's thoughts right around the time she began dating women as well as men. 

"When I was dating a guy I was hiding everything that I did because everything personal felt like it was immediately trivialized, so I didn't like it," she told Elle U.K. in July 2016. "We were turned into these characters and placed into this ridiculous comic book, and I was like, 'That's mine. You're making my relationship something that it's not.' I didn't like that."

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But when she started dating a girl, it all changed. "I was like, 'Actually, to hide this provides the implication that I'm not down with it or I'm ashamed of it, so I had to alter how I approached being in public," she continued. "It opened my life up and I'm so much happier."

For Stewart, the subtle shift in how she and her paramours present themselves in public—aka, in front of the paparazzi—comes from the feeling that it's "really important" that her young fans see the photos, she told Variety that same year. "As much as I want to protect myself, it's not about hiding. As soon as you start throwing up so many walls, you cannot see over them yourself, so you just start isolating in a way that's not honest. I definitely found where I'm comfortable. I don't take credit for that," she told the publication. "Things have really shifted in this wonderful way. I'm reaping the benefits."

So, though she's yet to publicly confirm her latest rumored romance, with blogger and stylist Sara Dinkin, one can assume from the photos that this is, in fact, the real deal. And it's a far cry from the way she used to handle herself back when she and Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson were hot and heavy. After all, it did take her around two years to ever even refer to him as her "boyfriend" in an interview...

Here's your comprehensive guide to all the people—that we know of—that Kristen has spent time with.

Michael Angarano

After meeting the former Will & Grace star—Angarano appeared as Jack's son Elliot for 12 episodes during the NBC hit's original run and one during the revival's first season in 2017—on the set of the 2004 film Speak, Kristen dated Michael for three years. As her career catapulted to new heights thanks to the 2008 release of Twilight, things in their relationship took a turn while she was filming the 2009 sequel New Moon—all those rumors about something going on with her leading man couldn't have helped—and they split during production. "He's a wonderful actor," Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke told Vulture about the former couple in 2012. "He was in [Lords ofDogtown, one of my favorites, so I felt pretty bad because I love him and they were such a great couple."

Robert Pattinson

It turned out that all those rumors and Kristen and her hunky co-star had a kernel of truth in them because the co-workers quickly began mixing business with pleasure after she split from Michael. After photos of Kristen and Robert getting quite cozy at an August 2009 Kings of Leon concert were released, they became an instant source of tabloid fascination. Despite years of intimate moments caught via wide-angle lens, Kristen wouldn't publicly call Rob her "boyfriend" until the November 2011 issue of British GQ. And if they were the thing that tabloid dreams are made of then, a twist coming eight months later would make them even more so. The cheating scandal with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders would eventually tear them asunder. By May 2013, after a few break ups and make ups, they'd be done for good.

Rupert Sanders

OK, so this was never a real relationship, but who doesn't remember exactly where they were when photos of Kristen and Rupert caught in a remarkably intimate moment were made public in July 2012? At the time, she was still with Rob and he was married to actress Liberty Ross, the mother of his two children. "I am utterly distraught about the pain I have caused my family," Sanders said in a statement to People at the time. "My beautiful wife and heavenly children are all I have in this world. I love them with all my heart. I am praying that we can get through this together." They did not: Ross would file for divorce the following January. And the sequel to their hit film, 2016's The Huntsman: Winter's War, would go on to include neither Kristen nor Rupert.

Alicia Cargile

In early 2015, fans began to speculate that Kristen and her close pal Alicia Cargile were maybe more than just friends. And they were right. The two would date on-and-off for over a year, before the actress finally officially confirmed the relationship in a July 2016 interview with Elle U.K. "Right now I'm just really in love with my girlfriend," Kristen told the publication. "We've broken up a couple of times and gotten back together, and this time I was like, 'Finally, I can feel again.'" Sadly, a few months after that interview was published, the couple called it quits for good.

Soko

During one of Kristen's "off" periods with Alicia, she and French singer Stephanie "Soko" Sokolinski shared a few public outings together. They were first spotted engaging in some PDA in March of 2016, and Soko would tell W at the end of that month, "I'm very, very, very in love and very happy in a relationship." However, they'd split just two months later and Kristen would reunite with Alicia for one final time.

St. Vincent

After her final split with Alicia, KStew began enjoying the company of singer St. Vincent (real name Annie Clark). However, the outings between the two seemed to be just more of a rebound situation that anything truly serious—Annie had just split with Cara Delevingne—and despite making a public appearance as a couple sitting front row at The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Show in October 2016, they'd split shortly thereafter.

Stella Maxwell

In early 2017, after an earlier rumored dalliance back when she was on-off with Alicia, Kristen began dating the in-demand model hailing from New Zealand. For the better part of two years, these two would manage to keep their relationship incredibly private. So much so that the world wouldn't even learn that they had split until December 2018, when Kristen was photographed holding hands with a woman who decidedly was not Stella. "Kristen and Stella are still in touch, but decided it was best to see other people," a source told E! News at the time. "They started to disagree on things and it stopped being fun. Kristen went to Germany to film and they realized that the relationship had run its course and they needed a change."

Sara Dinkin

Fans learned that Kristen and Stella had split when photos of the actress holding hands with a new mystery woman, later identified as fashion blogger and L.A.-based wardrobe stylist Sara Dinkin, were made public in late December 2018. A source told E! News at the time that Kristen had affectionately planted a kiss on Sara after the two enjoyed a breakfast date. While she's remained characteristically mum on the new coupling, the two were caught on camera by paparazzi as recently as mid-March, so all signs point to them still going strong at that time.

Dylan Meyer

After reuniting and then splitting with Stella Maxwell in the summer of 2019, Kristen started spending time with Dylan Meyer. In an interview with Howard Stern, Kristen confirmed that she's in love and that she'll "absolutely" propose.