Highlights
- Cole Sprouse still faces negative consequences from fans following his break-up with co-star Lili Reinhart, including death threats and harassment towards his family.
- The intense fan reaction may stem from the blurred lines between Cole and Lili's onscreen romance and their real-life relationship.
- Cole and Lili have chosen to keep the details of their break-up private, but it had a significant impact on both of them and their ability to work together on Riverdale.
It’s been years since Riverdale co-stars Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart broke up, but Cole is still reeling from the negative (and scary) reaction he received from fans once their split news became public.
Cole Sprouse Got Death Threats After His Break-Up With Lili Reinhart
In a new interview with Vulture, Cole admits things got so bad that angry fans were contacting his family and even making threats against his life. “I get a lot of stuff sent to my house or my loved ones’ houses,” the former Disney star shared. “Death threats, really nasty, honestly criminal stuff.”
Cole has played Jughead, while Lili has played Betty since Riverdale’s first season, which debuted in 2017. Their onscreen characters soon became romantically involved, making them fan-favorites.
The hype around Betty and Jughead’s romance was further fuelled when Cole and Lili began dating in real life later in 2017, much to the delight of fans.
However, the pair ended their relationship in 2020 after being on and off for three years, though their characters continue to be an item in the series. But based on Cole’s recent comments, it appears some fans can’t accept that Cole and Lili have moved on.
“Is that just a consequence of an incredible love? Or is that what fanaticism looks like,” Cole continued. “Perhaps because those lines were blurred to our audience, it’s hard to break those things up when life moves on.”
Why Cole Sprouse And Lili Reinhart Broke Up
Despite intense fan speculation, Cole and Lili have been relatively tight-lipped when it comes to the details of their break-up. Lili made a reference to it in August 2020 when speaking to Refinery29, explaining it was one of the most difficult experiences of her life.
“I couldn’t see the light. I was like, ‘I feel like I’m dying.’ It was f—king rough, and there’s no other way through it than just through it,” she said, referring to it as a “black tunnel” that she thought was “never going to end.”
More recently, in March, Cole discussed how difficult it was to still have to film with Lili for years following their split – Riverdale just wrapped up filming its final season in June. “It was hard to suspend all the way we felt about each other and it didn’t afford us the luxury of distance to really overcome that,” he said during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
“I know we both did quite a bit of damage to each other,” he added.
Reports in 2020 suggested that Cole and Lili’s break-up was fuelled by distance caused by the COVID-10 pandemic.
"Distance is never good for their relationship. They decided not to quarantine together and knew off the bat that it wasn't going to work," a source told E! News at the time.
Although Riverdale fans may not be over Cole and Lili’s IRL break-up, the two have publicly moved on from each other. Cole has been romantically linked to Ari Fournier since February 2021, while Lili went Instagram-official with her new boyfriend, TikTok star Jack Martin, in April.
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