Lupita Nyong’o sure how to ring in a birthday. The Black Panther actress celebrated her 41st trip around the sun with a beach romp in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, accompanied by none other than her shirtless rumored boyfriend, Joshua Jackson.
Nyong’o has been linked to the Dawson’s Creek alum since last year, following both actors’ well-timed splits. In October, news broke that Jackson and his wife, Jodie Turner-Smith, were divorcing after nearly four years of marriage (they share a child, Juno Rose Diana). Later that month, Nyong’o announced in a cryptic but long-winded Instagram post that she and her sports-commentator boyfriend, Selema Masekela, were also going their separate ways. Nyong’o and Jackson were first spotted at a Janelle Monáe concert in Los Angeles last year, and they have since embarked on discreet Erewhon runs and Joshua Tree hand-holding expeditions.
Now, according to pictures published by E! News on Monday, it seems the duo have committed to taking their hand-holding to a whole new landscape: the eerily quiet beaches of Mexico. Along the shore, the swimsuit-clad pair can be seen smiling, embracing, jogging, holding hands while walking, and holding hands while power walking. Oddly, the beach appears either entirely secluded or just wildly unpopular with the masses, given that the actors are the only souls in sight.
“They looked madly in love,” an eyewitness reportedly told E! News. “Like they just couldn’t get enough of one another.”
Look, if these two want to convince the world they’re dating, they may as well just hard-launch themselves on Instagram. That would be slightly less awkward than paparazzi photos that feel as if they’re from an early-aughts PR relationship. Like, we get it! You want to look like you’re in love! At the same time, we do want Nyong’o to be happy at all costs, so if this beach romp isn’t staged and if Jackson really did arrange “a large balloon display and a stunning bouquet of flowers” in their suite (according to E!’s anonymous source), then happy slow-motion-jogging day to these two.
