Harry Potter star admits to secret nine-year romance with unlikely co-star

15 August 2023 , 08:18

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Harry Potter star admits to secret nine-year romance with unlikely co-star

Luna Lovegood actress Evanna Lynch has spilled on her secret nine year romance with a Harry Potter co-star, which she kept from the public eye.

The Irish actress, best known for for playing the ethereal Hogwarts witch in the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's bestselling novels, dated Robbie Jarvis, who played a young James Potter, for nine years before splitting up in 2016. The actors first met in 2007 after they were both cast in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, before embarking on a lowkey romance that they mostly kept out of the public eye.

Evanna even convinced Robbie to quit eating meat, dairy and eggs while they were together, after sharing with him graphic information about the animal agriculture industry during a trip to New Zealand. Despite keeping things lowkey, the Luna Lovegood actress paid tribute to her Harry Potter beau in a sweet public tribute in May 2015, taking to Instagram to wish her "sweetest boy" a "happy 29th birthday" and revealing their plans to see a show together.

Evanna Lynch and Robbie Jarvis dated for nine years

After breaking up, they remained amicable and continued to attend vegan events together, according to the Louth native.

Unlike Luna Lovegood star Evanna, Robbie had a minor role in Harry Potter. He played a young James Potter in the fifth movie, but did not appear in any of its succeeding films. He has also appeared in a number of TV programmes, including Genie in the House, The History Boys and Waking the Dead, as well as a handful of stage productions. Robbie has remained vegan, occasionally posting updates about animal rights and plant-based issues to his public Instagram. He also appears to be a new relationship with a professional basketball player named Zoe Fleck, who is also vegan.

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Evanna has since moved on from Robbie and is understood to now be dating a mystery French man, as of 2021. The actress introduced the beau, whose name remains private, to her loved ones at her sister's wedding.

Evanna Lynch played Luna Lovegood while Robbie Jarvis portrayed a young James Potter (Warner Bross / FameFlynet)

"We met in London," she told RTE presenter Miriam O'Callaghan in 2022. "He's quiet. But he’s meeting the whole family this weekend." In the same interview, Evanna spoke about her desire to write fiction after being such a 'book nerd' as a teen. She also discussed her experience of Dancing with the Stars in 2018, on which she placed third.

"[It’s a] once-in-a-lifetime thing," she said. "I think I got offered the Irish one but my agent was like "We’ll get more money if you do the US one!"

Emma Dooney