Fans of BTS and Blackpink would blow a gasket if they ever found out that two of the bands’ most popular members were dating. We know that because they have all already lost their minds over the mere rumor that Jennie Kim and Kim Taehyoung aka “V” are seeing one another—a rumor that has yet to be completely confirmed but also hasn’t been completely denied either by the stars’ agencies.
Here’s the complete timeline of Jennie and V’s rumored relationship so far.
December 2021
It all started when V followed Jennie on Instagram in late 2021, according to AllKPop, then immediately unfollowed her. Shortly after, the BTS member went on the Korean fan community platform WeVerse, saying, “Is there a way to get rid of the ‘recommended’ friends list here on this Insta thing?…It’s a scary app.”
The implication is he followed Jennie by accident because of Instagram’s friend suggestions.
May 2022
In May 2022, V was seen on Jeju Island, driving a car with someone resembling Jennie by his side. At the time, she was rumored to be dating another celeb, Big Bang’s G-Dragon. But G-Dragon unfollowed her after a year of a suspected relationship, a telling sign on Instagram.
There are also a lot of doctored images and Photoshopped pics floating around the K-pop fan world, and people were soon debating that the blurry images were another fan-made photo edit. But then a Korean airline steward from T’way Air claimed to see the alleged couple on a flight to the island together on the Blind app.
“She also said that many of the T’way employees thought they were publicly dating because the two were traveling together in the open,” stated AllKPop.
Later that same month, Jennie’s agency, YG Entertainment reportedly spoke up about the situation, saying, “We have nothing to say (regarding this matter)…We will inform you if we have a different response to share.”
August 2022
More images came out in August, again igniting a debate over whether the pictures were photoshopped. Some fans, however, were concerned about Jennie’s privacy. It seemed like the photos could have been leaked right from the Blackpink singer’s iCloud.
October 2022
YG seemed to believe that someone was getting into Jennie’s iCloud, whether the images were then doctored or not.
“We have officially requested the police to investigate who first circulated Blackpink Jennie’s personal photos,” they announced. “YG has been consistently monitoring the matter and filed a lawsuit in September after collecting information.”
They added, “There have been indiscriminate rumors, criticism, personal attacks, sexual harassment, and violations of personal life sparked by those private photographs… we are now announcing that we will take legal action and correct the situation.”
May 2023
Once again, Jennie and V are seen together, this time in Paris in a video shared by French photographer Amar Taoualit. The pair were individually supposed to be in France at that time as V touched down to serve as a brand ambassador for Céline, while Jennie was promoting The Idol at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
In the video they appear to be holding hands.
After this, both their agencies spoke with Sports Seoul, saying, “It is difficult to check [regarding this matter on the artists’ private lives].”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.