Hollywood is weird. Sometimes, you see two people together and your brain just refuses to compute the data. That’s exactly what happened when the world found out that Rosario Dawson—the powerhouse actress from Ahsoka and Rent—was dating Eric Andre, the man who once stripped naked and attacked a desk on basic cable.
Honestly, nobody believed it at first.
When the news broke back in 2017, the internet collectively assumed it was an elaborate piece of performance art. If you know Eric Andre’s comedy, you know he lives for the "bit." He’s the guy who hires lookalikes to confuse people and stages public meltdowns for laughs. So, when he posted a Valentine’s Day tribute to Rosario calling her the "love of my life," the natural response from fans was: "Okay, what’s the punchline?"
The Valentine’s Day "Prank" That Wasn't
The sheer disbelief was so loud that it actually reached other celebrities. Chance the Rapper famously texted Rosario to ask if the relationship was a joke. Think about that for a second. A world-famous rapper was so skeptical of this pairing that he had to check the receipts personally.
Andre’s response? He went nuclear on the proof.
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He started posting increasingly intimate photos of them—most notably the "tongue-touching" selfie that became iconic for all the wrong reasons. It was messy, it was loud, and it was 100% real. Rosario eventually had to confirm it herself on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She basically told Stephen that Eric was a "millennial man" who didn't understand that you aren't supposed to post the "tongue pictures" for the whole world to see.
But behind the weird social media posts, there was a genuine connection. This wasn't just two famous people crossing paths at a party. It was deeper.
The Hospital Room Reality Check
If you want to know if a relationship is real, look at what happens when things go wrong. In late 2016, months before they went public, Rosario suffered a ruptured cyst on her ovary. It was a legitimate medical emergency. She lost a liter of blood and had to undergo immediate surgery.
During that recovery, Eric Andre wasn't the guy screaming at guests on a neon-lit set. He was the guy changing her adult diapers.
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Rosario talked about this with a lot of warmth later on. She credited him with being her rock during a terrifying time. "He took care of me in an adult diaper. That is love," she told Colbert. It’s easy to be a "cool" couple at a movie premiere, but sitting in a hospital room at 3:00 AM while your partner recovers from major surgery? That’s the real deal.
Why Did Rosario Dawson and Eric Andre Break Up?
So, why did it end? By December 2017, after about a year of dating, the pair called it quits.
There wasn't some massive, explosive scandal. No cheating rumors. No public feuds. Sources close to the couple at the time told People and Us Weekly that the relationship simply "ran its course." It happens. Sometimes you're the person someone needs for a specific season of their life—like a recovery from surgery—but you aren't the person for the long haul.
They stayed friends, though. Unlike many Hollywood breakups that end in deleted Instagram histories and "blocked" notifications, these two seemed to maintain a mutual respect.
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The Aftermath: Different Paths
After the split, their lives took wildly different turns:
- Rosario Dawson eventually moved on to a very high-profile relationship with Senator Cory Booker. They were together for over two years and were a staple of the political scene before splitting in early 2022. Most recently, she’s been linked to Nnamdi Okafor, a philanthropic strategist.
- Eric Andre kept his dating life a bit more low-key, though he briefly dated model Emily Ratajkowski in early 2023 (another pairing that sent the internet into a tailspin). He’s also mentioned in interviews that he once dated someone he met at a farmer's market who didn't even know who he was.
The Takeaway from the Chaos
Looking back on the Rosario Dawson Eric Andre era, it’s a reminder that public personas are rarely the whole story. Eric Andre is a chaotic force of nature on screen, but to Rosario, he was a caregiver who journaled and meditated with her.
It also proves that the "unlikely couple" is often the most fascinating because it challenges our assumptions. People tried to put Rosario in a box—the serious activist, the dramatic lead—and assumed she couldn't possibly be into a guy whose primary hobby is making people uncomfortable for sport.
What we can learn from this:
- Don't trust the "brand": Celebrity public images are curated, but their private lives are often surprisingly grounded.
- Crisis reveals character: Who stays with you in the hospital is a much better metric of a relationship than who looks good with you on a red carpet.
- Friendship is the best exit: Ending a relationship because it "ran its course" rather than waiting for it to burn down is a sign of maturity.
If you’re still curious about Rosario’s current life, her work with the Ahsoka series has kept her at the forefront of the Star Wars universe, while Eric Andre continues to push the boundaries of what’s allowed on television. They’ve both moved on, but that one year where the anarchist met the activist remains one of the most interesting blips in modern pop culture history.
To see how Rosario's career has evolved since those days, check out her latest production credits or her activism work with Voto Latino, which she has continued to champion regardless of who she is dating.