LSU star gymnast Olivia Dunne sensationally shut down Andrew Tate when the controversial influencer invited her to Europe on Instagram.
Dunne is an accomplished gymnast from Louisiana State University who has built a mass following on social media while excelling in college sports. The 20-year-old revealed she was shocked to have received a message from Tate, whose popularity was surging at the time.
She elaborated on the incident during a recent appearance on the Full Send podcast, expressing her astonishment and response to the 36-year-old. Tate has since been charged with rape and human trafficking in Romania.
“He said, ‘Come to Europe, dear,’ with a rose,” Dunne revealed. She later added: “When I saw Andrew Tate‘s message, I couldn’t believe it.
“I thought, ‘Why is he messaging me right now?’ I had a sense of what his intentions were. It happened during the peak of his popularity when he sent me the ‘come to Europe’ message.”
When asked if she was a fan or follower of Tate, she swiftly replied: “No.”
Dunne is perhaps the most recognisable college sports star after she was selected to in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue in May. She has cultivated a huge following on social media with 7.6million followers on TikTok and more than 4m Instagram followers.
She has managed to use the NCAA rule change regarding name, image and likeness (NIL) to her advantage, making a fortune through her fanbase. The regulation change means college athletes are able to profit from their own image rights.
Since the rule change, Dunne has signed deals with Body Armor, Grubhub, Linktree and Forever 21 amongst others. She reportedly has a net worth of $3.3million (£2.6m).
Meanwhile, Tate has been charged with rape and human trafficking in Romania alongside his brother Tristan and two unnamed associates. All four individuals have denied the charges.
The Tate brothers had been arrested back in December 2022 at their home in Bucharest before being moved from custody to house arrest in March.
Romanian prosecutors agreed to send the four suspects to trial, although a date is yet to be set at this time. It is expected that the trial will last several years.
