Inside Zara McDermott's love life as it's confirmed she's dating Louis Tomlinson.. From 'toxic' jibes to X Factor affair
03/17/2025 06:10 PM
ZARA McDermott's relationship with Louis Tomlinson has been confirmed, bringing an end to weeks of speculation.
It comes after Zara, 28 split with Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson just after Christmas.
The popular pair, who appeared on Made In Chelsea together, struggled to paper over the insecurities and cracks in their five-year relationship, following a cheating scandal and family feuds.
Fans of Two of Us singer Louis, 33, are convinced that he's now the new man on documentary-maker Zara's roster.
Earlier this week, the pair’s followers went into overdrive when they noticed they had both recently started following each on Instagram.
Not only that, eagle-eyed fans spotted that Louis’ sisters – including influencer Lottie Tomlinson, 26, and twins Daisy and Phoebe, 20 – follow Zara too.
Speculation that they are now dating was further fuelled after it has been noticed that they have “liked” each other’s recent sexy pics on Instagram.
Zara dropped Louis a click on a recent modelling photo that he shared, while he returned the favour on a snap of her in a stunning white gown at the Brit Awards.
It's not the first time that Zara's love life has played out publicly.
In fact, since she shot to fame on the fourth series of Love Island in 2018, most of her love life has happened in the spotlight.
She entered the villa as a “bombshell” contestant on Day 15 and coupled up with Adam Collard, 29, before being dumped from the show ten days later.
The pair continued their relationship outside of the villa for a few months, but it met its end in February 2019.
‘TOXIC’ JIBES
Adam reportedly dumped Zara by text, prompting her to post a devastated Instagram story.
She penned: "I have tried so hard to be the best person I can possibly be and to make it work.
"Sometimes in life, you just aren't enough for someone – no matter what you do for them or how much you try to be."
Months after the split, Zara shared a reflective social media post in which she retrospectively branded their relationship "toxic".
She said that it was so bad she even considered giving up fame and returning to her job as a government policy adviser.
She wrote on Instagram: "At the start of the year I finally walked away from a toxic relationship that was more damaging than I knew.
"It stripped me of all my confidence going through this in the public eye.
"I almost gave up this whole life and I wanted to go back and work in Government, and I wanted things to go back to how they were before Love Island. However, I decided not to."
Zara went on to describe a holiday she went on with friends, who helped her feel "good again".
THE EX FACTOR
The Love Island alumni was in a new relationship with another reality TV heart throb by May 2019 – Sam Thompson.
The Made In Chelsea star even told OK Magazine that Zara made the first move, saying: “She slid into my DMs. It was great and I'm glad she did.”
The pair went Instagram official the following month and, by August, Zara was gearing up to join her new beau at work on Season 18 of the reality show.
She officially graced the Made In Chelsea line-up in October.
By November 2019, Zara had a flourishing television career… But it wasn't long until it started crumbling in front of her.
She joined her fellow Love Island stars Wes Nelson, Eyal Booker and Samira Mighty on The X Factor: Celebrity as part of a band.
However, rumours began swirling that she had cheated on her new beau with music boss Brahim Fouradi.
Zara denied the allegations at first, and managed nearly a year of keeping her secret under wraps.
‘YOU CAN!’
But she came clean in October 2020 and admitted to Sam that she had slept with someone else.
Zara also posted a confessional message on social media when news of the affair became public.
Her apology post read: "A huge mistake I made a year ago has recently come to light and I want to face this head on.
"I don’t condone being unfaithful and I made a huge mistake at a time in my life where I was hugely selfish and immature. I believe I have learnt so much from my mistake.
"I want to apologise to my Sam for everything I have put him through, for the pain, the embarrassment, the anger and the hurt."
Zara and Sam's first conversation after her confession played out on Made In Chelsea, and has since become somewhat of a meme.
Sam was recorded telling her: "The seediness of when you're consistently s****ing, when you're calling me to tell me that you can't come home, when the rest of your band are at home, in bed with their other halves."
When he told her "I can't do it", she cried back with the now-viral phrase: "You can, you can do it! You can. You can."
The pair stayed split up for a few months before ultimately reconciling and continuing to appear on Made In Chelsea together.
However, after five years in December 2024, Zara and Sam called time for good.
And although neither have yet addressed the break-up directly, it's believed it was largely down to their increasingly busy schedules keeping them apart.
A source previously lifted the lid on the reasons behind the split, telling MailOnline: “Sam and Zara have ended their relationship.
“It’s been an incredibly difficult decision for them to part ways – they still care and have a lot of love for each other.
“But after a tough year of working hard at their romance, they have split and will be focusing on their individual careers going forward into 2025.
“There has been no scandal or fallout between them, it’s just the result of a difficult year, where they both had to spend a lot of time focused on their own projects.”
On March 17, 2025, it was confirmed that Zara was now in a relationship with former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson.
It ended weeks of speculation about the pair dating.
