For Olivia Dunne, balance goes beyond just LSU gymnastics
The 21-year-old, who’s in her senior year as a millionaire student athlete, opened up about the struggles she went through while navigating the Name, image and likeness landscape (NIL) in college athletics.
“The past few years, juggling NIL or ever since my sophomore year, since the summer of 2021, I’ve definitely had a hard time finding balance,” Dunne said in a recent interview with People.
“That’s really important because if you don’t have balance, that can affect your mental health.
“I finally feel like I got a grasp on it this year. It’s just compartmentalizing things mentally is very important in my everyday routine.”
She added that she has the “best grasp on it” in her senior year at LSU — where she earned a full athletic scholarship.
That balance now includes prioritizing her relationship with former LSU pitcher Paul Skenes, who was the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft.
“It’s funny because there’s speculations at first about it, but I guess people caught onto us having pictures and videos together out in public, so that’s kind of how the news broke,” she said.
Skenes confirmed the two are dating in August 2023 following weeks of social media speculation.
“But we try to keep things private,” Dunne told People.
Dunne has an NIL valuation of an estimated $3.5 million, according to On3 Sports.
The social media influencer — who has over 12 million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined — signed with WME Sports agency less than two months after the NIL rule change in 2021.
She has brand deals across the health and wellness, fashion, beauty and lifestyle spaces including Accelerator energy drink, Motorola cell phone company, Vuori clothing, EA Sports, Body Armor, Grubhub, Linktree, Forever 21 and American Eagle Outfitters.
Dunne made her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in the 2023 issue earlier this year, and has posed for Elle magazine and Forbes.
She made headlines in January when a massive crowd of screaming male fans showed up at the Tigers’ season opener against Utah in Salt Lake City.
At the time, Dunne said LSU implemented new security measures and that the team has a security person that travels with them in an interview with the “Today Show.”
Dunne also said she no longer attends classes in person for “safety reasons,” in a separate interview with Elle magazine over the summer.
The Lady Tigers gymnastics team begins their season in January.