Dylan Sprouse Reveals How Sea Otters Played a Role in His Proposal to Barbara Palvin (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Dylan Sprouseis sharing new details about his romantic proposal toBarbara Palvin, and how it involved a hike in a dress shirt and a curious sea otter.

The supermodel, 30, andSuite Life of Zack and Codyalum, 31,tied the knotin Hungary in July 2023, with the ceremony taking place in a church outside of Budapest.

In an exclusive clip from the Monday, Feb. 12 episode of theTamron HallShowshared with PEOPLE, Sprouse shares that he and his now-wife both love sea otters, and reveals how he managed to include one of the animals in his 2022 proposal.

Dylan Sprouse, Tamron Hall.ABC/Jeff Neira

ABC/Jeff Neira

“Big Sur is an immensely beautiful place … and I knew I wanted to do it there,” Sprouse tells Hall in the clip above.

One of the bluffs in Big Sur, he added, is known to be “one of the most populated sea otter zones in California.”

“So, I was like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna get down on the knee there’s gonna be tons of sea otters all around … and as soon as we were walking in to the wildlife park, one of the rangers came up and said, ‘Hey, just to let you guys know, we haven’t seen sea otters here in months,’ " he continued.

Still, Sprouse forged ahead. “I was like, all right, we’re here anyway, and I’m already in a button-down on a hike.’ "

The sea otter, he added, made it just in time.

“And he rolls on his back, and he looks up at us,” Sprouse continued.

“The sea otter was there to anoint the moment,” Hall said.

“He was, it was fated because he came up as soon as she said yes,” Sprouse said, adding that it was the first sighting of one of the animals in the area “in months.”

Dylan Sprouse, Barbara Palvin.Dylan Sprouse Instagram

Dylan Sprouse Instagram

The pair had their first date in 2018 andgot engaged in September 2022, waiting nearly a year to share the big news.

“We didn’t necessarily feel the need to be fully transparent with the public about that aspect of our engagement,” Sprouse explained to the publication. “What we wanted to do with Stephen [Gan] and the V team is make something that was kind of tongue-in-cheek about the nature of private versus public. We’re playing with the idea of perception.”

Palvin said that the couple wanted “to do it on our time,” but acknowledged a leak of the engagement made that difficult.

“When some people leaked the information that we got engaged, our PR team was like, ‘Hey, so you guys should do maybe a post about it or talk to this magazine or talk to that magazine,'” she recalled. “That really annoyed me because I knew we were building this story up. So, I’m very happy that we ended up doing it our way.”

source: people.com