Ready to Pop the Question? Nina ‘Has No Idea’ What Shaun Has ‘Up His Sleeve’

Next steps? Nina Dobrev and Shaun White have been going strong for nearly three years — and feel like “this is the year they take their relationship to the next level,” a source exclusively reveals to Us Weekly.

“Nina and Shaun have been dating for a few years now so they’ve definitely discussed making things official,” the insider tells Us. “They’ve talked about getting married, having kids, the whole nine yards.”

Us broke the news in April 2020 that the Olympian, 36, and the Vampire Diaries alum, 34, were dating. One month later, the two made their relationship Instagram official — and dove headfirst into love, with Us reporting that same month that the two were “living together” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They’re super compatible and both free-spirited people,” the second insider added at the time. “They’re very comfortable around each other and both supportive of one another in their fields.”

Now, Dobrev and White “are so in love and can’t imagine not spending the rest of their lives together. What they have is the real deal,” the source tells Us, noting that while “Nina has no idea what Shaun has planned up his sleeve,” she thinks an engagement is on the horizon in 2023.

Right before competing in his final Olympic Games in February 2022 — the same year the three-time gold medalist founded his snowboard product company, Whitespace — White told Us that he knew his romance with the Degrassi alum was “serious” when he traveled to South Africa to visit her, an impulse trip that wound up changing the course of their lives.

“That was actually how we kind of started our relationship,” the snowboarding icon told Us of his spur-of-the-moment decision to visit Dobrev, who was filming Redeeming Love in South Africa at the time and invited White to visit her. “I was like, ‘All right. Yeah. OK.’ And she [thought], ‘Oh, this guy, he came to play. He’s serious.’ So that’s a thing that we share together. We both enjoy traveling.”

One year after White and Dobrev’s fated trip, a source exclusively told Us just how close the two were getting.

“Nina has had a lot of relationships not work out in the past, but ever since meeting Shaun, you can tell she’s just really excited about how far this relationship has come,” the insider told Us in April 2021. “They’re gradually taking steps to starting a future together.”

The athlete, for his part, told Us in January 2022, “I wish I could sum up [why our relationship works] into one or two things. It’s such a mix of everything. Like our dogs get along, you know?” he gushed. “We have common interests. The way in which we met really kind of strengthened our relationship. And the problems that we do face, they kind of fall away through communication. It’s just been great.”

That same month, White also revealed his desire to be a father. “I would love to be a dad,” he told Us. “It’s just something that seems so exciting, you know? I love being around people, and I love the idea of having someone other than my own pursuits to look after.”