A Look At Nicole Scherzinger's Dating History
Nicole Scherzinger catapulted to fame as the lead vocalist of The Pussycat Dolls, a girl group that released pop hits like "Don't Cha," "Stickwitu," and "When I Grow Up." After the group disbanded in 2010, Scherzinger had a decently successful solo music career. She even took home the coveted mirrorball trophy when she competed in Season 10 of "Dancing With the Stars." However, her venture into television as a judge on high-rated talent shows, including "The X Factor" and "The Masked Singer," put Scherzinger back in the spotlight.
Along with this fame comes an interest in Scherzinger's personal life, especially when it comes to all of her former love interests and who she's currently involved with. Since she became engaged in June 2023, people have wondered who this songstress has been romantically linked to in the past before putting a ring on it. Check out Nicole Scherzinger's dating history, from high-profile romances with several sports stars to a rumored relationship with a much younger boy band member.
She was engaged to 311's Nick Hexum
Before Nicole Scherzinger joined The Pussycat Dolls, she competed in the reality series "Popstars" in 2001 and, alongside four other women, formed the group Eden's Crush. The girl group's debut album, "Popstars," did reasonably well on the Billboard 200 albums chart, peaking at number six, but by the end of the year, the women disbanded as their record label went out of business. After the fallout of Eden's Crush, Scherzinger had the opportunity to join the Black Eyed Peas. Unfortunately, Scherzinger's then-boyfriend, 311 frontman Nick Hexum, wasn't on board.
During a Google+ Hangout in 2013, Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am revealed that he had initially wanted Scherzinger to join his group. "She should come be in our group, but her boyfriend said no. Her boyfriend said no ... She was supposed to be in the Peas," will.i.am shared. Singer Fergie would eventually join the group in 2002. However, the rapper was responsible for helping Scherzinger get into The Pussycat Dolls.
Scherzinger and Hexum reportedly met at a party in Hollywood in 2000 and began to date shortly after. In a clip reposted by VH1's "Behind the Music," Scherzinger revealed that Hexum wanted her to become a solo star and took control of her career. "I was a lot younger than him, and it was just so, like, whatever Nick says, goes," she revealed. The couple became engaged but called it quits in 2004.
Lewis Hamilton didn't want to put a ring on it
Nicole Scherzinger's most high-profile romance was with Formula One racecar driver Lewis Hamilton, with whom she began dating in 2007 after meeting at the European Music Awards. However, the couple would end up making headlines for their multiple breakups.
One of the pair's first splits came in 2011 after four years together. According to People, Scherzinger and Hamilton's busy careers and long distance kept them apart. However, they rekindled their relationship before splitting again in 2013. As reported by the Mirror, while on "The X Factor" as a judge, Scherzinger was seen visibly upset as contestants sang songs about heartbreak. "I am not a robot, and I wear my heart on my sleeve," Scherzinger stated. "But music is a part of my life, and music touches me, so I think I've been a bit more emotional through the audition process this year because I was obviously going through some stuff internally."
Scherzinger and the racecar driver reunited again, and rumors of an engagement spread. In 2015, they split for good, with a report by The U.S. Sun alleging that Scherzinger was ready to take their relationship to the next level and Hamilton was not. Following their breakup, Hamilton had this to say to Top Gear: "My cars are my babies. I used to say when I had a girlfriend, 'I'm taking one of the girls out, so you can come if you want, but you come second when it comes to them.'" Yikes.
Did Nicole Scherzinger have a fling with Harry Styles?
Not only did Nicole Scherzinger have a hand in forming one of the most successful boy bands ever, but rumors swirled that she had a brief fling with one of the band's members.
In 2010, Harry Styles competed on the reality show "The X Factor UK" as a solo artist, with Scherzinger acting as a guest judge. She and judge Simon Cowell decided it was best for Styles and four other singers, including Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson, to form a boy band, which would eventually be One Direction. In 2022, "The X Factor UK" released a video showing Scherzinger and Cowell with several photo lineups as they created the five-member group. In the clip, Scherzinger tells Cowell not to eliminate the boys but to put them together. "They're just too talented to get rid of. They've got just the right look and the right charisma onstage. I think they're really great in a boy band together. They're like little stars," she states.
According to The Sun, Scherzinger had a rumored relationship with Styles in 2013, when she was 35 and he was 19. The short fling occurred when Scherzinger went through one of her many breakups with Lewis Hamilton. "Harry was 19 at the time but had an old head on his shoulders because he'd already been in a relationship with Caroline Flack, who was 14 years older than him," a source shared. Though both stars have not confirmed or denied a romance, Scherzinger was seen wearing a Harry Styles graphic T-shirt in 2017, possibly making fun of those romance rumors.
Her romance with Pajtim Kasami was brief
After her final split from Lewis Hamilton, Nicole Scherzinger didn't stay single for long. In the summer of 2015, she was photographed with Swiss soccer player Pajtim Kasami. At the time, Kasami was in his early 20s while the songstress was in her late 30s. The pair were seen locking lips and showcasing full-on PDA as Scherzinger celebrated her birthday on the party island of Mykonos, Greece.
A source for the Daily Mail reported that the two weren't in a serious relationship. "Nicole is on a girls holiday celebrating her birthday. He is a friend of a friend who was in Mykonos as well. There is nothing going on between them," the source implied. At the time, Scherzinger shared an Instagram post celebrating her time in Mykonos for her birthday. "#Mykonos...I couldn't imagine a better birthday view to wake too...actually haven't slept. Don't want to miss a second of this day. Not a moment." There was no mention of Kasami in her post, but from the pictures, it certainly looked like the singer had a great time.
Though the two seemed to enjoy one another's company, their fling reportedly only lasted for a few months.
Work got in the way with Scherzinger and Grigor Dimitrov
Nicole Scherzinger may have a thing for athletes. After her short romance with Pajtim Kasami, the singer was linked to Bulgarian tennis professional Grigor Dimitrov at the end of 2015. A source for The Sun shared (via HuffPost), "They're completely besotted with each other. But they've been careful not to be pictured together because they don't want the pressure of the relationship being in the public eye."
Scherzinger and Dimitrov continued to have a solid romance throughout the next few years. According to Daily Mail, Dimitrov shouted his beau out after winning the 2017 ATP Singles final in London, "I want to thank one person here, my girlfriend, Nicole. She's somewhere hiding. She deserves quite a bit of credit this week, she's been amazing." Dimitrov also opened up about the couple doing their best to keep their relationship alive with each other's hectic work schedules. The tennis player told Mr Porter in June 2018, "It's not easy. The schedules are very heavy. But she's doing a better job than I am at being able to come to most of the places I'm at." That July, the two were photographed vacationing in Saint Tropez and looked extremely happy.
However, it was over for the twosome in 2019. The Sun reported that work schedules kept them apart and might have been the culprit for their breakup.
She's engaged to Thom Evans
Are we at all surprised that Nicole Scherzinger would meet her soulmate while acting as a judge on yet another reality competition show? This time, the songstress was a judge on "The X Factor: Celebrity," where she would meet former rugby player Thom Evans, who was a contestant with his singing group Try Star. (There's a compilation of all their performances that is a must-watch.) Though we later learned the two began to actually date in November 2019, just a month after meeting on the show, the pair made their debut as a couple while on the red carpet at the Golden Globes Afterparty in January 2020.
In an interview with Extra in November 2020, Scherzinger was smitten with her new partner. "He's my best friend, and we love to laugh together. We are real big goofballs," she said, adding, "He's my man, my life, my dreams." In October 2021, Evans shared similar sentiments when he opened up to The Sun about his relationship, stating that he "hit the jackpot" with Scherzinger. "People always say, 'When you know, you know,' and I can honestly say I'd never really had that moment. But within the first couple of days with Nicole it was just awesome, and it has been awesome ever since," he touchingly shared.
In June 2023, Scherzinger shared with her Instagram followers that she was engaged to Evans, who proposed to the songstress on a beach. She captioned her post, "I said yes."