Story highlights
NEW: Actress Jessica Lowndes cries "April fools!" after engagement posts
Lowndes hinted on Instagram about an older man in her life; it appeared to be comedian Jon Lovitz, who is 31 years older
Some people said it was a publicity stunt all along
Actress and singer-songwriter Jessica Lowndes is turning lots of heads, but this time it’s not because of her talent.
In a series of recent Instagram posts, the former “90210” star, 27, teased followers about a new man in her life and even posted a photo of a diamond engagement ring.
But it seems the “engagement” that captured the Internet Monday is merely a ruse to promote a music video.
You may notice a theme here. Lowndes makes references to a “sugar daddy,” and the image of an older man’s hand on her thigh is captioned, “His hands are wise and tell a thousand stories.”
“Old cows like to eat young grass,” says a quote in another Instagram post. Her caption for that one reads, “And I love me some old cows …”
So who is Lowndes’ venerable mystery man? It appears to be Jon Lovitz, the 58-year-old comedian, actor and former “Saturday Night Live” funnyman. On Sunday, Lovitz tweeted a picture of him and Lowndes in a car with the caption, “Easter with my bunny, @jessicalowndes !!!”
He added three emoji hearts.
The Internet reacted with surprise, confusion and snark. Many noted the couple’s 31-year-old age difference. Others said the romance seemed like a promotional stunt.
Indeed, Lowndes appeared to admit the romance is as unreal as it seems on Monday.
“I know it’s still the last week of March, but is it too early to say ‘April fools’?” Lowndes asks in an Instagram video, panning the camera to show scenes from her new music video “Deja Vu (remix).”
Lovitz plays her love interest in the (slightly not safe for work) video, and many of the Instagram images she shared mirror the video shoot.
Before she dropped the facade, a few sleuths dug up a Lowndes Instagram post from January 2015 that shows the pair together on a beach in Hawaii, where they were shooting an episode of “Hawaii Five-O.”
Lowndes, who made People magazine’s list of the World’s Most Beautiful People of 2009, earlier claimed the posts are not fake.
“No, I haven’t been hacked,” she said in a video posted Friday. “I’m just really excited to finally be able to share this secret with you guys.”
Many social media users, of course, just cracked jokes.
One Instagram user wrote, “Are you kidding with all this old man stuff? Have any guy in the world and you want an overcooked potato.”
Others praised Lovitz for capturing the heart of a beautiful young woman.
Lowndes seemed to anticipate the backlash, however. On the picture of Lovitz’s hand on her thigh she added the hashtag, #hatersgonnahate.