STARRING as romantic interest Alfie in Netflix hit Emily In Paris has made him one of British acting’s hottest heart-throbs.
Now it seems hunky charmer Lucien Laviscount has struck the big time in love off-screen too, with new superstar girlfriend Shakira.
It has been revealed that the 31-year-old Bolton-born actor is seeing the Colombian singer — 16 years his senior — after sparks first flew between them when they shot a racy music video.
They have since been repeatedly spotted out together, with sources confirming they are now dating.
‘Break her heart’
But friends of the chart-topper have voiced worries that sweet-talking Lucien’s intentions are dubious, and say they fear he will break her heart.
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While it seems she is genuinely looking to fall in love, Lucien has a long record of dating then ditching celebrity partners, and her pals fear he may not have genuine feelings and is “only after fame”.
They say they are worried he is stepping out with Shakira because “he just wants people to know his name, and she provides that”.
Considering Lucien’s extensive back catalogue of celebrity relationships, it seems their fears might not be totally unfounded.
Over the years the actor — who appeared in Coronation Street, Waterloo Road and Celebrity Big Brother before landing his role in comedy drama Emily In Paris in 2021 — has upgraded his love life in tandem with his acting CV.
And always, it seems, with one eye toward Hollywood.
From dating barely known Brit soap stars when he was on the bottom rung of fame, he has now hit the big time with a world-famous girlfriend.
Born in 1992, Lucien is the son of bodybuilder dad Eugene, who is of Antiguan descent, and mum Sonia, and grew up with brothers Louis and Jules in the village of Read, just outside Burnley.
His career in the spotlight began at ten, as a model for Marks & Spencer after he was scouted on a shopping trip in Manchester.
He went on to model for other big-name brands including Under Armour, before switching to acting in 2002.
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After attending a theatre workshop in Bury, Lucien won his first role in BBC1 drama Clocking Off, before later landing his breakthrough part as Jake Briggs in school soap Grange Hill in 2007.
His celebrity conquests began with 2009 Big Brother winner Sophie Reade.
They dated in 2010 when Lucien was 17 and had just won his first big TV role as schoolboy Jonah Kirby in BBC1’s Waterloo Road.
At the time Sophie described him as “the perfect guy and the whole package”, though they didn’t last long.
Since then he has been romantically linked to Hollyoaks actresses Dominique Jackson and Chelsee Healey, Corrie’s Brooke Vincent, Made In Chelsea’s Chloe Green, Little Mix singers Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson, and presenter Kelly Osbourne.
Age gap worries
In 2011 Lucien was a finalist in Series Eight of Celebrity Big Brother, where he enjoyed two flings in the house, with Kerry Katona and Towie’s Amy Childs, as well as admitting to having a long-term crush on Baywatch star Pamela Anderson.
While there he had to deny accusations of being a “mad shagger”, owing to his playboy image.
His affair with ex-Atomic Kitten singer Kerry lasted beyond the timescale of the show, and was his first age-gap love — he was 19 and she was 31, but he was reported as saying: “When I’m with her I don’t feel like there’s an age gap at all.”
Even so, the relationship was short-lived, and Kerry claimed to have ended it because she “would never want to take his childhood away from him”.
She also said the age gap “held them back” following a “friends-with-benefits” relationship.
Then after the split she said it was likely Lucien would not be happy about being listed as her ex, as she claimed he was “never officially my boyfriend”. In 2021 singer Jesy Nelson was said to be “mortified” when photos leaked of her kissing Lucien on a romantic date in Mayfair, London — perhaps because he was also alleged to have dated fellow Little Mixer Leigh-Anne Pinnock nine years earlier in 2012.
His first fling with an American actress came when he co-starred with Keke Palmer in TV comedy horror Scream Queens in 2015, and they were spotted on numerous dates around LA.
But with pop star Shakira, it seems Lucien has set his sights on his love life finally breaking into the A-list.
The Hips Don’t Lie singer met Lucien when he was cast as the love interest in the music video for her single with Cardi B, Punteria, in February this year.
In the raunchy film Lucien is a topless centaur, or part-man, part=horse, and the two cavort together as he caresses Shakira’s face on a pastel-tinged screen.
Shakira, whose hair is coloured baby-pink, shoots an arrow at Lucien’s bare torso, then they writhe together passionately.
Since the scenes were shot, the two have been spotted on a romantic dinner date at an Italian restaurant in New York.
A source close to the singer says: “Shakira is desperate to fall in love but her friends are concerned because Lucien has slowly crept his way up the celebrity ladder while dating women who were all less famous than her.”
Their concerns are further fuelled by her recent history of heartbreaks.
Previously Shakira — often called the Queen of Latin Music — was in an 11-year relationship with former Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique, 37, and they have two sons, Sasha, nine, and Milan, 11.
They separated in 2022 after rumours that Gerard, who is now dating Spanish model Clara Chia Marti, had been unfaithful.
In the Spanish lyrics of her 2022 song Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions Vol 53, she laid into her ex, raging: “I won’t return to you any more, even if you cry or beg me.”
After last month’s release of her 12th studio album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, Shakira also blamed the relationship breakdown with her children’s father for her delay in releasing new music.
She told American TV host Jimmy Fallon: “It was the husband. Now I’m husbandless. Yeah, the husband was dragging me down. Now I’m free, I can actually work.”
And she told another interviewer: “For a long time I put my career on hold, to be next to Gerard, so he could play football. There was a lot of sacrifice for love.”
And now that broken love is behind her friends’ fears that Lucien could cause the singer even more hurt.
They have expressed their relief that the two are not yet heavily involved, and so far it seems the hunky Brit remains just a rebound fling.
But one friend is reported to have said: “She is dating someone who they fear is a player — and she is going to get burned.”
