Hotel heiress-turned-reality-star-turned-DJ Paris Hilton has reportedly ended her engagement to actor Chris Zylka, 10 months after his mountaintop proposal in Aspen, Colorado.
Hilton and Zylka have reportedly known each other for years, but only made their relationship official in February of 2017. "They broke up a few weeks ago,” a source told People. “The relationship moved very fast, and she realized it wasn’t right for her."
In light of the news, here's everything you need to know about Zylka:
Zylka is from Ohio.
Chris Zylka was born on May 9, 1985 and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. He attended the University of Toledo for two years, where he played football and majored in art. Zylka left college to care for his grandfather after he had a heart attack, according to the Daily Beast.
Zylka's grandfather had studied theater and apparently helped Zylka realize his true passion for acting. “I had never really thought about acting as art,” Zylka said in an interview with Out magazine. “You know, growing up in Youngstown, the Rust Belt of the world, it was always just a form of entertainment. Finally seeing it as an art form, I fell in love with it. So I moved out to California, never having visited before.”
Chris Zylka is a stage name.
His real name is Chris Settlemire. The actor took his mother's maiden name, Zylka, to honor his grandfather. "I wanted to make him proud," he told The Daily Beast.
Zylka has been engaged before.
The actor had previously proposed to model and designer Hanna Beth. The duo got engaged in April 2014, but called off their wedding in March 2015, according to Us Magazine.
He was once homeless.
When Zylka first moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, he lived in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven and slept behind a dumpster. He soon started working various restaurant jobs, and was eventually discovered by his manager, Jon Simmons, while at work.
“He was eating at the restaurant and asked me if I was an actor,” Zylka told Out. “I said, ‘No, I want to be, but I’ve never worked before.’ From that moment on, he trained me and developed me, and one thing led to another.”
Zylka's first role was on 90210.
His very first acting gig was a guest appearance on the reboot of 90210 back in 2008, according to IMDB. He later appeared on a string of television shows, including Everybody Hates Chris, Hannah Montana, Cougar Town, and 10 Things I Hate About You. One of Zylka's biggest roles was as Peter Parker's nemesis Flash Thompson in The Amazing Spider-Man, and he most recently starred as Tom Garvey in HBO's The Leftovers.
Zylka and Hilton met at an Oscars party at Chateau Marmont.
Hilton told Galore magazine that she and Zylka originally met back in 2010 at an Oscars party held at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. "As soon as he walked through the door, we looked at one another," she told the magazine. "We’re both shy so it took a while, but by the end of the night we couldn’t stop laughing and flirting." Hilton and Zylka reportedly reconnected two years ago, and made their relationship official 11 months ago, People reports.
Zylka has many tattoos.
An interview with the Daily Beast back in 2014 put his number of arm tattoos at 17, but he has no doubt added to his collection since then. One of his newer additions honors his now-fiancée: In August, Zylka showed off a "Paris" tattoo written in signature Disney font.
He and Hilton weren't afraid of Instagram PDA.
The couple make numerous appearances on each other's Instagram feeds, though many of those photos have since been taken down, likely following their breakup.
Maggie Maloney is the Site Director of Oprah Daily. She previously worked at Town & Country, Elle DECOR, and Something Navy.
