Why Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Kardashian’s romance has enraged his fans so much they’re threatening a terrible revenge. ALISON BOSHOFF reveals what friends are now saying is the truth about their unlikely love

You could almost hear the cries for help as cameras rolled around the Beverly Hilton ballroom on Sunday night – showing actor Timothee Chalamet enjoying a date night with girlfriend Kylie Jenner at the Golden Globes.

Chalamet, 29, who was nominated as best actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, has just – just! – 19.5 million followers on Instagram to Jenner’s 395 million, but in the hours after this rare public appearance, it felt like most of those fans were on TikTok, sharing their sadness, horror and disgust.

Some simply couldn’t bring themselves to believe that Chalamet, their delicate dreamboat, was entangled with a kiss-lipped Kardashian whose family, they believe, is a byword for vulgarity.

Despite semi-regular sightings in the two years they have been dating, the “Chalamaniacs,” as they are known, continue to cling to the belief that the romance is a PR stunt, or that it is already over.

Just last week, the couple reportedly broke up (although at the same time a rumor circulated that Jenner was pregnant).

As one fan sighed, “I always assumed he was more elitist than hooking up with anyone from that wretched clan, but I stand corrected.” Another simply said: ‘I curse Timothee Chalamet.’

A third suggested he might be mentally ill. Or maybe he was paid to be there: “Maybe Kris [Jenner, Kylie’s mother and manager] wrote him a big check to take her special little girl as a date. He probably made more money on this date than what he took home from the movie.”

In a discussion group on social media forum Reddit, it was suggested that Chalamet’s former fans planned to physically attack him on the red carpet and, shamefully, shared a method. In this case no such action was taken.

So why can’t anyone accept that Jenner, 27, and Chalamet – better known as Kylothee – are just a happy young couple? Will they be able to withstand the pressure from the social media ill-wishers – and is this the real deal?

Their romance began in Paris in January 2023, when both were invited to a Jean Paul Gaultier show during Paris Fashion Week.

They connected, realizing they had some mutual friends and a shared taste in music. Both are also said to have a ‘goofy’ sense of humor.

Jenner recently — and apparently finally — divorced rapper Travis Scott, the father of her two young children. Chalamet had been single for a while and had previously dated Madonna’s daughter Lourdes (they went to school together in New York; he was her first love), so he wasn’t put off by Jenner’s fame.

They started dating ‘casually’ and by the time the news emerged in April 2023, the relationship was still low-key. Few saw it work at the time, because they are such different people, with very different backgrounds.

Growing up in the bubble of extreme celebrity in Los Angeles, thanks to Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the family’s reality TV show, Kylie has gone from grumpy schoolgirl to superstar, radically changing her appearance along the way thanks to apparent cosmetic procedures.

She had some rough teenage years when her parents announced they were splitting up and her father, Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner, announced he was transitioning to being a woman and resurfacing as Caitlyn Jenner.

Kylie later said that after filming she would go to her bedroom and “cry and cry.” She complained, “I dream of being normal.”

At the age of 14, Jenner and her sister Kendall, two years older, collaborated on a clothing line.

At 18, she left home and launched her first cosmetics line, Kylie’s Lip Kit, which has grown into Kylie Cosmetics, a $750 million empire that has made her the family’s highest earner. Its products now include clothing and a range of canned cocktails.

Jenner’s own pout was created using fillers – which she has denied, admitted, denied and admitted again. She says insecurity drove her to get into cosmetic work as a teenager, after a boy commented that she didn’t look like she would be a “good kisser.”

Now she has a £9.5 million mansion in LA, crammed with Warhols, so many handbags they need their own walk-in wardrobe and dining room chairs in pink leather chosen to match her own lipstick shades.

She has two children with Scott: Stormi, born in February 2018, and Aire, born after a breakup and reconciliation, in February 2022. She collects modern art and absurdly flashy sports cars.

Jenner is thus a commercially triumphant expression of the money-driven West Coast culture in which she grew up. Chalamet, who grew up in New York, is very different.

His parents – his mother was a dancer; his French father, an editor, is immersed in the arts and he grew up in a block that provides subsidized rents to people working in the creative industries and earning a ‘moderate’ income.

He said last month: “I grew up in art housing, Manhattan Plaza, which is a funky way to grow up. I could try to portray the negative for you. I could try to paint it positively, but it’s a bit of everything. It’s nuanced.’

He attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, following in the footsteps of his mother and older sister Pauline, and footage of him, embarrassingly, performing as rapper “Timmy Tim” is on YouTube.

Acting was always his passion. He told an interviewer that a line in a play in which his character “uses poetry as a kind of ladder to climb out of a hole” resonated because, “I use acting as a ladder.” It’s the only thing that gives me satisfaction.’

Chalamet was a child star, with a small role on Law & Order, followed by bigger roles in the TV series Homeland and, in 2014, the Christopher Nolan film Interstellar.

His breakout role was in the film Call Me By Your Name in 2017, which was followed by Dune, Bones And All, Wonka and now the Bob Dylan biopic, which will be released in UK cinemas later this month.

He is touted for an Oscar nomination for that performance, which would make him one of the youngest to be so honored. Friends include directors Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya and Martin Scorsese. Throughout their relationship, he and Jenner have avoided walking the red carpet together, but she has attended the premieres of all his most recent films and the after-parties.

Could they be preparing for the mother of all red carpet appearances at the Academy Awards in March?

That could even be followed by what would be the biggest statement of all: a Chalamet cameo in The Kardashians.

Kanye West made occasional appearances while he was married to Kylie’s sister Kim Kardashian – and Disney would certainly be happy if Chalamet did the same.

It seems possible: numerous, well-placed sources say the couple takes each other “very seriously” and that after two years the relationship is much “stronger than ever.”

A source said: ‘Kylie is enjoying hanging out with Timothee and seeing where things go.’

Her car was spotted in the driveway of the £8.8million house he bought in LA. My source added, “She’s getting to know him. Kylie is having fun.

“After years of back and forth with Travis [Scott]she just wants to date, without any pressure.” The insider said Jenner’s family supported her in finding a new boyfriend. “Everyone wants Kylie to move on,” they said. “Everyone in the family is happy and supportive of dating Kylie.”

In July 2023, Scott appeared to direct barbs at Chalamet with a line from his song Meltdown, mentioning “the Willy Wonka factory” and issuing the challenge: “Find another flame hot as me, b****.”

A few weeks later, Jenner and Chalamet were spotted kissing at a Beyonce concert in Los Angeles, captured on video by a fellow fan.

A source told People magazine at the time: ‘They’ve been seeing each other for six months. He makes Kylie happy.

‘He has his own life and understands that Kylie has to prioritize her children. He is charming, very loving and protective of Kylie. She likes that he is a private man.”

That fall they seemed to step it up a notch.

The pair were together at a New York Fashion Week dinner in September and two days later were at the US Open, where they watched Novak Djokovic cuddle in the stands.

A photo was taken during Milan Fashion Week that revealed her phone wallpaper was an image of the two of them.

In November, Chalamet was Jenner’s plus-one when she was honored with an innovators award by the Wall Street Journal, and she was there to support him when he hosted Saturday Night Live.

She then traveled by private jet to London to support him at the premiere of Wonka. Although she didn’t walk the red carpet, she was at the premiere and the afterparty.

Last January saw their biggest public display of affection – at the 2024 Golden Globes, where they were spotted kissing.

They were barely seen together at the time when Chalamet was filming A Complete Unknown, but over the summer sightings – of dining out or going to the cinema – started to increase again.

In August, he was among the guests who went to the Bahamas to celebrate Jenner’s 27th birthday.

A source told People magazine at the time: ‘She is incredibly happy with him. She has never been so in love. He’s great for her.

“Her family loves him. He is so discreet and always has her back. He is a true gentleman and has everything Kylie deserves.”

They left the premiere of A Complete Unknown last month holding hands and are said to have celebrated ‘pre-Christmas’ together as she spent the day with her mother Kris and her children.

Chalamet didn’t appear in any of the 20 images of the year that Kylie shared on Instagram to celebrate 2024, but he did play a big role in them.

And, as their public display at the Golden Globes showed, the relationship is still going strong no matter what Chalamaniacs say.