I’ve been behind the camera since 2001 and shot more than 2,000 scenes, and the hardest thing to direct is two people who actually want each other. You can’t fake where the hands go. Reese Witherspoon and Oliver Haarmann on the back of that yacht? Nobody had to direct a thing.
“60 year old Oliver Haarmann shares a romantic kiss with his girlfriend Reese Witherspoon during a getaway in Saint Tropez.” That’s the post. Two photos, posted by the X account @Costacozy on Oct. 31, 2026, and by Sunday it had passed 1 million views, 1,900 likes and 350 bookmarks.
The photos are real. Reese, in a white scalloped one-piece, wrapped around her German billionaire boyfriend on the swim platform of a superyacht, then sitting in the water on his lap, kissing him, his hand on her thigh. But this isn’t a new getaway. The pictures are paparazzi shots from Sunday, July 13, 2025, off Saint-Tropez, and they ran in People, TMZ and E! News the next day. And Oliver isn’t 60. He’s 59.
Below: the post, what really happened on that boat, where Reese and Oliver are now, and my take.
See it: the viral Reese and Oliver kiss (1 million views)
Posted by @Costacozy on Oct. 31, 2026. We’re embedding the post, not re-hosting the agency photos:
What really happened on that yacht
The full set from July 13, 2025 is a lot steamier than the two frames going around now. According to the outlets that ran it:
- The swim-platform clinch: Reese in an all-white one-piece with cross straps at the back, Oliver in striped blue trunks, kissing and hugging with their feet dangling in the sea (People, E! News).
- The make-out in the water: they took a sea scooter out, then floated and made out next to a rock formation. TMZ’s headline was literally “French Kissin’ in France” (TMZ).
- The hose-down: back on board, Oliver rinsed her off with the deck shower, “getting up close and personal as he rinsed off her butt,” per TMZ. Us Weekly described the same snap.
- The lap: up on the top deck, Reese sat on Oliver’s lap, turned around and kissed him while he held her (TMZ).
Back then she was 49 and he was 57, and it was the first time the couple had been caught looking like this. They’d been dating since 2024 and Reese had kept him almost completely out of view. Cosmopolitan even tracked down the swimsuit (it looks like the Marysia Palm Springs maillot).
Here’s what I love. Reese spent 30 years as America’s sweetheart, the girl you bring home to your mother. Then she turns 49, picks a billionaire who doesn’t care about Hollywood and lets him hose her down on the back of a superyacht in front of every long lens in Saint-Tropez.
Look at her hands in that first photo. She’s not posing. She’s holding on. You can’t fake that, and after 2,000+ scenes, believe me, I’ve watched people try.
My take: this is the hottest Reese has ever been on camera, and it wasn’t even a movie. Sixteen months later, the internet still can’t stop looking.
— Nico
Real or fake? What’s true in the viral post
- The photos: REAL. Same white one-piece, same striped trunks, same yacht stern as the paparazzi set People and TMZ published on July 14, 2025 (Backgrid). No signs of editing.
- “A getaway in Saint Tropez”: TRUE, BUT OLD. The trip was in July 2025, not this fall. The post doesn’t say that, so most people in the replies think it just happened.
- “60 year old Oliver Haarmann”: WRONG. UK Companies House lists his birth date as September 1967, so he’s 59 (Companies House). He was 57 when the photos were taken.
- “His girlfriend”: TRUE. They’re still together. More on that below.
More celebrity yacht heat
Dua Lipa’s honeymoon back with the scratch marks, Kourtney’s tattooed bad boy and every new gossip story, fact-checked.
How we got here: Reese and Oliver’s timeline
- March 2023: Reese and Jim Toth announce their split after 11 years of marriage. The divorce is finalized in August 2023 (E! News).
- July 2024: Reese and Oliver are first spotted at dinner at L’Artusi in New York’s West Village. A source tells People they’re “just friends” (Cosmopolitan).
- September 2024: Multiple sources confirm they’re dating. They’re photographed leaving a Manhattan heliport, then holding hands around the city (Page Six, Us Weekly).
- May 2025: Page Six reports they toured an ultra-high-end New York apartment together, twice (Page Six).
- July 13, 2025: the Saint-Tropez yacht photos.
- September 2025: a hand-holding date night in London after a play at the Barbican (Cosmopolitan).
- June 23, 2026: their red-carpet debut at the New York premiere of Elle, the Legally Blonde prequel series, in matching pink: her lace Monse dress, his pink tie (E! News, Page Six).
Who is Oliver Haarmann?
He’s a German private-equity financier and a founding partner of Searchlight Capital Partners, which he started in 2010 after more than a decade at KKR. He went to Brown and Harvard Business School, is a minority owner of the NHL’s New York Islanders, and Page Six calls him a billionaire. He was previously married to the financier Mala Gaonkar, with whom he has two sons (Us Weekly, Cosmopolitan). Insiders have said Reese likes that he’s “not into Hollywood.”
Photos: Reese Witherspoon in 2026
Reese at the Nashville Film Festival in September 2026. These aren’t from the yacht.
FAQ
Are the Reese Witherspoon and Oliver Haarmann kissing photos real?
Yes. They’re paparazzi photos taken on a yacht off Saint-Tropez on July 13, 2025, and were published by People, TMZ and E! News the next day. They’re going viral again in October 2026 without the date.
Are Reese Witherspoon and Oliver Haarmann still together?
Yes. They made their red-carpet debut together at the Elle premiere in New York on June 23, 2026.
How old is Oliver Haarmann?
He was born in September 1967, according to UK Companies House, so he’s 59 in late 2026, not 60. Reese Witherspoon is 50.
Who is Reese Witherspoon’s boyfriend?
Oliver Haarmann, a German private-equity financier, founding partner of Searchlight Capital Partners and minority owner of the New York Islanders. They’ve been dating since 2024.
When did Reese Witherspoon go to Saint-Tropez with Oliver Haarmann?
In July 2025. The yacht photos were taken on Sunday, July 13, 2025.
— Nico. America’s sweetheart has a billionaire with a deck hose. If you want more summer heat on the water, start with Dua Lipa’s yacht honeymoon.
Fact-check: Scandal Planet Desk
Follow Nico on X @NicoGrey_XO for my takes before they hit the site.
What do you think? Did you think Reese and Oliver were on vacation right now? Tell us on X @celeb124.
Yacht photos: shown only through the embedded post by @Costacozy, not hosted by Scandal Planet (originally Backgrid, July 2025). Gallery: Reese Witherspoon at Nashville Film Festival 2026 and Deacon Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon at Nashville Film Festival 2026 by CaseyJNewell, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
