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Dakota Johnson Finally Confirms Role Model Romance — With a Surprise Duet Cameo

Nine months after their first candlelit-dinner photos leaked, singer Tucker Pillsbury (aka Role Model) made it official by putting his girlfriend on his new album.

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BY OBSERVER ENTERTAINMENT DESK

The Weekly Observer

SEP 8, 2026 · 3 MIN READ
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Dakota Johnson Finally Confirms Role Model Romance — With a Surprise Duet Cameo
Dakota Johnson at a 2014 red carpet appearance. Photo by Nigel Horsley, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 — file photo.

Dakota Johnson and musician Tucker Pillsbury, who performs as Role Model, have finally confirmed the romance fans have been tracking since photos of a candlelit dinner first surfaced in December, according to E! News and Entertainment Now. Pillsbury made it official in the most on-brand way possible: by featuring Johnson on a track from his new album.

The confirmation came during a Chicago tour stop, where Pillsbury debuted a new song called "Love I You" that includes a flirty vocal exchange with Johnson. The track appears on his upcoming album "Chuck Timely & The Hourglass," marking the actress's first credited musical cameo and, more pointedly, the first time either party has publicly acknowledged the relationship in a way that wasn't just a paparazzi photo.

A Slow-Burn Reveal

The pair's romance rumors have built gradually over roughly nine months. After the initial dinner photos, Johnson and Pillsbury were spotted holding hands on subsequent date nights and later attending Paul McCartney's star-studded Los Angeles concert together — each sighting fueling further speculation without either side commenting directly. Tabloids and fan accounts had treated the relationship as an open secret for months, making Tuesday's song-based confirmation feel more like a formality than a bombshell.

LOVE I YOU

Johnson, who found global fame in the "Fifty Shades of Grey" franchise and has since built a well-reviewed indie and prestige-film résumé, has largely kept her personal life private since her long relationship with musician Chris Martin ended. Pillsbury, for his part, has built a devoted fanbase on the strength of confessional, genre-blending pop songs, and "Chuck Timely & The Hourglass" is being positioned as his most personal release yet.

Neither Johnson nor Pillsbury has given a formal interview addressing the relationship directly, and representatives for both did not immediately respond to requests for comment from entertainment outlets. Fans have already begun combing the rest of the new album's tracklist for further references to the relationship.

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