"Well, I'll keep that to myself." That was Ester Exposito's answer when asked if she's cheering on France at the World Cup — and honestly, it's the most telling non-answer she could have given.
The Spanish actress, widely rumored to be dating Kylian Mbappe, has been refreshingly candid about one thing: she doesn't care about football. Never really has. "I know nothing about soccer," she told Le Parisien. "I've only been to a stadium a few times in my life. At home, nobody watched matches on television."
For someone in her position, that's a disarming admission. Spain is one of the world's great football nations. And yet here she is, apparently discovering the sport in real time — partly through a film project called "Baton" where football is a central theme, and partly, one assumes, through whoever she's been texting in the France camp.
The relationship neither of them will confirm
Mbappe and Exposito haven't gone public. No couple photos, no joint posts. But Mbappe has been liking and commenting on her Instagram with the kind of regularity that makes "just friends" a stretch. A smiley face with heart eyes on June 15 isn't exactly ambiguous.
The Netflix "Elite" star said ahead of the tournament she would "probably" attend. Whether she actually shows up in the stands remains unclear — she's declined to confirm it directly. Given that she admitted she barely knows when Spain is playing, her grasp of the France schedule may not be airtight either.
Mbappe's focus, at least, is elsewhere
On the pitch, Mbappe is locked in. The Golden Boot race — with Messi and Haaland lurking — has generated plenty of noise, but he's not engaging with it. "My only focus is on helping the team and getting us back here on July 19," he said, referencing the final in New York/New Jersey.
That's the right answer. France's odds of lifting the trophy depend far more on Mbappe staying goal-hungry and unselfconscious than on any romantic subplot playing out in the background.
Who Exposito is quietly rooting for? She's keeping that to herself.
