The Shady Side Of Cole And Dylan Sprouse

Cole and Dylan Sprouse are well known for their laugh-out-loud antics on Disney Channel staples like "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" and its sequel "The Suite Life on Deck." But beyond their child star days, the Sprouse twins have also shown their shady side.

After their time with Disney, the two attended New York University together before dipping their toes back into Hollywood. Cole eventually entered his CW era in the hit teen show, "Riverdale," while Dylan pursued a number of creative efforts, like producing and even the beverage industry. But while each have pursued their own paths, they have maintained their individual selves both online and in public. "I'm just a very strange man," Dylan once shared with Salon. "I like the things that I like and I like supporting weird people. That is something that I love."

From making waves online with controversial takes to revealing a bit too much about the personal lives of themselves and their loved ones, both brothers have showcased different auras that have inspired both intrigue and ick within their fan base.

The Sprouse twins are known for not holding back on their thoughts when it comes to the entertainment industry, but in 2018, one brother took things further by calling out a Hollywood heavyweight online. That year, Dylan Sprouse took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to direct his contempt at actor and musician Jared Leto for some questionable behavior that supposedly transpired. "Yo @JaredLeto now that you've slid into the dm's of every female model aged 18-25, what would you say your success rate is?" the former child actor posted.

While Leto nor his publicists ever commented on the post, this wasn't the first time that Dylan used his platform to speak his mind. The actor once stood up to the writers of "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" when a script called for him to make a fat joke at the expense of his TV mom, Kim Rhodes, who was pregnant at the time. "You'd be amazed at what having your own show at 11 will do for your confidence," Dylan jokingly explained on "Radio Andy" in 2024.

Dylan isn't the only Sprouse sibling that's made some waves online. In 2012, Cole Sprouse launched a personal blog called "Coleture Concept" on Tumblr with the intent of it serving as a "social experiment." As the site took off, Cole shared his photography with his followers and encouraged them to discuss philosophical, anthropological, and other matters akin to what he was studying at the time at NYU. But the forum quickly turned a flood of Q&As from fans.

The site quickly became overwhelming to the point that the actor deleted it for good, taking to X to explain his actions. "The goal was to see how a group of people reacted to a suggestion of being observed," he said in now-deleted posts (via ColetureConceptArchive). "You guys reacted exactly how I thought you would, gaining nothing from what I said and acting like I betrayed you." He later deleted those posts too, but both his words and his old blog would remain on the Internet forever.

Even for stars that are used to handling hundreds of interviews, there have been times that things can turn sour –- even unintentionally. That was the case for Cole Sprouse, who caused fans to question his character after a particularly "ick" appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast.

The 2023 interview showcased parts of Sprouse's personality that fans online were quick to critique. From smoking indoors — for the record, he did ask host Alex Cooper for permission before lighting up — to using over-elevated vocabulary, many were heartbroken to see his squeaky clean child star image become tainted. Some even compared his interview technique to the famously self-aware yet self-aggrandizing "I'm A Weirdo" monologue that his "Riverdale" character once delivered. "I think he could benefit a lot from coming back down to earth, perhaps pausing to reflect next time he has the sudden itch to use the word 'macabre,'" one writer shared to Jezebel.

Even in school, the Sprouse brothers formed quite the reputation amongst their peers. Dylan, in particular, was known as a bully amongst his peers -– at least according to his twin brother. As Cole Sprouse remembers it, his brother was known as the school antagonist and would beat up his classmates in elementary school. "I became known as the twin that would come up and be like, 'I'm so sorry for my brother,'" Cole revealed on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast in 2023.

Cole himself also had a reputation, but amongst his fellow actors on the cast of "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody." "There were times that one Sprouse brother would be nicer than the other, especially when we were younger," Brenda Song, the twin's "Suite Life" co-star, dished to Delish. Song described how when she and series regular Ashley Tisdale were menstruating during filming, Cole would "antagonize" his female co-stars with his antics, while Dylan would be more sympathetic and even bring them chocolate.

Cole Sprouse found himself back in the spotlight with young audiences as the star of the CW drama series "Riverdale," which premiered in 2017. The actor portrayed Jughead Jones, the brooding narrator and love interest of Betty Cooper (played by Lili Reinhart). While the show was a massive success and aired for seven seasons, the "Riverdale" actors admitted fatigue with the show towards the end of its run.

But Cole took things to a new level when he slammed the show that revived his acting career. In a 2022 interview with GQ, Cole explained how the actors felt they were merely pawns in the overall scheme of the show, and whatever creative ideas he threw the producers' way would fall on deaf ears. He even revealed that he turned down directing an episode of "Riverdale" for fear of not being able to fulfill his creative vision the way he wanted to.

"We show up, receive the scripts often the day of, and we're asked to shoot," Cole recounted to the outlet. He also expressed how the "Riverdale" cast was eager to finish the show, ready to move on to the next step in their careers. The issue? At the time of the interview, the show was still airing its sixth season.

While filming "Riverdale," Cole Sprouse and co-star Lili Reinhart portrayed lovers both on-screen and off. But midway through the show's run, the couple split –- and as it was revealed later, the breakup wasn't as clean as people thought. After the pair went their separate ways in 2022, Sprouse reflected that while they each impacted each other negatively in the end, he should have exited the relationship earlier than they did. "I just felt like I had to take care of a lot of people, which was not good for me," he expressed on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast. "I probably should have exercised a bit more selfishness in that situation."

Sprouse also revealed that the pressure put on the pair from die-hard "Riverdale" fans bled into his mindset both on set and off. Said fans even sent things to his home, from gifts to death threats, which made matters worse. "Perhaps because those lines were blurred to our audience, it's hard to break those things up when life moves on," he shared with Vulture.

Dylan Sprouse has had his moments in and out of the spotlight over the years, but he's constantly had a presence online. Sometimes that presence has veered into oversharing, particularly when it came to his personal life. In 2017, Sprouse ended up defending himself against claims that he cheated on his now ex-girlfriend Dayna Frazer, but ultimately caught some flack — and confusion — for his response.

In a series of posts on X, Dylan described the two's "complicated" situation, and ironically, continued to put a spotlight on what he described was a personal matter. "By adhering to an assumption based on limited information, you neglect the complicated nature of this issue," he wrote, continuing, "The truth always has two sides, and those sides have motivations, and those motivations, despite how cloudy they currently seem, are private."

Some fans were quick to catch on to the irony of the situation, confused by his acknowledgment of the rumors. One fan responded on X, "Love ya bro, but if this is personal, don't even dignify them with a response."

For both Sprouse twins, their online habits also include calling out fans that they feel have overstepped their boundaries. Cole even has an entire Instagram account dedicated to highlighting fans and even strangers who photograph him in public during private, personal moments. The account, called "Camera Duels," serves as Cole's way of not only exposing people who try to take sneaky pictures, but also waxing poetic in his classic philosophical way in the captions. He's featured fans who have tried to take stealthy photos on airplanes, at restaurants, and even from moving vehicles. "A pro tip to the stealthy duelists: don't google image my name before deciding to pursue discretion," he joked in one post.

Ironically, Cole has also credited photography with a source of solace from depression. "I try to create as many opportunities for myself to do photography as an attempt to placate some side of myself that needs to grow," he once told fellow photographer and YouTube star Duan Mackenzie in an interview.

It's not just rude fans or random strangers that the Sprouse twins have called on the carpet via their social media accounts. The twins often take jabs at each other over their various social media platforms, a sibling privilege that the two use to joke with one another. They have spent years roasting one another online over mundane things, from wearing the same clothes to making fun of their work. "You were the unplanned one," Dylan once posted on X to egg on his twin. Cole's equally snarky response? "And the favorite one."

But it's not always sparring for the Sprouse siblings. The two also share a deep love for one another, even when their lifestyles keep them apart for long periods of time. "We're both very close, so it's very hard ... not seeing him very much," Dylan revealed to IndieWire. "When we do reunite and hang out, it's very nice."