Is Toronto photographer Petra Collins dating Justin Theroux? We weigh the evidence

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZKEpgmglDZ/?taken-by=petrafcollins

Until this month, the 25-year-old Toronto-raised model and photographer Petra Collins was best known for her celeb photo shoots, cameo on Transparent and friendship with Selena Gomez. That was until she found herself in the middle of a celebrity gossip tsunami: could she be dating Jennifer Aniston’s ex Justin Theroux? In recent weeks, the tabloids have reported that Collins and the Leftovers leading man have been enjoying “cozy dinner dates”, among other more outlandish claims. Could there be a grain of truth in the heaps of trashy gossip? We investigate.

Exhibit A

The Vogue connection

About a year ago, Justin Theroux appeared in the pages of Vogue L’Uomo—a sizzling Hollywood noir photo spread shot by none other than Petra Collins. What does this mean? It’s evidence that they have been in the same room together (generally a requisite to hanky-panky.) Not exactly proof positive, but worth mentioning, since tabloids have made speculations based on a lot less.

Exhibit B

She’s the anti-Aniston

Collins is comfortable in the cool, leather jacket–cloaked hipster arts scene that Theroux seems to adore, and she lives in New York. What does this mean? Only that artsy-fartsy Collins may tick a few key boxes that Aniston (a devout California girl) did not: Aniston wanted to drink margaritas in her bikini with Courteney Cox; Theroux wanted to have pretentious conversations in Brooklyn art galleries.

Exhibit C

The Insta photo

By far the most compelling bit of “evidence” is this Instagram photo, which Theroux posted on February 8, one week before he and Aniston announced their breakup. In it, we see two people, Theroux and Collins, wearing T-shirts at some kind of art event (of course). What does this mean? Maybe he and Petra were just pals when they posted this photo. Perhaps this is the very night that feelings started to develop, which wouldn’t be as sleazy as you think, since Jen and Justin both confirmed that their split happened at the end of last year.

Exhibit D

The Gomez factor

Heaven forbid a Canadian gossip drama not involve Selena Gomez. In this case, Bieber’s on-again/off-again GF is a supporting character. She has been tight with Petra Collins for a couple of years now (they attended a Coach fashion show together last month), and she’s also good friends with Aniston, with whom she has enjoyed pizza parties and maternal advice sessions. Fast forward to last week when Gomez unfollowed Petra on Instagram—a pretty huge deal in the world of contemporary celebrity shade-throwing. What does this mean? Perhaps that unfollowing Petra is Gomez’s way of putting on a “Team Aniston” t-shirt.

The verdict

So far, there’s no smoking gun. But we’re not willing to totally discount the romance rumours, both because Collins (with her aforementioned art-world cred and pouty penniless hipster aesthetic) is the ultimate JT rebound, and because no individual in the world has a tighter Insta-game than Selena Gomez. If she is sending us messages, we’re inclined to take them seriously.