Nearly three months after a man tried to enter the Los Angeles home he shares with wife Barbara Palvin, Dylan Sprouse is clearing up one major detail about the frightening late-night encounter.
Despite early reports claiming the actor tackled the alleged intruder, Sprouse now says that never happened.
The incident unfolded at approximately 12:30 a.m. on Friday, April 17, at the couple’s 1920s Spanish-style home. Initial reports said Sprouse wrestled the man to the ground while Palvin called 911, while TMZ reported that the actor held him at gunpoint until police arrived.
No one was injured.
During the July 14 episode of Wildmen with Dylan Sprouse and Brendan Columbus, the 33-year-old actor finally shared his version of the bizarre night.
“I never tackled the guy, but everybody thinks I did,” Sprouse said.
He joked that he had no interest in correcting the flattering rumor.
“And I’m not correcting that,” he quipped. “I want people to think that I did ‘cause that’s cool. But I mean, for the record, never tackled the guy.”
According to Sprouse, the night had begun quietly. He and Palvin had been opening packs of Pokémon cards before he settled onto the couch to play video games.
The couple’s front gate had been left open after a friend visited earlier, and Sprouse said he did not hear anyone enter the property. His attention was finally caught when he heard someone rattling the front door.
At first, he wondered whether it might be his father, who often stops by without warning.
“All of a sudden, I’m hearing a rattle on my front door, and the first thought that goes through my head is my dad, who comes by anytime he wants,” Sprouse recalled. However, he quickly realized his father would never arrive at 12:30 in the morning because “he’s in bed by 8.”
Sprouse then joked that his first fear was that someone had come to steal the couple’s Pokémon cards after what he described as “a great pull night.”
With Palvin upstairs, Sprouse alerted his wife to what was happening. He praised her for immediately saying she would call the police.
The actor later reviewed his home security footage and discovered that it took him only about 20 seconds to run upstairs, retrieve his Kimber 1911 handgun and return to the front door.
Sprouse said he called out, “Who’s there?”
The man reportedly responded, “It’s me.”
Sprouse found that answer unsettling and asked the question again. At first, he believed the stranger may have run back through the gate, but then heard a voice coming from the garage area.
This time, the man reportedly answered, “Nobody!”
Sprouse said he kept his gun raised as the stranger slowly walked into view carrying a cigarette in one hand and a longboard skateboard in the other.
“That was my immediate thought; I went, ‘He must be kind of tweaking,’ ” Sprouse said.
Rather than physically confronting him, Sprouse instructed the man to walk slowly off the property and keep his hands visible.
“I go, ‘Hey, follow me. We’re going to go out my property. Walk slow, keep your hands out, like, I don’t want any funny business,’ ” he recalled.
The stranger complied and remained calm, although Sprouse believed he appeared disoriented and was responding unusually slowly.
“He’s really mellow about it. He’s not crazy, but I do notice that he’s responding kind of slow,” Sprouse said. “He’s definitely on something.”
Once they were outside the gate, Sprouse said he continued pointing the weapon at the man and asked why he had entered the property.
According to the actor, the stranger replied, “Dude, I don’t even know where I am.”
Sprouse said he began feeling safer when a neighbor heard the commotion and came outside. He then ordered the man to sit on the ground and wait for police, and the stranger reportedly complied without resistance.
Palvin, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child, was shaken but unharmed. Sprouse said they spent the rest of the night watching Pixar movies and eating ice cream to calm down.
“Case closed,” Sprouse said.
The couple ultimately decided not to press charges. However, the man was still taken into custody after officers discovered he had outstanding arrest warrants.
Sprouse even joked that he would like to invite the man onto his podcast one day.
The actor may not have tackled the intruder as originally reported, but he still managed to remove him from the property and protect his pregnant wife without anyone getting hurt.