“Didn’t press charges; he got in the slammer because of his previous arrest warrants, and I want to have him on the pod,” Sprouse said of the unwanted visitor
Credit: Andreas Rentz/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Dylan Sprouse shared that he had a gun when he confronted the man who trespassed on his and wife Barbara Palvin’s Los Angeles property in April 2026
- Sprouse clarified he never tackled the trespasser but joked he’s fine with people thinking he did
- He and Palvin, who is pregnant with the couple’s first baby, were unharmed and later watched Pixar movies and ate ice cream to unwind after the incident
Nearly three months after a man tried to enter his and his wife Barbara Palvin’s Los Angeles home, Dylan Sprouse is clarifying what exactly happened that night.
It was initially reported that around 12:30 a.m. local time on Friday, April 17, Sprouse tackled the intruder to the ground as Palvin called 911 to report the incident, according to The Los Angeles Times, citing sources.
TMZ reported that Sprouse, 33, held the trespasser down at gunpoint until police arrived after he failed to make it inside the couple’s 1920s Spanish-style home. No one was injured in the incident.
On the Tuesday, July 14 episode of Wildmen with Dylan Sprouse and Brendan Columbus, Sprouse clarified that he “never tackled the guy, but everybody thinks I did.”
“And I’m not correcting that,” he quipped. “I’m not saying this to put the record straight right now. I want people to think that I did ‘cause that’s cool. But I mean, for the record, never tackled the guy.”
Sprouse then shared his version of events by explaining that he and Palvin had been opening packs of Pokémon cards that night, and that he was lying on the couch playing video games when he heard something strange.
Sprouse said he initially didn’t hear the intruder coming through the gate, which had been opened after a friend had visited the home.
“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, [but] he would never show up at 12:30 [am], because he’s in bed by 8,” said Sprouse.
He then shared that his “first impulse” was thinking that someone was breaking in to steal their Pokémon cards because they had just had “a great pull night.”
Noting that his wife was upstairs, Sprouse said he told her what was going on and praised her for immediately saying she would call the police.
Credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty
The Beautiful Wedding actor said that he reviewed his home security camera’s footage and found that it took only 20 seconds for him to go upstairs to retrieve his gun, a Kimber 1911, and make it out to the front door of the home to confront the intruder.
Sprouse added that he initially asked the man, “Who’s there?” and the intruder replied, “It’s me,” which he noted was a “weird thing to say.”
“‘So I’m standing by the side, and I go, ‘Who’s there?’ again,” said Sprouse. “I thought at first he was outside, like he ran out my gate again, but I hear him from my garage area, and he goes, ‘Nobody!’ ”
“And I know he’s over there, so I have my gun raised and he walks out and the first thing I notice [as] he comes into the light, he’s walking really slow [and] he has a cigarette in one hand and he’s got a longboard skateboard in the other. That was my immediate thought; I went, ‘He must be kind of tweaking,’ ” Sprouse continued.
Credit: Michael Tullberg/Getty
“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,’ ” said Sprouse. “So, he complies. He’s really mellow about it. He’s not crazy, but I do notice that he’s responding kind of slow. He’s definitely on something.”
Sprouse said the two then went outside his gate while he still had the gun pointed at the intruder. He said he asked the man what he was thinking, and claimed that he responded, saying, “Dude, I don’t even know where I am.”
The actor added that he felt a “lot safer” after he was approached by a neighbor who heard the commotion. He says that he ended up telling the intruder to sit on the ground until the police arrived, and the suspect complied.
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He said that Palvin, who is pregnant with the couple’s first baby, was “okay” after the experience and the two ended up watching Pixar movies and eating ice cream to decompress.
“Case closed,” said Sprouse of the intruder. “Didn’t press charges; he got in the slammer because of his previous arrest warrants and I want to have him on the pod.”
At the time, it was confirmed that Palvin and Sprouse chose not to file charges against the intruder, who was taken into custody on outstanding warrants.
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