What It's Like Dating a Billionaire: Luxury, Private Jets and a Very Strange Rule Before Sex

Writer Louise O’Neill says a billionaire romance came with luxury—but also limits that money can’t solve. In summer 2024, the 39-year-old, based in Ireland but using the dating app Hinge set to London, met a man named Nate. She learned his company was valued at more than $1 billion; he owned a private jet, a Central Park-view penthouse, and multiple homes. Messages over a week covered an “exclusive billionaires’ club,” Burning Man, and life-extension trends. Nate arranged a first date in Ireland at her chosen five-star hotel and insisted there would be no sex on a first date—until he added his own rule: Louise would have to undergo STI testing with his doctor before intimacy.