Dove Cameron's life is going pretty well right now. She's one of the main stars in the wildly popular Disney Channel Original Movie, Descendants 2, which has set some impressive viewing records, she just appeared in the Hollywood Bowl's production of Mamma Mia! alongside fellow Disney Channel alum Corbin Bleu, she has tons of projects in the works like her highly anticipated solo music, and she's completely head over heels in love with her D2 co-star Thomas Doherty. So you know, she's slaying the game, truly being the superstar she is meant to be. It's hard to imagine a time when Dove's life was much different, but before she ever met Thomas and his piercing blue eyes and sharp AF jawline, she was engaged to Ryan McCartan.

dove cameron ryan mccartan

As we all know, they're no longer together and Ryan just recently shared a super vague message with his followers that has everyone so confused.

WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHERE HAS HE GONE? Well, let's take a trip down memory lane to reflect on how we all ended up here, shall we?

Dove and Ryan met while co-starring on the Disney Chanel series Liv and Maddie, where they played a couple and they even got engaged in April of 2016. They truly seemed the perfect Disney Channel lovebirds to the outside world, being adorable as ever on red carpets and with their mushy social media posts to each other. But in October of 2016, Ryan and Dove both took to Twitter to let everyone know their love story was dunzo.

It was legit the plot twist no one saw coming.

Ryan not too long after the split opened up in an interview on the podcast Allegedly with Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss about the breakup and how hurt he was over it, but going on say he and Dove were cordial.

"It just sucks. That’s kind of the bottom line. What I’m saying is that it ended cordially. So that helps. I’m just trying to distract myself, like have fun with my friends. It just plain old sucks. It’s really hard. I still love her very much, but C’est la vie. That’s just kind of how it goes. Time heals everything," Ryan said. "I just always wanted to get married young. I took it very seriously. I’m also a serial monogamist. It was just always something that I wanted. I have no regrets. It’s not like I would take it back. I thought it was going to work out and we would be together forever."

Since this confession though, Dove has taken to social media to subtly share her side of the story with fans and she flat out said Ryan was "terrible" to her and she's so much happier in her relationship now with Thomas. So yeah, girl has moved on. So what's up with Ryan? Well, here's what he's been up to since the breakup.

Right after the split, Ryan starred in the TV musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was directed by Kenny Ortega, who also directs the Descendants movie Dove stars in. He has been working hard on his YouTube channel, where he shares inspirational words of wisdom, goes on passionate rants about things that mean most to him, and shares original songs he's working on. Ryan and Dove were the musical duo The Girl and the Dreamcatcher together and they released an EP but once they broke up romantically, the band was obviously over too. Ryan's first solo original song he shared post break up, "When You Went Away" and the super honest lyrics had everyone thinking this tune was about Dove. He sings:

Baby's got a way, she tends to exaggerate
Baby's got a way to make lemons from lemonade
Maybe it's all my fault, I'm the one to blame
But when you say that you can't stay I just go insane
There you go walking down the street not even knowing what you're doing when you do it to me
I said stop, but you turned to leave, not even knowing what you're doing when you do it to me."

This could easily be about anyone, but the line where Ryan sings that maybe it's all his fault kind of brings up the couple's breakup. Ryan was clear that Dove was the one who ended their romance, but perhaps he feels like he caused her to feel this way. Then the chorus comes into play.

"When you went away it almost killed me, killed me
When you went away it almost killed me, killed me
When you went away it almost killed me, killed me
You went away and almost killed me baby."

SO INTENSE. Take a listen:

But Ryan seems to be in a much better place now when it comes to the breakup. He was spotted hanging out and posing on the red carpet with actress Lo Graham, and if you've taken a look this Instagram account where he posted a pic of the pair, he has deleted most of his old pics, including any and all he posted with Dove.

ryan and lo

He'll be starring in Season 2 of the Hulu series Freakish as well, something else for his fans to look forward to. But circling back to that mysterious tweet he sent out, the actor has since been mostly silent on social media. He didn't get into specifics but since posting this tweet, there haven't been any updates. We hope it's nothing serious that's responsible for this sudden change and while it's unclear what is keeping Ryan away, hopefully, he won't be gone for too long. Naturally, his fans are genuinely worried about him and his well-being, and you know, it can't be easy seeing your ex everywhere all the time flaunting her new love and overall happiness around. Clearly everyone is moving on and hopefully, Ryan is doing OK.

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