Liam Hemsworth Surprises Girlfriend Gabriella Brooks in Rare Photo Together

Actor Liam Hemsworth can be briefly glimpsed in a new photo with girlfriend Gabriella Brooks that surfaced on Instagram Monday. Brooks' friend Michele Merkin wished the model a happy 23rd birthday with a slideshow of photos celebrating their friendship together. The post provided a rare look at Brooks and Hemsworth, 31, together. Hemsworth and Brooks were first seen together in December 2019.

Merkin shared a trio of photos of herself with Brooks and their friends. In the third photo, Hemsworth can be spotted peeking over Brooks' shoulder. "Wishing you cocktails and giggles for life," Merkin wrote in the caption. "Agh I love you so much. GG4L!!" Brooks wrote in the comments section. "FOR LIFE!" Menkin replied. Menkin also tagged Samantha Hemsworth, wife of Hemsworth's older brother Luke Hemsworth.

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A post shared by Michele Merkin (@merkin69)

Hemsworth was married to Miley Cyrus for less than a year before they broke up in August 2019. Their divorce was finalized in February 2020. He started dating Brooks, a fellow Australian, in December 2019. They have been seen together frequently since then, and reportedly quarantined together during the coronavirus pandemic.

Since breaking up with Cyrus, Hemsworth has lived even further out of the spotlight. In August 2020, a source told E! News the Hunger Games star's life is "completely" different now. The actor is "happy to have moved on and is living a completely different life now," the source explained. "The way things ended between them didn't sit well [with him] and he was saddened by it all. It took him time to come to terms with the end of their relationship and to process it all," the source said, adding that he is now in a "better place."

Another source recently told Us Weekly Hemsworth and Brooks "have been getting serious," adding that their friends and family are aware that an engagement could happen soon. "Liam looks up to his brothers and would love to one day also have that long-lasting marriage with a partner. He's ready to be a husband — he just wants to be super confident in his relationship with Gabriella before he gets down on one knee," the source said.

Cyrus, 28, still has some fond memories of her time with Hemsworth. Last week, she marked the four-year anniversary of "Malibu," a song inspired by their romance. "Today is the 4 year anniversary of Malibu. A song about a place and person that at the time I loved very much," Cyrus wrote. "That love was reciprocated beyond what I could describe here with freedom & escapism. I lost that home along with many others in 2018. Here is a video of me writing it in my home studio." Cyrus and Hemsworth's Malibu home was destroyed during a wildfire in November 2018 and the tragedy reportedly brought them closer together. The two married a month later.