Costars Who Dated: 14 Real-Life Romances Beyond the Screen

How many pairs of costars who dated can you remember? Of late, the rumor about Sydney Sweeney and her Anyone But You costar Glen Powell became my Roman Empire. Ariana Grande and her unexpected romance with Ethan Slater on the set of Wicked had everyone talking this year. And we all finally received confirmation that The White Lotus’s Meghann Fahy and Leo Woodall are together. 

Now seemingly more than ever, costar romances are in the air—which makes me think about some of the OGs. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton fell in love filming Cleopatra. Penélope Cruz is still going strong with Javier Bardem since Vicky Cristina Barcelona, as are Games of Thrones stars Rose Leslie and Kit Harington. 

Below, take a trip down memory lane as we reminisce about more unforgettable costars who dated, both on and off screen. 

Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse Photo: Frazer Harrison via Getty Images

Set: Riverdale (2017)

Relationship duration: The on-screen love interests began an on-again, off-again relationship in 2017 that officially ended in March of 2020. “What an incredible experience I had, I’ll always feel lucky and cherish that I had the chance to fall in love,” wrote Spouse in his Instagram breakup announcement. 

Current relationship status: On the podcast Call Her Daddy, Sprouse said that he and Reinhart remain “good friends.” On the romantic front, Sprouse has been dating model Ari Fournier for two years, while Reinhart has been linked to actor Jack Front.

Fun fact: If Front’t name doesn’t ring a bell, may this reel jog your memory.

Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron Photo: Noel Vasquez via Getty Images

Set: High School Musical (2006)

Relationship duration: The Disney couple started dating in 2005 and broke up five years later, in December 2010. 

Current relationship status: After some 13 years of radio silence, last April Efron broke the Internet by following his ex-girlfriend on Instagram. In December, however, Hudgens married her boyfriend of several years—professional baseball player Cole Tucker—in Tulum.

Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray Photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

Set: One Tree Hill (2003-2012)

The proposal: Spring 2004

The marriage: April 2005

The breakup: September 2005

The divorce: December 2006

Current relationship status: The former costars, who played high school sweethearts Brooke and Lucas, don’t appear to be in touch much anymore. 

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Set: The Last Song (2010)

The proposal: May 31, 2012

The breakup: The celebrity couple announced that they had called off their engagement a year later, in September 2013. “I don’t think I realized what 19 truly is, and I got engaged at 19, and I definitely wouldn’t change being engaged. It was so fun wearing a fat rock for a few years,” Cyrus told Barbara Walters in December 2013, referring to her 3.5-carat Neil Lane diamond ring. “But now, I just feel like I can actually be happy.”

The second engagement: Shortly after the two were spotted together at an Australian music festival, Cyrus was seen wearing her engagement ring again in January 2016. 

The marriage: December 23, 2018

The divorce: While the couple sadly separated in August 2019, their divorce was only finalized in September 2020. 

Nina Dobrev and Ian SomerhalderPhoto: Allen Berezovsky/WireImage

Set: The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

Relationship duration: The pair started dating in 2010 before calling it quits in May 2013.

Current relationship status: Post-split, the pair kept things amicable, with Dobrev even hanging out with her ex and his wife, Nikki Reed.

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson Photo: Kevin Winter via Getty Images

Set: Twilight (2008)

Relationship duration: The couple dated on and off from 2009 to 2013, ultimately parting ways a year after Stewart’s “momentary indiscretion” with Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders. 

Current relationship status: The two remain good friends; in fact, Stewart made a surprise appearance at the Batman actor’s 37th birthday in May. 

Fun fact: Both are currently engaged: Stewart to screenwriter Dylan Meyer, and Pattinson to Suki Waterhouse, with whom he is also expecting a child. 

Blake Lively and Penn Badgley Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Set: Gossip Girl (2007)

Relationship duration: The pair started dating in 2007, breaking up in 2010. 

Current relationship status: Friends from afar. Both have stepped gracefully into new chapters of their lives: Lively, now a mother of four, has been married to Ryan Reynolds since 2012. Badgley, meanwhile, wed Domino Kirke in 2017. They share two children. (N.B.: Lively and Reynolds first met in 2010, on the set of Green Lantern, when Reynolds was married to Scarlett Johansson and Lively was dating Badgley. Their romance wasn’t confirmed, however, until the following year.)

Fun fact: Unbeknownst to the Gossip Girl crew, the duo managed to keep their breakup under wraps for months, according to executive producer Joshua Safran.

Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody Photo: Donato Sardella/WireImage

Set: The O.C. (2003-2007) 

Relationship duration: Bilson and Brody, portraying the iconic duo Summer Roberts and Seth Cohen, were a real-life couple for three years until their split in 2006.

Current relationship status: If this impromptu JFK meet-up in 2019 is anything to go by, things between them are good! 

Fun fact: Brody has been married to Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester since 2014, and they have two children together. 

Alexis Bledel and Vincent Kartheiser Photo: JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images

Set: Mad Men (2007-2015)

The proposal: March 2013

The marriage: June 2014

The divorce: August 2022

Current relationship status: The Gilmore Girls and Mad Men actors have a child together. 

Jennifer Lopez and Ben AffleckPhoto: Getty Images

Set: Gigli (2003) 

The proposal: November 2002

The breakup: In September 2003, Lopez called off their wedding, and they issued an official statement about their breakup in January 2004. 

The reunion: Seventeen years later! By April 2021, Bennifer was back. 

The second engagement: April 8, 2022

The marriage: Bennifer eloped in Las Vegas on July 17, 2022.

Emma Stone and Andrew GarfieldPhoto: Dave J Hogan via Getty Images

Set: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) 

Relationship duration: The pair started dating in 2011 and split in 2015.

Current relationship status: Stone and Garfield have remained close friends since their breakup. 

Rachel McAdams and Ryan GoslingPhoto: Lee Celano/WireImage

Set: The Notebook (2004) 

Relationship duration: A classic enemies-to-lovers story, the Hollywood pair famously disliked each other at first, only to embark on a two-year romance from 2005 to 2007. 

Current relationship status: Despite their rocky beginning, there is no bad blood between these two. 

Fun fact: Gosling, a repeat offender, is married to Eva Mendes, with whom he co-starred in the 2012 film The Place Beyond the Pines. 

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Photo: James Devaney/WireImage

Set: Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) 

The engagement: April 2012

The marriage: August 2014

The breakup: September 2016

The divorce: April 12, 2019

Relationship duration: Though Brangelina were only married for five years, they were together for 12. 

Current relationship status: Jolie and Pitt co-parent six children—Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh, Pax, Knox Léon, and Vivienne Marcheline—though things between them are contentious. 

Jennifer Aniston and Vince VaughnPhoto: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images

Set: The Break-Up (2006)

Relationship duration: Getting together a little after her divorce from Brad Pitt, Aniston and Vaughn ended things in December 2006, just over a year after they started dating.

Current relationship status: No animosity between these two!