YouTubers Dan, Phil Dating Since 2009, Confirm Romance

YouTubers Dan and Phil Confirm They’re Dating Amid Longtime Romance Rumors

Dan and Phil’s life together is the most fun they’ve ever had.

While fans have speculated for years whether Dan Howell and Phil Lester—who first started making YouTube content together in 2009—were a couple, the duo officially confirmed their relationship status for their 2.9 million YouTube subscribers in an Oct. 13 video titled, “Is Phan Real? Dan and Phil Reveal the Truth.” And the Internet personalities revealed they have actually been dating all along.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Dan, 34, began. “Are Dan and Phil in a relationship?” 

Phil, 38, responded, “Yes.”

Dan joked, “Alright, bye. Oh, sorry, you wanted more, did you? You want the juice? The tea? The blood, the tears.”

And Phil noted that the obsession with their relationship status might be “partly our fault.”

“We started filming YouTube videos together on the day we met,” laughing that he “would not recommend that.”

Dan added, “We signed up to be professional entertainers to create content for you to enjoy.”

Yet, they ultimately “fell hard and fast” in 2009, as Dan put it: “And here we are almost 16 years later.”

But even after all these years together, the YouTubers—who each came out separately in June 2019—never really put a label on their relationship, with Dan noting, “We just ended up living together and here we are.”

Dan Howell/Instagram

Phil even joked they’re not “technically” together because they never said the words, though he shared the two are “partners in everything.”

“It’s not always perfect,” he continued. “Don’t get into your head that we are the ideal of human partnerships.”

Dan added, “We have had ups and downs. Like anybody, if you’re a mess, we are a mess.”

“We are weird,” he laughed. “We are a bizarre example of a relationship. Like, we’ve been attached at the hip 24/7 for 15 years.”

But still they questioned if they should publicly address questions about their sexuality or  who they “may or may not be dating,” with Phil wondering if the relationship between the two is “something that our audience has the right to know?”

Dan Howell/Instagram

As Dan said, “A big thing with sharing the details of your personal life is how it affects what you do. Because Dan and Phil, the comedy duo and Dan and Phil, the gay boyfriends, it hits different.”

And even though they’ve now officially confirmed they’re together, Dan and Phil are not planning on changing their content into “couple vloggers in bed” or focus on the romance, as their main goal is still to make their audience laugh.

“We have been held back from doing this for so many years,” Dan confessed, “’cause of all the past trauma and terror of what could happen in the future.”

And as Phil said to their audience, “But if you’ll have us, we’d love to just finally be ourselves and do what we love, which is really how this should have been this whole time.”

Dan also shared that they hope their viewers “meet us with the same energy.”

For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App