Keeping love alive! The Vampires Diaries, which aired from 2009 to 2017, focused on the inhabitants in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Fans quickly found themselves invested not only in the romantic relationships explored on the show, but also the ones in real life.
Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder, who portrayed Elena Gilbert and Damon Salvatore, respectively, sparked a romance in 2010 and continued to date for three years. One year after their split, Somerhalder moved on with Nikki Reed, but there were no hard feelings between the exes.
In January 2019, Dobrev admitted that she didn’t find it “weird” that she was friends with Somerhalder and Reed despite her history with the Smallville alum.
“I don’t think that’s weird at all,” the Flatliners star responded during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen at the time. “I think that’s great. Why can’t everyone be friends?”
Dobrev, for her part, found love with Shaun White in 2020. One year later, the athlete opened up about watching his girlfriend in her memorable role on the CW series.
“As we were getting to know each other, I was like, ‘Oh, I should check this show out,’” the X Games gold medalist exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2021. “There’s a lot of episodes. Not that I was mad about it, but I didn’t realize, like, how deep I was going to go. Because seasons now are, like, oh, 10 episodes. These are, like, 23 episodes a season. And I was in it!”
Although White was committed to exploring Dobrev’s past filmography, he admitted that he had no idea about the spinoffs that came from the sci-fi series, including the Originals and Legacies.
“So that’s why that keeps popping up on my suggested [shows],” he joked about the first spinoff show. “Who is The Originals? Who are these copycats?”
At the time, White also revealed how the couple managed to celebrate their anniversary during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I wanted to recreate our first date, but everything was closed,” he detailed. “I managed to sweet talk the owner of the place to open up for us. It was actually pretty fun to have a place all to ourselves.”
As for Dobrev’s former costar, Somerhalder tied the knot with Reed in 2015. The Twilight actress later shared her secret to making their marriage work, which included being invested in each other’s goals.
“I’ve always had many things that I feel incredibly passionate about, as does Ian,” the Thirteen star told Us in 2019. “We’re both really passionate people and we both have a lot going on all the time, so I think that being supportive of the other person’s dreams and aspirations and passions is important and it’s something that we practice.”
Two years later, the Lost alum weighed in on the key to having a successful relationship.
“Communication, taking time for yourself, for yourselves together,” he said on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy in February 2021. “She’s the first one that says, ‘Go, go on a bike ride, go socially distance walk with your buddies, go have a bourbon at the bar,’ you know, like, just go.”
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