11 TV couples who had real life relationships

The Yellowstone stars were a match made in heaven, with Bingham’s cowboy-slash-country singer, Walker falling head over heels for Harrison’s ranch hand, Laramie. While the pair likely met filming the third season of Yellowstone in 2019, they went public with their relationship in spring 2023. Marriage rumours sparked the following December after fans noticed Bingham wearing a ring in an Instagram post, but it wasn’t until May 2024 that the pair confirmed to Vogue they’d married the following October. Harrison shared the stunning monochrome cover shot on social media with the caption ‘When you know, you know. 💍’

In true fairytale fashion, Goodwin and Dallas met on the set of the hit fantasy show in 2011, where they played Snow White and Prince Charming. Dallas told People magazine that falling for Goodwin hit him “like a blinding light”, and he thought “‘I’m in trouble now’”. The pair went public with their relationship in April 2012, and were married in 2014. The couple’s first son was born the same year, and Goodwin’s pregnancy was written into the show, where Snow White welcomed a baby boy named Neal. Two years later, the couple welcomed another son, Hugo. Though the pair rarely make public appearances, their social media confirms they’re still living happily ever after.

Paquin played the lead role of Sookie Stackhouse in the popular vampire drama, where Moyer played her love interest. Rumours swirled regarding an affair, as Moyer was still married, but the pair went public with their relationship in 2009 after his divorce was finalised. After a summertime wedding in Malibu, the couple welcomed twins in 2012 – all before the show had wrapped! Ten years later, Paquin starred in the 2022 drama A Bit of Light, which was directed by Moyer. The couple currently reside in a custom-built mansion in Venice, California.

The British heartthrob met his now-wife while filming the 2009 ITV adaptation of the Emily Brontë classic, where they played the doomed lovers Catherine and Heathcliff. The couple married in 2014, and welcomed their first daughter in 2015, followed by a son in 2019. They’ve also starred together in numerous TV series, including thrilling crime drama The Take and the popular historical crime drama Peaky Blinders. Riley has repeatedly gushed about how great of a husband Hardy is, telling The Herald in 2015 that he’s “great around the house” and that their relationship “works brilliantly”.

Fans of Netflix’s science-fiction hit were delighted to learn that on-screen characters Nancy and Jonathan were indeed dating in real life. Their relationship was confirmed in 2017, and while the pair are notoriously private, they do indulge in the odd press event – most recently the April press night of Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway. While we’re unsure what the fate of Nancy and Jonathan will be in the show’s hotly anticipated final season, Dyer and Heaton’s romance has proven to be unyielding.

Lively and Badgley were the ‘it’ couple of the 2000s, much like their on-screen on-off couple Serena van der Woodsen and Dan Humphrey. Following three years together, the couple called it quits, keeping their split so under wraps that the Gossip Girl cast and crew were unaware, in an effort to keep their personal lives out of their work. Lively told Vanity Fair in 2017, “...there was one point where we were just afraid of how our personal lives…could be perceived by our bosses. [But then] we were like, ‘Oh no, that’s exactly what they want.’ They wanted that, because it fed their whole narrative.’” Although the pair are both happily married to other people now, their in-real-life partnership continues to captivate die-hard fans of the cult classic teen drama.

Another couple who met on set of a popular teen drama were Dobrev and Somerhalder, who played enemies-to-lovers Elena Gilbert and Damon Salvatore on the hit vampire show. While the fan-favourite couple were endgame on the show, their real-life counterparts called it quits in 2013 after three years, though they upheld their working relationship until Dobrev left after season six. Dobrev is now engaged to former Olympic snowboarder Shaun White, while Somerhalder has been married to actress Nikki Reed since 2015, best known for playing Rosalie in the Twilight series. We guess he got his vampire romance after all!

Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts were arguably the most iconic couple from the hit television series, and the pair began dating in 2003, the same year the show came out. While the show had a quicker than expected demise, Brody and Bilson’s relationship did even more so, when the couple split after just three years. The on-screen couple got married in the show’s final season after Brody and Bilson had already called it quits, with Bilson revealing on the Armchair Expert podcast in 2021 that “They [the showrunners] totally did that on purpose. We broke up at the very end.”

While their romance may not have lasted on screen, Leslie and Harington have cemented themselves as one of the most iconic celebrity couples. The pair met on the set of the popular fantasy drama in 2012 and began dating that same year, eventually tying the knot in a stunning Scottish country reception in 2018. The couple now have two children and happily reside in a Tudor mansion in Suffolk. One Game of Thrones fan on Reddit remarks that the couple’s relationship “makes up for what happened with their characters”.

Although the couple met on set in 1998, it wasn’t until a chance meeting at an awards show in 2012 that they became involved romantically. Kutcher had recently divorced Demi Moore, while Kunis broke up with her then-boyfriend Macaulay Culkin in 2011. A month after their engagement in February 2014, the pair revealed they were expecting a baby, and they were later married over Fourth of July weekend in 2015. A decade on, the couple now have two children and recently celebrated their ten-year wedding anniversary in Italy. While Kunis and Kutcher made a brief cameo as their original characters in the spinoff series That ‘90s Show, we’re still holding out hope for a That ‘70s Show reunion…

Bad boy Jess Mariano was the second boyfriend of Rory Gilmore – and notably a fan favourite. Fans of the show were overjoyed when the pair began dating in real life during the second season, despite the couple keeping their relationship under wraps. And while Jess and Rory were not endgame, neither were their actor counterparts, with the pair splitting in 2006. They remain on amicable terms, having starred together in the 2016 reboot Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, and Ventimiglia told the Daily Dish in 2017 that he was “very happy for her” after Bledel scored an Emmy win for her performance in The Handmaid’s Tale.