If romance is your fave genre on Netflix, then the act of squealing into your pillow while watching swoon-worthy kiss scenes might be a common experience. Most of the time, we can’t help but wish that our on-screen OTPs would live happily ever after IRL too.
In fact, our ships aren’t always far away from reality. We compiled a list of 18 on-screen couples from K-dramas, TV series and movies that actually dated, just to quell our passionate fangirl hearts.
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It’s safe to say that Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin’s dating announcement pretty much broke the internet back in 2021. Fun fact: This was Son Ye Jin’s very first dating announcement since her acting debut at 18, after 20 years.
Watching Son Ye Jin officially get together with her Crash Landing On You co-star proved to us that waiting for the right person always takes time. In 2022, the couple got married, and Son Ye Jin gave birth to their first child in the same year.
Every K-drama addict would be familiar with Descendants of the Sun, as the popular series gained over 16 billion views across 12 episodes. Following the drama, the lead actors Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo announced their relationship, earning the title “Song-Song Couple” by fans, and tied the knot in 2017.
Unfortunately, the couple divorced in 2019, but Song Joong Ki eventually found love again when he married British ex-actress Katy Louise Saunders. They got married in 2023 and had a child together in the same year.
Tom Holland hard launched his and Zendaya’s relationship in 2021 with a sweet Instagram birthday post dedicated to her. Dressed in his iconic Spider-Man outfit, the actor captioned the post, “My MJ”, and the post has since gained over 20 million likes.
When Ahn Jae Hyun and Goo Hye Sun got married in 2016 at Jeju Island, fans fawned over their dreamlike wedding photos. But nobody expected their relationship to sour over the next three years, with the couple announcing their divorce, and Goo Hye Sun leaking screenshots of Ahn Jae Hyun verbally abusing her to the media.
Goo Hye Sun even revealed that Ahn Jae Hyun told her that her nipples “aren’t sexy” in one of her screenshots, sparking outrage among fans. But Goo Hye Sun has since moved on from this incident, as in 2021, she revealed that she was dating someone new.
Funniest couple award? Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds take the cake. The pair first met during the filming of Green Lantern back in 2010, but they were both seeing other people at the time. After parting ways with their respective partners, they got together in 2011 and married in 2012.
If you follow both Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on their social media platforms, you’re probably familiar with their hilarious online banter, proving that they’re still #CoupleGoals after all these years.
K-drama fans were hopelessly endeared by Lee Sung Kyung’s “swag-tastic” character in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo, where she starred alongside the dashing Nam Joo Hyuk. The on-screen couple then got together IRL in 2017 — but it was short-lived. The couple unfortunately broke up in the same year.
Zendaya and Tom Holland aren’t the only IRL Spider-Man and MJ. OG fans remember Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone from The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, who went viral for their iconic paparazzi photos. They held up handwritten signs to bring attention to charity organisations such as the Youth Mentoring Connection, Worldwide Orphans and Red Door Community.
Despite the couple breaking up in 2015, they still remain good friends, as Emma Stone reportedly texted Andrew Garfield to ask him about his scene from Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2022.
If you grew up watching High School Musical, you probably shipped Troy and Gabriella just like everyone else. Wildcats all around the world rejoiced when Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron announced their relationship in 2005.
The pair split in 2010, and Vanessa Hudgens went on to date Austin Butler for eight years, before eventually going their separate ways in 2021. She then married Cole Tucker in 2023.
While Zac Efron remains single in 2024, he recently celebrated his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star in December 2023. In his speech, he joked that he still sings High School Musical songs while showering. Go Wildcats.
Avid fans of The Return Of Superman are certainly familiar with Ki Tae Young and Eugene, who appeared on the reality show with their daughter Rohee in 2016. Eugene first debuted as a K-pop idol from the group S.E.S., then debuted as an actress in 2002.
She met Ki Tae Yong while filming the K-drama Creating Destiny in 2009, and the rest is history. The couple welcomed their second daughter, Lorin, in 2018.
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#TeamEdward or #TeamJacob? Kristen Stewart picked the vampire both on-screen and IRL, as her and Robert Pattinson confirmed their relationship in 2010, three years after the first Twilight movie was released.
In 2012, Kristen Stewart was caught cheating when a photograph of her kissing her film director was leaked to the media. After releasing an apology statement, the couple broke up in 2013.
Despite that, they’ve now moved on and are thriving in their separate relationships. In 2021, Kristen Steward announced her engagement to Dylan Meyer. Meanwhile, in 2023, Robert Pattinson and Suki Waterhouse disclosed that they are expecting a baby together.
Ji Sung and Lee Bo Young may have met during the filming of Save The last Dance For Me back in 2004, but the pair didn’t start dating until four years after the show. The couple got married in 2013 and now have two children together. I guess happy endings do exist IRL too.
Many know Miley Cyrus from the TV series Hannah Montana, but the singer-actress definitely had the best of both worlds by starring in films too. One of her most notable films was The Last Song in 2009, alongside Liam Hemsworth, which resulted in them getting together.
The pair were then on and off for nearly a decade, even getting married in 2018 and divorcing in 2020. But it seems like they’re officially done for good now, as Miley Cyrus’ hit song “Flowers” was rumoured to be about their relationship.
Perhaps Joe Jonas really meant it when he sang “you’re the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I’m singing” to Demi Lovato when the pair starred together in Camp Rock. The on-screen couple went public with the relationship in March 2010, but broke up in May of the same year.
Here’s a lesser-known fact about Taylor Swift: The singer also starred in multiple movies, including voice acting for the Dr. Seuss’ film, The Lorax. In 2009, Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner played high school sweethearts in the movie Valentine’s Day, and soon got together IRL too.
Though they broke up in 2009, the pair remain good friends till today — Back To December was dedicated to Taylor Lautner, after all. He’s now married to Taylor Dome, a nurse from California.
When it comes to K-dramas, Lee Min Ho is a name that can’t be missed — ask around any Singaporean aunty, and they’ll definitely know of this famous actor. But not many fans may know that Lee Min Ho dated Park Min Young back in 2011, when they starred together in the K-drama, City Hunter.
The pair broke up a year later, and both went on to become widely successful in their acting careers.
Ryan Gosling isn’t just Ken from Barbie, but he’s also a loving husband to American actress Eva Mendes. The two worked together for the film The Place Beyond The Pines in 2011, in which Ryan Gosling confessed that his role played a major part in hoping to have a family with Eva Mendes one day.
His dream eventually came true, as the couple welcomed their first daughter in 2014 and a second in 2016, before finally getting married in 2022.
Riverdale actors Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart first sparked relationship rumours back in 2017, but it was only confirmed after the pair were photographed kissing in Paris in 2018. They broke up in 2019, but eventually got back together later in the same year.
However, they broke up for good in 2020, and Cole Sprouse admitted that the break up was “really hard” for the both of them due to the backlash from fans.
After leaving K-pop boy group EXO in 2014, Lu Han debuted as a solo artist in China, and also made his acting debut in 2015. In 2018, he starred in the Chinese drama Sweet Combat alongside Guan Xiaotong, a Chinese singer and actress, and they fell in love on set.
The couple decided to keep their relationship private, and are still together till today.
Perhaps the next time you ship an on-screen couple extra hard, it’s not delusional to believe in the possibility that they may be dating IRL too. In any case, we’ll definitely be rooting for them.
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