After years of on-line hypothesis from followers, YouTubers Dan Howell and Phil Lester are able to set the file straight on their relationship standing.
“Alright, let's get this over with,” Dan, 34, shared in a YouTube video posted Monday, October 13. “Are Dan and Phil in a relationship?”
Phil, 38, replied that the reply is sure.
“I feel lots of people wish to know the whole lot,” he continued. “One of many greatest conspiracies within the historical past of the web is ‘Phan' actual?”
In keeping with the couple — who earned the nickname “Phan” from their first names — they fell “exhausting and quick” for one another in 2009 once they first began recording YouTube movies collectively.
“It's partly our fault,” Phil joked about all of the hypothesis surrounding their relationship. “We began filming YouTube movies collectively on the day we met. I'd not advocate that. I'm simply saying possibly, like, depart it every week.”
As for Dan, he by no means imagined that filming movies for the platform would flip right into a profession with hundreds of followers dissecting each clip.
“How unhappy that we have been simply authentically being ourselves. We by no means deliberate to be superstars and to have all of those individuals scrutinizing us,” he defined. “We have been simply utilizing social media innocently, filming no matter movies we wished. Placing it on the market, expressing ourselves.”
Dan Howell and Phil Lester Tara Ziemba/WireImage
“I feel now there's extra of an understanding that something you put up on Tumblr shall be dug up by your future employer,” Dan continued whereas laughing. “Again then, we have been simply dwelling free.”
Whereas the pair acknowledged that they each have been conscious of some followers speculating about their standing, Dan stated he centered extra on the chatter than Phil.
“They wished nothing greater than for ‘Phan' to be actual, and me saying no meant that it was, like, I used to be some evil showrunner that was stopping their favourite character from having the homosexual story line that they wished,” he defined. “Besides I'm not the author of the Dan Present. I'm actually Dan.”
Whereas Phil tried to clarify to his longtime pal that “not everybody” was speaking about their relationship, it wasn't that straightforward to utterly drown out the noise.
Privately, the couple stated their relationship was removed from excellent. Dan stated that they had “ups and downs” that wouldn't be proven of their YouTube movies.
“Like anyone, if you happen to're a multitude, we're a multitude. We're bizarre,” he stated. “We're a weird instance of a relationship. Like, we've been hooked up on the hip 24/7 for 15 years.”
However now that the YouTubers — who every got here out individually in June 2019 — have shared their reality with the world, they promise to maintain individuals laughing on-line. In different phrases, don't anticipate a ton of {couples} content material.
“An enormous factor with sharing the main points of your private life is the way it impacts what you do,” Dan defined. “As a result of Dan and Phil, the comedy duo and Dan and Phil, the homosexual boyfriends, it hits totally different.”
Phil added, “We'd love to simply lastly be ourselves and do what we love, which is de facto how this could have been this complete time.”
