YouTubers Dan and Phil confirm that they have been secretly dating since 2009

After years of online speculation from fans and YouTubers Dan Howell and Phil Lester Ready to set the record straight regarding the status of their relationship.

“Okay, let’s get this over with,” Dan, 34, shared in a video YouTube video Published on Monday, October 13. “Are Dan and Phil in a relationship?”

Phil (38 years old) answered that the answer is yes.

“I think a lot of people want to know everything,” he continued. “One of the biggest conspiracies in the history of the Internet is ‘Fan’ real?”

According to the couple – who took the nickname “Van” from their first names – they fell in love with each other “hard and fast” in 2009 when they first started recording. YouTube Videos together.

“It’s partly our fault,” Phil joked of all the speculation surrounding their relationship. “We started filming YouTube videos together the day we met. I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d just say maybe, like, leave it for a week.”

As for Dan, he never imagined that filming videos for the platform would turn into a profession where thousands of fans dissect each clip.

“How sad that we were just being ourselves. We never planned to be stars and have all these people scrutinizing us,” he explained. “We were innocently using social media, making any videos we wanted. We would post them and express ourselves.”

“I think now there’s more of an understanding that anything you post on Tumblr will be mined by your future employer,” Dan continued with a laugh. “At that time, we were just living free.”

While the couple admitted they were aware of some fans’ speculation about their situation, Dan said he focused on the gossip more than Phil.

“They wanted nothing more than for ‘Phan’ to be real, and just saying that I wasn’t one of the evil showrunners who was preventing their favorite character from getting the gay story they wanted,” he explained. “Except I’m not the writer of Dan’s show. I’m literally Dan.”

While Phil tried to explain to his long-time friend that “not everyone” was talking about their relationship, it wasn’t easy to completely hide the noise.

The couple privately said that their relationship was far from perfect. Dan said they had “ups and downs” that wouldn’t be shown in their YouTube videos.

“Like everyone else, if you’re a mess, we’re a mess. We’re weird,” he said. “We’re a weird example of a relationship. We’ve been in a relationship 24/7 for 15 years.”

But now that the YouTubers — who each came out separately in June 2019 — are sharing their truth with the world, they promise to keep people laughing online. In other words, don’t expect a lot of couples content.

“The important thing about sharing details of your personal life is how much it impacts what you do,” Dan explained. “Because Dan and Phil, the comedy duo, and Dan and Phil, the gay friends, it feels different.”

Phil added: “We would love to finally be ourselves and do what we love, which is how it should have been all this time.”