Relationships
7 Celebs Who Were Friends Forever Before They Started Dating Each Other

Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Even though it seems like plenty of celebrities meet and fall in love every day, some cultivate friendships that turn into relationships years down the road. There is a good amount of celebrity couples who were friends first, having their foundation as friends build slowly to a romantic relationship. While celebrity life doesn't always mimic much of what's "normal" for the rest of us, this definitely makes sense to those of us who have experienced a friends-to-lovers situation in our own lives.

It's true that us "normal," non-public people aren't privy to all the details of a celebrity's private life, but there are definitely times in which a celebrity makes it known they're friends with someone – and that someone later turns into that person's romantic partner. The following couples claimed to be friends first, sometimes with years of build-up leading to long-lasting relationships. Sometimes, the relationship lasts for a month or two only to fizzle out afterwards. And sometimes, the friendships turned into marriage and children, and a branding empire (looking at you, Kimye). These celebrity couple relationships prove that maybe timing does play more of a role in our romantic lives than we think, and sometimes, things can work out later on in our lives with people we once deemed as "just friends."

Justin Bieber And Selena Gomez
Jesse Grant/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez met in 2009, when Gomez called the Biebs her "little brother" and said that the two were good friends. They began dating sometime in 2010, with romantic dates like renting out the entire Staples Center to watch Titanic and court side kisses during L.A. Lakers games. There were, of course, ups and downs during their on-and-off seven-year relationship including a (fake) Bieber paternity scandal and very public relationships with other people – Gomez with The Weeknd, and Bieber with another former friend, Hailey Baldwin.

Bieber and Baldwin are now reportedly engaged.

Kim Kardashian And Kanye West
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images + Larry Busacca/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

On the Keeping Up with the Kardashians 10-year anniversary special which aired in 2017, Kim Kardashian revealed how her friendship with Kanye West began. She said that she met West when he recorded a song with Brandy in 2002 or 2003. Back then, West didn't even know how to pronounce Kardashian's last name, and even said "Who is this Kim Kardajan?" Kardashian said she and West maintained a friendship even through her marriage to Kris Humphries, and she flew to Paris to see West's fashion show shortly after her separation from Humphries.

Kardashian said on the television special:

He jokes that he put on this whole fashion show just to get a date with me. So I went there and I stayed with him, and that's where we started dating. I swear from the moment I landed, I fell madly in love with him and I thought, 'Oh my God, why didn't I do this sooner?'

The pair have been married since 2013 and have three children together: North, Saint, and Chicago.

Ariana Grande And Mac Miller
Jesse Grant/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images + Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Ariana Grande and Mac Miller became friends in 2012 when he slide into her Twitter DMs. After that, "The Way" was born – a duet between the singer and rapper, which even featured the two making out in the song's music video. Their friendship grew stronger in 2016 with another duet titled "My Favorite Part" and they were officially a couple at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. Miller stayed by Grande's side in the aftermath of the Manchester terrorist attack at her concert, and returned to the city to perform with her for her benefit concert.

Their split was announced in May 2018, and Grande is now engaged to Saturday Night Live start Pete Davidson.

Joe Jonas And Demi Lovato
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images + Ari Perilstein/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato met while filming 2009 Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock when the two were co-stars. The two remained friends until their public relationship in 2010 and Lovato said they dated for "a month or two."

In October 2017, Lovato was in a YouTube video reacting to childhood videos. When watching a scene between her and Jonas from Camp Rock, she said that was the moment she fell in love with him IRL and the two shared their first kiss when acting on-screen.

Samira Wiley And Lauren Morelli
Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Samira Wiley and Lauren Morelli met on the Orange is the New Black set in December 2012, where Wiley was an actress and Morelli a writer. They had an instant connection and bonded through friendship while Morelli navigated questioning her sexuality while married to a man.

Wiley told Bust Magazine for its April/May 2018 issue:

I remember those first months with her, trying to figure out her journey with her own sexuality. Feeling like she picked me as the person she was going to talk to about all of it. And it wasn’t sexual, it was just like a friend. There was something deeply intimate about that, whether there was sexual tension there or not. The deep intimacy of being two people talking about the core of who we are. Talking about our journeys. Not even necessarily flirting on set, but on the phone, thousands of miles apart, talking about Who are we? And does this make me a different person? Does this actually make me who I am now? That’s how we fell in love.

Wiley and Morelli married on March 25, 2017.

Emily Ratajkowski And Sebastian Bear-McClard
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images + Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Model, actress, and feminist activist Emily Ratajkowski married longtime friend Sebastian Bear-McClard in a wedding ceremony at New York City City Hall on Feb. 23.

"Emily has known Sebastian for years," a source told Us Weekly. "They were all in a friend group … He wasn’t a stranger."

Also in their friend group? Instagram famous meme-maker The Fat Jew.

Ashley Iaconetti And Jared Haibon
David Livingston/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images + Rachel Murray/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon became friends through filming Bachelor in Paradise in 2015. Post-show, they ran through the same friend circle with other Bachelor alums. Iaconetti herself admitted on plenty occasions to harboring feelings for Haibon throughout their three-year friendship. The pair made their romantic relationship public in May 2018, and got publicly engaged back where they first met – on the Bachelor in Paradise set, in a soon-to-be aired episode.

Check out the entire Gen Why series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

Check out the “Best of Elite Daily” stream in the Bustle App for more stories just like this!