I know I'm not the only one confused about Emma Chamberlain and Ethan Dolan's total rollercoaster ride of a relationship. Ever since the two YouTubers became friends in June 2018 (and subsequently formed the Sister Squad), fans have been feeling major sparks between the two, and yet neither viral video star will confirm their relationship status. Some Ethma shippers are even wondering whether the two are even friends anymore, much less dating, as they haven't been spotted together or interacted on social media since last summer. Emma Chamberlain and Ethan Dolan's rumored relationship timeline is complicated AF, so I think it's time to revisit it from the very beginning. (Neither party's reps responded to Elite Daily's previous request for comment on the dating rumors.)
Though both YouTubers are totally open about their private lives, their romantic lives are a subject they both tend to evade. As Emma explained during a Jan. 2020 interview with Cosmopolitan, "I'd like to open up more about my relationship. But things change so quickly — if I say something now, who knows where my life will be in three months?" Honestly, fair. However, here's what I do know about her supposed relationship with one-half of the Dolan Twins.
In May 2018, Emma joined Tana Mongeau on her YouTube channel for a video entitled "Dolan Twins Tea, Virginities, and Facetune with Emma Chamberlain," where Emma first confessed her admiration for the Youtube bros. "I was a huge Dolan stan, you know? It's not that I grew out of it. I just realized that they're too hot for me," she told Tana. "And then at that point, they became unattainable."
She also admitted that Grayson was initially her favorite, but she later shifted her focus to Ethan. "For the whole time [my favorite] was Grayson, right, and once I stopped just like looking at pictures of them and I watched the videos, I was like, 'Maybe I'm Ethan,'" Emma explained.
In June 2018, one year after uploading her very first YouTube video, Emma moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles. Before moving, she connected with makeup artist and fellow YouTube celeb, James Charles, and shortly after moving to L.A., the beauty guru introduced Emma to the Dolan twins.
In an Oct. 2018 interview with Xavier Brinkman, James explained, "Once [Emma] moved here, her and I worked together, and Ethan and Grayson just came over and thus was born the Sister Squad, the most iconic group ever of YouTube." The first photo of Emma and Ethan was posted by James on Twitter, showing the Sister Squad at a bowling alley. The first Sister Squad YouTube video was uploaded just a little over two weeks later.
A month after the Sister Squad was born, Ethan shared a photo on Instagram showing him and Emma sharing a jet ski. "happy 4th," he captioned the photo.
Shortly after, Emma did an interview at Beautycon LA with two of her friends, Hannah Meloche and Ellie Thumann, where Emma's friends were grilled about her relationship with the Dolan Twins. "Which one did you want her to date?" they were asked. Hannah and Ellie were quick to dismiss the rumors, and Emma added, "I'm not dating any of them. I'm very single."
In Oct. 2018, the Dolan Twins uploaded a video on YouTube after the bros opted to answer fan Q&As while hooked up to a lie detector. When asked if he "recently had a thing or have been dating someone," Ethan answered no, and the test immediately detected the lie. He revised his response, saying, "I guess. I guess that's what you could call it." Grayson freaked, saying, "Did you just say that sh*t on camera?," to which Ethan replied, "Dude, I didn't say anything." Neither mentioned anything about Emma, but it was at least made clear that Ethan was dating someone.
In Jan. 2019, Tana Mongeau tweeted "ETHMA!" seemingly out-of-the-blue. Random? Yes. But very telling nevertheless.
A month later, Tana took her own lie detector test, and when asked if she had any tea on Ethma, Tana answered, "Yes." The lie detector confirmed she was telling the truth, but unfortunately, she didn't elaborate.
Though neither Emma nor Ethan posted any pics themselves, some sneaky fans spotted the maybe-couple in the crowd at Coachella in April 2019.
A few months later, Ethma was caught leaving a SoulCycle class in West Hollywood. A reporter asked the two if they were officially dating, and while they didn't confirm it, they also didn't deny it. "Who's saying that?" Emma asked. "Did we say it? Not yet!" The reporter also alluded to a tweet from Jan. 2019, where Ethan claimed that Emma's lips "deffffinitely aren't crusty" in response to a Twitter troll. The reporter asked the two if they'd ever kissed, and Emma replied, "Never!"
That same day, W published an interview with Emma, where she claimed that she couldn't see herself ever going public with a relationship. "Breakups alone are absolutely the most f*cking awful thing that exist," she said. "Why would you want other people to be heartbroken with you? I can't imagine that. And also, I don't like seeing other people's relationships. It's boring and it's gross."
Towards the end of the month, Emma attended the Louis Vuitton X Cocktail Party with the Dolan Twins, and Ethan shared a photo from the night on his Instagram.
In July 2019, a little over a year after Ethma dating rumors first started, the Dolan Brothers released their new fragrance collection, and Emma tweeted at Ethan, asking "weres mine lol." Ethan gave a cheeky reply, correcting her grammar and inviting her over. "I'll tell you where* it is," he said. "My house. Now." Hmm.
During an Aug. 2019 interview with Marie Claire, Emma was asked about her maybe-relationship with Ethan, and rather than spilling any tea, she chose to stay mum. "This one's hard for me because I'm very open," she said. "There's nothing anybody who watches my videos doesn't know about me, unless it's something genuinely sacred and private to me."
In Oct. 2019, rumors starting circulating that Emma was romancing a different social media star, Aaron Hull. Just like with Ethan, Emma neither confirmed nor denied the rumors — until a Jan. 2020 interview with Cosmopolitan cleared up her relationship status. Interviewer Dana Schwartz noted there are certain rumors Emma can't deny, "like the one about a certain curly-haired boy she's dating," that are "can't-confirm-on-the-record-but-true." Translation: Emma is definitely seeing someone (or, at least she was, as of Jan. 7), and he has curly hair. The problem: Ethan and Aaron both have curly hair, though Aaron's hair is objectively curlier. (Just saying.)
Here is what's even more confusing: As of Feb. 2020, Emma follows both Dolan twins on Instagram but not Aaron. So perhaps there is still hope for Ethma after all!
