YouTube stars Dan Howell and Phil Lester, who make up the popular social media duo Dan and Phil, have confirmed that they are in a relationship.
The pair confirmed their romantic connection, which has spanned 15 years, in a video posted to YouTube on Monday.
“Are Dan and Phil in a relationship?” Howell asks in the video, before Lester responds, “Yes.”
“One of the biggest conspiracies in the history of the internet: Is ‘Phan’ real?” Lester continues, referencing the pair’s portmanteau.
“We’re gonna talk about it,” Howell adds.
The pair then explain the backstory and rumors surrounding their suspected romantic relationship, with Howell stating that speculation around them became overwhelming.
“This became so big, we could not ignore it,” Howell says.
“It was kind of disheartening when you put so much effort into a video, and all the comments were like, ‘Oh my God, they touched,'” Lester says.
The couple, who have been making videos together for over 15 years, also discuss in the video why they waited so long to reveal their relationship.
“Is our sexuality, who we may or may not be dating, whatever’s going on between us two something that our audience has the right to know?” Lester asks.
They also describe the inception of their relationship, which spanned the entirety of their collaboration.
“We fell into it hard and fast in 2009, and here we are almost 16 years later,” Howell says. “We are a bizarre example of a relationship — like, we’ve been attached at the hip 24/7 for 15 years.”
He adds, “We are just more compatible with each other day to day than anyone we will ever meet.”
The British content creators have accrued nearly 3 million subscribers on YouTube since they first began posting together in 2009.
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