Dan and Phil Confirm 16-Year Heartfelt Relationship
Fans of the YouTube sensations Daniel Howell and Phillip Lester have been speculating their potential romance since they first started posting videos together back in 2009. As of Monday, October 13, 2025, the couple officially announced their relationship and that it’s been this way for an incredibly long time. Dan even cites Phil to be his very first and only boyfriend.
In “Is Phan Real? Dan and Phil Reveal the Truth,” Dan and Phil give background into their relationship, how the two connected, and why they decided to keep it hidden from their audience. Both decided that they wanted to come out of the closet individually, to their loved ones and devoted fanbases, before announcing their relationship on the internet.
Dan and Phil released separate coming out videos back in 2019, both of which received immensely positive feedback; much of their audience related to their stories and found comfort in their favorite YouTubers speaking out about their queer experiences. BSU’s Dan and Phil expert, Althea Gagne, says “As an adult phandom member, I’ve waited for this moment for years, and I’m excited to engage in my tweenage obsession in the Dan and Phil hard launch era.” He says how wonderful it is that the couple feels safe now to come out to their fans, especially after the fandom’s past of notoriously toxic shipping.
The response since the video was initially released last week has been explosive. Both current fans and those who only watched Dan and Phil’s older videos both rejoiced in the news; it was incredibly exciting to see such heartfelt, supportive queer representation. It brought back feelings of both nostalgia and pride for audiences, as many have grown with Dan and Phil’s videos. Dan and Phil were, and still are, iconic comedians who shaped early YouTube alongside creators such as Rhett and Link, Smosh, Zoella, and Marcus Butler.
This coming out, despite many fans already speculating the two to be dating, has been received with such love and pride from all over the world. Overall, it’s been a wonderful week to be a phan.
