In the British YouTubers’ latest video, the pair confirm their romantic relationship – after suffering frenzied speculation for the last 16 years
This week, longtime British YouTubers Dan Howell and Phil Lester uploaded a new video confirming they have been in a secret romantic relationship for the past 16 years.
If you weren’t a deeply online child during the 2010s, you probably have no idea who Dan and Phil are, or why this matters. But to those who formed a robust parasocial bond with the duo – who have more than 13 million collective subscribers on YouTube – this was a revelatory moment. It was also a sobering reminder of the emotional damage that toxic fandoms can wreak on their subjects.
Over the course of 45 minutes, Howell and Lester, now in their thirties, share the “apocalyptic constant stress of the Dan and Phil dating conspiracy”, where “fans” subjected them to frenzied speculation for 16 years straight. Whole subsets of the Dan and Phil fandom were dedicated to “proving”, once and for all, that the pair – known as “Phan”, à la Brangelina – were more than just friends. Online sleuths went on to dox, harass, and borderline stalk Howell and Lester; in the video, they describe even being filmed at the supermarket.
