Skip to main content

For most people, being around an ex isn’t easy – especially if they are a co-worker. But Vampire Diaries stars Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder aren’t most people. After the former couple ended their three-year relationship, he moved on with her friend and co-star Nikki Reed. Now, the three are good friends, and Dobrev doesn’t think it’s a big deal.

Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder
Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder | Photo by Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

It’s not weird

Nina Dobrev and Somerhalder dated between 2010 and 2013, and at the time, she was friends with Reed. But when Somerhalder started dating Reed in 2014, many fans assumed the friendship was over since Reed appeared to have broken girl code. There were even rumors of a feud.

Somerhalder and Reed ended up getting married and having a baby together, but according to Entertainment Tonight, Dobrev is still friends with both of them, and there is no awkwardness between the three.

When Dobrev made an appearance Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen recently, a caller asked if she thought her friendship with Somerhalder and Reed was weird.

“I don’t think that’s weird at all,” answered Nina Dobrev. “I think that’s great. I think, ‘Why can’t everyone be friends?’ I think that they have a beautiful baby, and they are happy and so am I, and what’s bad about that? I don’t see any problem with that.”

Nikki Reed is a beautiful human being

When the news broke that Somerhalder and Reed were an item, some Vampire Diaries fans were not happy that the actor moved on with a friend of Nina Dobrev’s. In a lengthy Instagram post, Somerhalder passionately defended Reed and told fans to look at her Instagram and Twitter feed to see that she is a compassionate and beautiful human being.

Somerhalder wrote that if the people saying negative things about Reed were really his fans, then they would be happy for him. He told the haters that if they did their research, they would know she is a magical person.

“If you hate Nikki, then you must hate me…That’s sad,” wrote Somerhalder.

There never was a feud

As the feud rumors swirled in early 2017, Reed decided to put them to rest with an Instagram post. She told fans that all three had opted to stay silent instead of addressing the baseless rumors because they didn’t want to talk about made up stories of “friends backstabbing friends.”

However, Reed realized that staying silent was just allowing the rumors to spread, and it gave “lowbrow websites” the opportunity to fill in the blanks with false stories. The Twilight star said that she, Reed, and Somerhalder all felt a moral responsibility to young girls to end the feud narrative.

Reed considered her post to be the end of all the fake stories about betrayal and women hating women. She made it clear that her friendship with Dobrev wasn’t over and teaching young girls to hate other girls just breeds a generation of women who believe they have to hate other women.

Along with the lengthy post, Reed added a picture of herself with Somerhalder and Dobrev, calling them “goofballs” and “team Somereed.”

How did Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder do it?

When Dobrev and Somerhalder ended their relationship, insiders claimed it was because he was talking marriage, but she wasn’t ready to settle down. That isn’t hard to believe, considering the fact that Somerhalder started dating Reed not long after his split from Dobrev, and then proposed to Reed after just six months of dating.

When the couple married in 2015, Nina Dobrev was asked to comment about her friend and ex-boyfriend tying the knot, and she said that it was beautiful and everyone is happy, so she doesn’t see a problem.

Related

‘The Vampire Diaries’: Which ‘Salvatore Brother’ Has the Higher Net Worth?

“The drama is in the media, it’s not with us,” explained Dobrev.

As for how they all manage to stay friends, Dobrev said that if you are with someone for three years, they obviously have qualities you enjoy, and that doesn’t change when you break up.

“ I have an enormous amount of respect and love for [Ian]. It doesn’t change. It shouldn’t. Otherwise, why were you with them?” Nina Dobrev said.