Skip to main content

Actor Nina Dobrev came to fame in 2009 when she snagged the starring role as Elena Gilbert on the long-running CW series, The Vampire Diaries. The gothic teen series was set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls and followed Elena and her younger brother, Jeremy, who were living with their aunt after losing both of their parents in a tragic car accident.

As Elena struggles to find some normalcy and rekindle her friendships, the mysterious Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) comes to town. Drawn to the brooding and mysterious Stefan, Elena doesn’t realize that he’s hiding a secret — he’s a vampire. Stefan is also trying to stay off of his diabolical brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) radar.

Things got explosive when Damon comes to town and finds himself unwittingly intrigued by Elena. Most of the series involved the love triangle between Elena, Stefan, and Damon. However, Dobrev revealed which Salvatore brother she would choose if she could.

Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley didn’t get along at first

Despite their explosive chemistry as Elena and Stefan, Dobrev and Wesley did not get along at first. During an episode of the Directionally Challenged podcast Dobrev revealed that though they are best friends now, she and Wesley did not see eye to eye at first. She explained,

Paul and I didn’t get along at the beginning of the show. I respected Paul Wesley, I didn’t like Paul Wesley. I remember everyone would walk up to me after the show aired and they’d be like, ‘Are you and Paul dating in real life?’ Everyone thought that we had such good chemistry. I realize now that there’s a fine line between love and hate and we despised each other so much that it read as love. We really just didn’t get along the first five months of shooting.

Thankfully those first few inklings of tension only last a few months.

Nina Dobrev dated Ian Somerhalder for some time

While Dobrev and Wesley have only ever been friends, she did date her other co-star, Somerhadler for quite some time. The pair began dating not long after the series debuted and the continued on as a couple for several years.

Thankfully, there was no ill-will between the pair since they had to continue working together after their breakup. In fact, Dobrev is still friendly with Somerhalder and his now-wife, Nikki Reed.

“I don’t think that’s weird at all,” Dobrev spoke about her friendship with the couple on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. “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.”

Related

‘Vampire Diaries’ Star Nina Dobrev Settles Paul Wesley Hate Rumors Once and For All

Nina Dobrev says she would date this Salvatore brother from ‘The Vampire Diaries’

Though she’s friends with both of her former co-stars and her TVD character Elaina dated both of the Salvatore brothers, Dobrev only has eyes for one, and it’s not who you’d expect.

Recently, Somerhalder and Wesley met up to introduce their new bourbon line, Brother’s Bond. E! News snagged a photo from the actor’s convo and captioned it, “POV: You’re Elena on The Vampire Diaries. Who are you choosing?” They also tagged Dobrev asking her to chime in.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower actor quipped, “the bourbon,” with winky face emoji which was honestly the perfect response.