By Megan Riedlinger
6:00pm PDT, Apr 2, 2023
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We've all had celebrity crushes. But imagine what it would be like if you had the opportunity to date that person in real life! That's what happened with these very lucky stars, who in some cases ended up marrying their celebrity crushes. We're rounding up the awestruck admirers…
In March 2023, TikTok user Klarissa Garcia posted a screengrab of an alleged WhatsApp message exchange she had with a friend who works as a restaurant hostess at a New York City eatery frequented by celebrities. "Tell me how Selena Gomez and Zayn [Malik] just walked into [my restaurant] hand in hand making out and I seated them," the hostess wrote. The post soon went viral and as speculation about whether the singer-actress and the British pop star were really dating grew, fans dug up a clip from a 2013 red carpet interview Selena did with "Extra" where she was asked which member of One Direction she'd want to kiss. Her response? "Zayn!" (See it here.)
Keep reading to see more stars who lucked out in the love life department…
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In an interview with TeleHit from December 2014 when he was still in One Direction, singer-actor Harry Styles was asked to name his celebrity crush. "Emily Ratajkowski from Gone Girl," he said with a smirk. Eight years later in March 2023, Harry was caught on camera (see the video here) sloppily making out with the singer-actress and fashion designer on a busy street in Tokyo. Maybe dreams can come true?
MORE: Harry Styles' best fashion moments
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John Krasinski isn't ashamed to admit that he's been in awe of his now-wife, Emily Blunt, for longer than they've known each other. He told Glamour in 2016 that he'd seen her hit film "The Devil Wears Prada" 75 times before he ever even met her. "I'm lucky enough that she stayed with me and didn't realize that she had really married her stalker!" he joked.
MORE: Hollywood couples reveal exactly how they met
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Busted! Not long before they started dating in 2014, Joe Manganiello told People magazine that Sofia Vergara was his celebrity crush. The same year, he told "On Air With Ryan Seacrest" that he'd "forgotten" saying that, and by the time the magazine was on newsstands, they were actually dating! As for Sofia's response? "She was laughing at me. She thought I was crazy for having said that out loud or said it in the magazine, but you know, I guess it worked." They married in 2015.
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In his July 2021 GQ cover story, Machine Gun Kelly revealed that he had a poster of Megan Fox — to whom he got engaged in 2022 — hung up in his bedroom as a teenager. "It was from her GQ shoot," MGK said. "So that's some full-circle s***."
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Katie Holmes had her Tom Cruise crush outed by a former "Dawson's Creek" co-star! Yep, long after the couple divorced in 2012, Mary Beth Peil, who played Grams on the show, told The Daily Beast of Katie, "She knew everything about him. She said, 'I have had a crush on him since I was 15, and his posters were on the walls of my bedroom.'" That was years before Katie and Tom first linked up in 2005 (they married in 2006). This crush was confirmed by a former high school classmate too, who told the Huffington Post in 2012 that Katie would say prayers for Tom in religion class and kept photos of him hidden in her school books.
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It's long been rumored that Kate Middleton owned a poster of Prince William when she was 13 — an old dorm mate of Kate's from her boarding school days told the Mail on Sunday that Kate "would joke, 'There's no one quite like William.' She had a picture of him on her wall." Kate started dating William when they were both students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and they lived together in an off-campus apartment. Their relationship was made public in 2004, and after they got engaged in 2010, she insisted in her first interview, "No, I had the Levi's guy on my wall, not a picture of William." But the rumor persists today!
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Hailey Bieber not only dated childhood crush Justin Bieber — she married him! Yep, the star was a Belieber while growing up. She went to one of the pop star's fan events in 2009 when she was 12 — with her dad, actor Stephen Baldwin — and was photographed with Justin and her father at the premiere of the singer's 2011 movie "Never Say Never." But it wasn't until 2014 that romance rumors started. The two dated on and off for a few years and reunited in 2018 — then married just a few months later. Hailey later downplayed her crush to Vogue in 2019, saying, "I was never a superfan, of him or of anyone. It was never that crazed, screaming thing. I didn't think about it in any kind of way except for the fact that he was cute." Sure, Hailey!
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When Cody Simpson was asked about his celebrity crush way back in 2012, the then-15-year-old singer confessed that he was wild about Miley Cyrus. He told the outlet Fuse back then, "Miley Cyrus has always been my childhood celebrity crush. I knew all the words to her songs, I'm not gonna lie. I'm not ashamed about it, at all." Fast-forward seven years: Cody and Miley jumped into a whirlwind romance in 2019 after Miley split from husband Liam Hemsworth, though it ended less than a year later.
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Way back in 1998, a young baseball player named Alex Rodriguez was asked who his "dream date" might be. His answer? Jennifer Lopez! A year later, he even got her autograph! But the two appeared to be star-crossed, and the next time they met was at a Yankees game in 2005 that J.Lo attended with then-hubby Marc Anthony. But eventually, Alex got that date with his dream girl! They began seeing each other in 2017 and got engaged in 2019. However, after A-Rod was embroiled in a cheating scandal, he and J.Lo split in 2021.
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Another celebrity who was able to fulfill a dream of dating their also-famous crush? Halsey, who admitted that she was hot for "American Horror Story" actor Evan Peters before they got together. "Seriously Evan Peters stop making me attracted to alleged sociopaths and accused murderers," the music star once tweeted of the actor's "AHS" portrayals. They started dating in 2019 — and made their red carpet debut as a couple dressed as Sonny and Cher at a party celebrating the 100th episode of "American Horror Story." They broke up in early 2020.
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Jason Momoa has admitted that he had a major crush on future ex-wife Lisa Bonet when he was growing up. In 2017, the actor — who's 12 years Lisa's junior — told late night host James Corden that he fell in love with Lisa when he saw her on "The Cosby Show." He then told Esquire in 2019 that Lisa was "literally my childhood crush," but that he didn't confess that information to her until after they'd welcomed two children. "I didn't tell her that. I didn't let her know I was a stalker until after we had the kids," he said.
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Back when Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson were an item in 2018, the pop star admitted that she had a thing for the "Saturday Night Live" star way before they started dating. She told late night host Jimmy Fallon in 2018, "I had the biggest crush on him the whole time. Like, forever. Like, my friends used to make fun of me for all that stuff." The pair got engaged and split the same year.
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When Victoria Beckham stopped by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2019, she played a little game called "Burning Questions" and divulged some adorable information! Her first celebrity crush was none other than her hubby, David Beckham. The Spice Girl-turned-fashion designer cited "creative visualization" as the reason she turned her soccer star crush into her husband. David's also said that he was crushing on her — she was more famous when they met — after seeing her in a Spice Girls video in the late '90s.
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Prior to dating now-husband Nick Lachey, Vanessa Lachey had a major crush on him while she was a host on MTV's "Total Request Live." Vanessa, who starred in Nick's video for "What's Left of Me" in 2006, was apparently too nervous to even see him at work! "When he came to premiere it, I was so nervous and so crushing [on] him that I didn't show up for work that day," she told Billboard. "I called in sick." They married in 2011 and have since welcomed three kids.
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Josh Duhamel had a crush on future ex-wife Fergie long before they met — he even once told InStyle he'd had a "naughty dream" about her. So Josh made a move on the singer when her former music group, the Black Eyed Peas, filmed a cameo on his show "Las Vegas" in 2004. He told People magazine of the encounter, "After they finished rehearsing, I was walking out, and all of a sudden she was walking toward me. I was like, 'Oh boy.' She stopped. And this is so sad, but I said, in this desperate voice, 'You're hot!' The crush of a lifetime, and that was my line!" The best part of their first encounter? Fergie called him out about his very open crush on her! According to Josh, she responded, "Yeah, I read InStyle." The two started dating that year and wed in 2009. They split in 2017.
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When Liam Payne auditioned for Britain's "The X-Factor" back in 2008, he was only 14. He soon developed a crush on one of the judges — U.K. pop star Cheryl Cole. He returned to the show in 2010 to audition again and this time made it through: He was famously grouped with some other teens in a boy band that became One Direction. But it wouldn't be until 2015 — when the mega-famous music group stopped by the show's finale — that Liam and Cheryl seemed to hit it off after sharing a hug during a commercial break. By 2016, the two were hinting about their relationship on Instagram, and in 2017, they welcomed a child together, son Bear. That same year, Liam told The Sun, "I always, always had a crush on her." Despite that massive crush, the couple parted ways in 2018.
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Kanye West's crush on future ex-wife Kim Kardashian started way back in 2006! He opened up to Ryan Seacrest on the radio host's morning show in 2013, sharing that it was love at first sight when he saw a picture of Kim with then-best friend Paris Hilton. He only had to wait six more years after seeing that photo to date her: The two went public with their relationship in 2012 and married in 2014. But after four kids and nearly seven years of marriage, Kim filed for divorce in 2021.
