Behind-the-Scenes Drama Made Vampire Diaries Best Romance Way Too Awkward

On screen, the romance between The Vampire Diaries' Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) wasn't always plain sailing – what with her falling for his brother and all that.

But it was compelling viewing. And most fans spent at least some of their time rooting for the couple. It was hard not to given the chemistry between them.

Which makes it hard to believe that, certainly in the early years, the actors couldn't stand the sight of each other.

Speaking on the Directionally Challenged podcast in 2019, Dobrev said that she and Wesley 'didn't get along at the beginning of the show.'

The Bulgarian-born actor said she 'respected Paul Wesley (but) didn't like Paul Wesley':

'I realise now that there's a fine line between love and hate, and we despised each other so much that it read as love but… we really just didn't get along for maybe the first five months of shooting.'

Despite this, Dobrev recalled how, 'everyone would walk up to me after the show aired and they'd be like, 'Are you and Paul dating in real life?'', such was the power of the chemistry between them. For her part, she put this juxtaposition down to the 'fine line between love and hate', saying, 'we despised each other so much that it read as love but … we really just didn't get along'.

This animosity ran for around the first 5 months of filming.

To see them now, you'd never believe it. In fact, she revealed that the pair 'ended up getting to a good place' and says that these days, 'of everyone [from the cast], I think I probably see him the most and hang out with him the most.'

Wesley is married now, and Dobrev says she also gets on with his wife.

So, what happened to change things? Almost nothing, it turns out.

Dobrev said, 'Maybe we had a moment where we actually connected…and he looked at me and he was like, 'Ten years from now, when we're not on this show, you're gonna really miss me. You're gonna miss these times and you're gonna look back, and this is gonna be the good old days. We'll appreciate each other in 10 years.''

And that, so the story goes, was that. The rift was healed, the pair learned to tolerate each other and (ultimately) they became the best of friends.

Source: Directionally Challenged podcast.