Actors Who Fell In Love With An On-Screen Family Member In Real Life

After seven years on "Gilmore Girls," Lauren Graham took a small break from TV before taking on the role of another single mom in the comedy-drama, "Parenthood." Sarah Braverman (Graham) is the mom to Mae Whitman's Amber and Miles Heizer's Drew. In the series, Graham also shares the screen with "9-1-1" star Peter Krause, who plays her on-screen brother, Adam. Although the two play siblings in the series, it didn't stop them from falling in love in real life.

Graham has her "Gilmore Girls" TV mom, Kelly Bishop, to thank for encouraging her to date Krause. The pair obviously had a natural chemistry, but Graham told People that they were both hesitant to act on it because of past unsuccessful relationships they'd had with co-stars. But, in 2010, having worked together for two years on "Parenthood," they decided to take the plunge.

Ultimately, Graham felt that working in the same industry actually ended up being of benefit. "It's hard to explain to people when you have a fancy job like being an actor what is challenging about it. So we just kind of have that shorthand, a shared language, which is helpful," she said. But, unfortunately, their differences caught up with them, and they separated after over a decade together, per People. During their relationship, Graham took on an important step-motherly role in Krause's son Roman's life — which she plans to continue even after their 2021 break-up.

Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader play the adult children of Santa Claus who save Christmas in the 2019 Disney+ holiday movie, "Noelle." This stint as movie siblings led to a romantic relationship off the screen, as a source told Us Weekly: "Bill and Anna clicked right away. They dig each other's sense of humor." However, the source added that nothing happened between the couple until they were both single at the same time, since Hader was still married at the time to Maggie Carey, the mother of his three daughters, and before dating Kendrick, he had a relationship with Rachel Bilson, his co-star in "The To Do List."

In January 2022, sources revealed that Kendrick and Hader were dating and had been keeping their relationship under wraps for under a year. According to Cosmopolitan's math, Kendrick and Hader got together sometime between July 2020 and December 2020. With speculation about the status of their relationship rife, a source told ET that it was going well: "Bill and Anna are in love and very happy in their relationship, and enjoying their time together."

But Hader didn't respond to the comments, choosing to keep their relationship private for the sake of his daughters. "They just want me to be their dad," he told The Hollywood Reporter later that month, while Kendrick is also notoriously private about her relationships. Unfortunately, things didn't last for these on-screen sibs, with ET reporting that the two broke up in June 2022.

Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick are better known by the names Marcia and Greg, siblings from "The Brady Bunch," which they starred in from 1969 to 1974. Tales of their off-screen relationship are infamous, and the pair have both been open about their time together. In fact, McCormick and Williams had their first kiss together while shooting the first episode of Season 4 in Hawaii, the actors revealed during an appearance on "Watch What Happens Live!."

"There was so much electricity between us that I felt the hair on my arms stand up every time we got close to each other ... I thought about Barry even when I had other scenes with other guys. I used to ask myself how I could ever look in eyes other than his liquid blues and feel such love," McCormick revealed in her book, "Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice," (via Showbiz Cheatsheet).

However, their intense attraction did make it difficult when filming a scene later in Season 4 when the teen actors had to sit on the bed together. "We couldn't keep our hands off each other," McCormick admitted. But, despite their strong feelings, the on-off relationship between these on-screen siblings didn't work out. It eventually fizzled out, with McCormick saying that timing got in their way. However, the former couple are still close friends decades after their split.

Milo Ventimiglia starred in "Heroes" from 2006 to 2010 as Peter Petrelli, who turns out to be the uncle of Hayden Panettiere's Claire Bennet. Their familial status in the series didn't stop their off-screen connection, though, and the pair dated from 2007 to 2009, just a year after Ventimiglia had separated from Alexis Bledel. Panettiere had also not long ended her two-year relationship with "Laguna Beach" star, Stephen Colletti.

A family friend confirmed their relationship in 2007, telling People, "Hayden's mom adores Milo. She thinks he's so cute. She tells her friends that he's her boyfriend. She's very proud." However, to some fans, the age gap in their relationship was controversial. Panettiere was just 17 when they met, and 18 when they began dating while Ventimiglia was 29. At the time, Ventimiglia didn't want to fan the media flames of their relationship, denying anything romantic and claiming they were just good friends.

However, Ventimiglia and Panettiere ended up staying together for almost two years. Although they did not publicly comment on their split, a source told People, "They lead different lifestyles. He's 31, she's 19. She still has growing up to do and he's very low-key." According to the outlet, the pair remained cordial, and they continued to work on "Heroes" together.

Before she married Josh Bowman, VanCamp dated another of her on-screen siblings: her "Brothers and Sisters" co-star, Dave Annable. Before he met his now-wife, Odette Annable, during the show's fifth season, the pair dated for over a year, first sparking romance rumors in 2007.

When the show kicks off, Rebecca (VanCamp) is shown to be Justin's (Annable) half-sister, but this storyline was later changed by the series creator, Greg Berlanti, who said the connection between VanCamp and Annable was undeniable: "I looked like an idiot ... Here were two young people who didn't grow up with each other, didn't know each other, but they had this electricity. There was nothing I could do," he told Entertainment Weekly.

In the second season of "Brothers & Sisters," Rebecca discovers she's not a member of the Walker clan after all, leaving her and Justin free to date. The shocking twist was a welcome storyline for the real-life couple. "I'm all for breaking boundaries, but we didn't need to get into incest. I draw the line at that," VanCamp said. However, it didn't last and VanCamp and Annable called it quits in 2008, but continued working together until she departed the series in 2010.

Before she became a household name for starring opposite Patrick Swayze in "Dirty Dancing," Jennifer Grey played Jeannie Bueller in the beloved '80s teen comedy, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," alongside Matthew Broderick. As Ferris and Jeannie, Broderick and Grey portray a tumultuous sibling relationship in the John Hughes flick, but their relationship off-screen was anything but acrimonious. "I was as surprised as anyone when our relationship morphed from on-screen sibling rivalry to off-screen illicit romance," Grey admitted in her memoir, "Out of the Corner" (via New York Post).

The couple did everything they could to keep their romance under wraps, stealing away moments together on set. They were so enamored with each other that they became engaged before filming had even ended. Grey revealed that her career-defining role in "Dirty Dancing" took its toll on their relationship, though, admitting she felt unsupported by Broderick. At this point, the couple was still hiding their relationship, but the truth came tumbling out when they were involved in a serious car crash in Northern Ireland in 1987.

This signaled the beginning of the end for the couple, who called it quits the following year without tying the knot. Broderick eventually went on to marry "Sex and the City" star, Sarah Jessica Parker, while, Grey rebounded with Johnny Depp, even getting engaged to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor, before going on to share 19 years of marriage with Marvel star, Clark Gregg.

Before he was embroiled in a tangled love triangle on "The Vampire Diaries," Ian Somerhalder played Boone Carlyle in the early seasons of "Lost" alongside Maggie Grace, who played his step-sister Shannon Rutherford. Their relationship was equally complicated because although they played family members in the show, Boone and Shannon weren't actually related — and in a flashback scene, it was revealed they had a brief fling before the plane crash.

Their time on the show together was obviously enough to spark the chemistry between the pair in real life though, as Somerhalder and Grace ended up dating. The timeline of their romance is a little fuzzy, but they got together while filming and later confirmed it in interviews. "Ian's great, I adore him, although I'm only 22 — far too young to even think about having a serious relationship," Grace said at the time (via Glamour). It seems their relationship became more serious as time went on and they adopted a cat called Roo together after finding him roaming around on set.

However, their romance didn't last. After they split, Somerhalder dated his "TVD" love-interest Nina Dobrev, before marrying "Twilight" star Nikki Reed in 2015. The couple share two children. Meanwhile, Grace moved on with Blake Mycoskie and then Matthew Cooke, before getting together with her now-husband Brent Bushnell in 2016. Somerhalder and Grace have seen each other since their breakup, though, notably on the red carpet for the 10th anniversary of "Lost" in 2014. The following year, Grace confirmed that they split amicably and have remained great friends.

After shooting to fame by starring in the teen comedy "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging," Eleanor Tomlinson went on to play Demelza Poldark in the British historical drama "Poldark." She shared the screen with "The Hobbit" star Aidan Turner, who played the titular Capt. Ross Poldark. While Tomlinson starred in all five seasons of the show, her brothers Drake and Sam Carne aren't properly introduced until Season 3. Harry Richardson's Drake enjoys a close bond with his older sister in the show — but Richardson and Tomlinson had a completely different relationship in real life.

The Aussie and British stars started dating in 2017 around the time they filmed the third season of "Poldark," going public with their relationship in the summer of that year with a cute day out in London. Tomlinson and Richardson kept their relationship pretty private, and The Sun reported that they split after one year of dating. They continued working together until 2019 before going their separate ways. In 2023, Tomlinson celebrated her first wedding anniversary with former rugby player Will Owen. "One year married! Happy 1st Anniversary to you, my hunk," she wrote in a sweet Instagram tribute alongside a picture from their wedding day.

Like Boone and Shannon in "Lost" or Serena and Dan in "Gossip Girl," the relationship between Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower's characters Clary and Jace in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" is a complicated one. When they meet at the beginning of the film, they're strangers to each other. It is soon revealed that they're possibly long-lost siblings, but not before the pair have begun to develop romantic feelings for each other and share a kiss. They then try to act as siblings before they uncover that they're not related after all.

This on-off romantic dynamic between their characters was obviously enough to spark real chemistry between Collins and Bower, who started dating in 2012 while filming the movie, which was released the following year. They were on and off for the next three years until they split for good in 2015. Prior to their breakup, the co-stars seemed happier than ever. Sharing a sweet snap of Bower kissing her cheek on Instagram, Collins confirmed their bliss. Alongside it, she wrote: "Happy is what happy does. 50 shades of blush." In mid-2015, shortly before calling it quits, the pair got a puppy together.

However, their relationship may not have been as sweet as it looked. In 2023, Collins, who is now married to film director Charlie McDowell, revealed that she was in an emotionally abusive relationship a decade ago, around the same time she dated Bower. However, she did not name the ex in question.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

Joely Richardson and John Hensley played mother and son Julia and Matt McNamara in FX's "Nip/Tuck." They starred in the series alongside Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon and appeared in 100 episodes apiece. While Julia's relationships on the show included her marriage to her ex Sean (Walsh) and a romance with McMahon's character, Christian, her on-screen son Matt repeatedly gets involved with women who are older than him.

This mirrored Hensley's real-life relationship with his on-screen mom Richardson, although they only had a 12-year age gap in real life. The pair started dating a year into the show's six-season run in 2004. They were together for about a year before calling it quits but continued working together for several years afterward.

Hensley and Richardson's relationship seemed to be pretty serious though, and the "How to Get Away with Murder" alum gushed about Richardson at the time. "Joely is pretty damn incredible. She's in a different league altogether. And every time I step on the set with her, I feel I learn something," he said in an interview (via Contactmusic.com). However, the pair have said very little else about their relationship since and prefer to keep their private lives under wraps.

Most of the couples on this list fell head-over-heels for each other, even if only for a short time — but in the case of "The Partridge Family" stars Susan Dey and David Cassidy, it seems to be a case of unrequited love. Dey played Laurie Partridge, the sister to Cassidy's Keith in the popular 1970s sitcom. Despite their familial status on-screen, Dey quickly fell for her co-star. Cassidy knew about her feelings, and when the show ended in 1974, they briefly pursued a relationship that culminated in a one-night stand. However, Cassidy's feelings for his co-star weren't equal to hers, and ultimately, he rejected her.

Two decades later Cassidy revealed the details of their relationship, explaining in his 1994 tell-all: "I find a certain sluttiness very attractive in a woman, and Susan just didn't have it." David later admitted to Desert News (via Inquisitr) that he lost touch with Dey in the early 1990s, probably because he aired details of their failed romance in his book.

Dey found love with Leonard Hirshan, with whom she welcomed a daughter. They later divorced, and she married TV producer Bernard Sofronski in 1988. Meanwhile, before his death in 2017, Cassidy racked up a series of marriages and divorces and had two children: a son, Beau, with his third wife, Sue Shifrin; and a daughter, "Arrow" star Katie Cassidy, from whom he was estranged, from an affair with model Sherry Williams.

Before she infamously began a relationship with Brad Pitt after meeting on the set of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" while he was married to Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie sparked romance rumors with Colin Farrell. The "Maleficent" star played the mom of the "Banshees of Inisherin" actor in the 2004 historical drama "Alexander." While they never publicly confirmed their romance, several outlets reported that the pair had a relationship that was more than familial. They had been spotted spending time together, away from the set in Egypt and again at several nightclubs in London. Nothing came of it in the early 2000s, however, and Jolie pursued a relationship with Pitt.

Fifteen years later, after divorcing Pitt, Jolie once again sparked romance rumors with Farrell. "They've always had a deep connection. And since Angie's breakup from Brad [Pitt], Colin has been back in touch," a source close to the couple told Life & Style (via Closer Weekly). "They really like and respect each other. ... They have talked about getting together, probably in London, and soon."

It's unclear whether the former co-stars ever met up after Jolie's divorce, but it's obvious they developed strong feelings for each other after working on "Alexander." Recently, Jolie has been focused on being there for her six kids since her divorce from Pitt, while Farrell has been busy making career moves as Gotham's mob boss, Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin.