Yes, it's true, YouTubers Dan and Phil are a couple.

Dan Howell and Phil Lester, the longtime duo known as Dan and Phil, revealed after years of fan speculation that they are dating in a lengthy YouTube video on Monday, Oct. 13.

"Alright, let's get this over with. Are Dan and Phil in a relationship?" Howell, 34, started. "Yes," Lester, 38, quickly confirmed, before Howell attempted to roll credits: "Alright, bye!"

The British comedy duo went on to address fans' overtly obsessive "shipping" – an internet term for romantically linking two people together – which has been ongoing since they began posting on YouTube in 2009.

"Because it got so loud that we couldn't ignore it, we were being left with the choice of either address it or suppress it," Howell later said.

The duo went on to describe why they never talked about their relationship, including their desire for privacy and concern that their sexuality and relationship would be the focus, rather than their content.

Though the pair are "openly gay and have been living with each other for 15 years," Howell officially came out in 2019 and said he had hesitated admitting to the relationship because of the homophobia he experienced as a child.

"What we had was the most important thing to me and I wanted to protect it," Howell continued. "So when other people tried to grab it and drag it into the light, I felt completely violated."

The small minority of parasocial and hostile viewers gave Howell anxiety and panic attacks, and caused problems in the couple's relationship, they admitted, leading up to their hiatus in 2018. They returned to YouTube in 2023.

Dan and Phil said the official confirmation about their relationship is a "clean slate" and a "fresh start" in their connection with fans, telling them that shipping is fine, but setting the boundary that there should be "no digging into things we don't share."

The duo said they decided to reveal their relationship because "it feels like we're still in the closet," Lester said, where they are constantly censoring themselves online and with peers when talking about their personal lives, forcing others to be dishonest on their behalf or avoiding doing interviews because of the fear of revealing too much. But how inclusive and accepting their audience has become has made them feel more comfortable. "We can't live in fear anymore," Howell said.

"This is a scary time in the world," Howell continued. "It feels like things are sliding backwards because the fighting for what was important was going a bit too well, but I think that's why it's more important than ever that we are like, 'Hey, here we are, gay.'"

Dan and Phil then announced that, after years of prodding from fans, they soon will be launching a podcast. "15 years of suppressing all these stories and opinions, and they are finally going to come out," Lester said.

"We have been held back from doing this for so many years 'cause of all the past trauma and terror of what could happen in the future," Howell said. Lester added: "But if you'll have us, we'd love to just finally be ourselves and do what we love, which is really how this should have been this whole time."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: YouTube's Dan and Phil were quietly dating for 15 years, say they 'can't live in fear'

Reporting by Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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