Stars Who Fell In Love With One Of Their Fans

While dating a celebrity seems like an unrealistic dream for most regular people, for some lucky superfans, their dreams came true! These admirers somehow made the leap from being a face in the crowd to a red carpet plus one for their favorite star. And while it’s certainly not a common occurrence, there definitely are celebs who have totally fallen for a fan.

Conan O’Brien found his future wife in the audience of one of his shows and Liam Payne first met one of his past girlfriends when she attended a meet and greet. Although it may not be the most traditional way for a celeb to meet their significant other, it’s probably nice to know that they’ll always be your biggest fan!

Read on to find out which stars have dated fans...

1. Jake T. Austin

Jake T. Austin made fangirl dreams come true when he started dating Danielle Ceasar in 2016, over five years after she had reached out to him on social media. In addition to years of tweeting professions of love to the actor, Danielle also attended one of Jake’s meet and greets in 2011. He followed her on social media not long after. It’s unclear how the duo moved from social media friends to an IRL couple but Jake says it doesn’t matter how they originally met.

"We're young and having fun just getting to know each other. It doesn't matter how you meet someone — on set, in a coffee shop, at school, or in the business. Sometimes you connect with people at the right moment and you just click,” Jake said in a statement.

The couple unfortunately quietly called it quits after several years of dating.

2. Conan O’Brien

Conan O’Brien met his future wife Liza Powell while she was a fan attending a taping of his show back in 2000. He says he was captivated by the fact that she was “incredibly beautiful” and he almost “instantly” fell in love with her.

“I did know very quickly. It was being shot for television so somewhere, in the vault at NBC, there's footage of me literally falling for my wife on camera...She’s incredibly beautiful so that was the first attention-getter,” Conan told Piers Morgan.

Following their initial meeting, he got to know her through phone calls, learning that she was “very intelligent, funny, and a very good person.” They tied the knot in 2002.

3. Billie Joe Armstrong

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong met his wife Adrienne Nesser at one of the band’s first concerts in 1990. Afterwards, they corresponded by phone to get to know each other and Billie Joe even routed a tour through Minneapolis so he could see her again. She eventually inspired many Green Day songs, including “2000 Light Years Away.”

“The first tour that Green Day ever went on, I met my wife, Adrienne, at a house party in Minneapolis. She asked for an address because we had run out of our vinyl. Then we started corresponding and kind of became pen pals, and having these long talks, running up phone bills. Then Green Day booked this mini-tour. We drove from California all the way out to Minnesota. Nobody really knew why we were driving all the way to Wisconsin and Minnesota to just play, like, four shows, but I was really just going back to see her,” Billie Joe told Rolling Stone.

4. Liam Payne

Liam Payne began dating model Maya Henry in 2018, three years after he had first met her at a One Direction meet and greet. The duo kept their relationship quiet for almost a year and finally made things official in 2019. In 2020, the couple got engaged. Although it’s not clear how Maya moved from a fan to a fiancée, the couple were clearly very happy together until their split in 2021.

“I feel like more than anything at this point, I’m more disappointed in myself that I keep on hurting people. That annoys me. I’ve just not been very good at relationships. And I know what my pattern of things is with relationships at this point. I’m just not very good at them so I just need to work on myself before I put myself on to somebody else I just wasn’t giving a very good version of me anymore, that I didn’t appreciate and I didn’t like being,” Liam said on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast following their split.

5. Ringo Starr

Beatles drummer Ringo Starr met Maureen “Mo” Starkey at the Cavern Club during one of the band’s performances. Although she was only a teenager, she pursued the budding rockstar and when she was 18, the duo tied the knot. They welcomed their first child not long after. Throughout the couple’s marriage, Maureen declined interviews, offering no insight to their relationship. They had two more children before splitting in 1975.

6. Taraji P. Henson

While talking about the difficulties of dating as an actress, Taraji P. Henson admits she once went out with a fan who ended up being too starstruck to pursue something serious with her.

“Hard to maneuver when you’re in show business. It shrinks the search pool. I don’t want an actor. I want a life partner. A real one. I had a guy, but cut to the chase. He was starstruck. They fall for the lady on-screen,” Taraji told Page Six.

7. John Travolta

John Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston may have been an actress and model herself, but she was a big fan of his from the start. Kelly once admitted that when she was just 16, she saw a movie poster for “Grease” and professed that she was going to marry John. The duo met a decade later and tied the knot a few years after.

"I did have sort of a flash. I came out of a film, saw the poster for Grease and I knew I'd be with him. I just knew. I was about 16 years old. I really knew it and it turned into, 'I'm going to marry that man,' and so he likes to tease me that I walked out and said, 'I'm going to marry that man,' and then did, ultimately," reportedly said.

8. Joe Jonas

Joe Jonas admits that at the height of the Jonas Brothers’ fame, he definitely took a few fans out on dates. He says he once even went to the movies with a fan and they made out the entire time.

“Yes, I’ve dated fans. I can’t say that I’ve never put a foot in that world...I remember I invited a fan to a movie, and we just made out the entire time. I don’t even remember what the movie was about. I must have been 16 or so. Afterward, I was kind of freaking out, because I thought she’d go public and the whole world would find out. Luckily, she never did, I think because she assumed there’d be another meet-up down the road,” Joe wrote in Vulture.

9. Ruben Studdard

“American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard met his future wife Surata Zuri McCants after she attended one of his CD signings at Walmart. Ruben was reportedly struck by her beauty and afterwards followed Surata to the toy section of the store where he asked for her phone number. The duo wed in 2008 but unfortunately called it quits just three years later.

10. Patrick Dempsey

Patrick Dempsey met his wife Jillian Fink when she was working as a hairdresser at a salon he frequented. She knew who he was and said she was surprised when he scheduled a trim with her.

“I was shocked. But at the same time, I was happy because he was so cute,” Jillian later told People.

Since both Patrick and Jillian were in relationships at the time, things didn’t turn romantic for a few years. Once they became a couple, things moved quickly, and three months later, they were living together. In 1999 they tied the knot and have since welcomed three children.

11. Steve Harvey

It was love at first sight for Steve Harvey, who met his future wife Marjorie Bridges when she was attending one of his stand up comedy shows. Steve says Marjorie walked into the comedy club a little late and she immediately caught his eye. He actually stopped the show in order to talk to her.

“I was late and I thought he was gonna give me the business because he got real quiet. He was just staring at me...I thought I was gonna become part of the show. He finally realized he’s gotta say something, he was like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t know who this is, but I’m gonna marry her,’” Marjorie said on Steve’s show.

Although they didn’t get together right away, the duo eventually got married in 2007 and have been together ever since.