The Vampire Diaries alums Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder may no longer play brothers on TV — but their love for each other is everlasting.
“Our TV show ended and I can’t live without him,” Wesley, 41, told Extra in a Friday, December 1, interview. “And I said, ‘Listen, our contract with Warner Bros. may have expired, but my contact with you is made from love. It’s eternal.’”
Wesley and Somerhalder, 44, starred as vampire brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore, respectively, on the hit CW series for eight seasons from 2009 to 2017. After hanging up their fangs, they teamed up to create their liquor brand, Brothers Bourbon, which launched in 2021.
“This is something we wanted to do since season 2 of [The Vampire Diaries],” Somerhalder told Extra of the brand. “We were kiddos. So, it’s pretty special, the fact that we get to do this together. It’s a dream. It’s a tough reality to create but it’s a dream.”
Somerhalder added that the pair, who blended the bourbon together in his kitchen, run the business as a “team” and a “family,” which makes the process “really special” for both of them.
“It’s my longest relationship,” Somerhalder quipped of their partnership, to which Wesley replied, “That is true.”
Wesley noted that the duo are opposites who “complement” each other in real life, much like their TVD counterparts did on screen. “Our characters were very yin and yang on the show, and in real life, we’re very yin and yang as well,” he said. “I’m sort of the eternal pessimist and he’s the eternal optimist.”
On TVD, those outlooks tended to be swapped. As they both fought for the love of the same girl (Nina Dobrev), Wesley’s Stefan was often depicted as the hopeful protagonist while Damon served as the dark, sarcastic anti-hero of the series.
Both on and off screen, the pair “balance each other,” Somerhalder explained. Wesley, meanwhile, described their dynamic as oil and vinegar, calling it something you “put on a salad and it tastes delicious.”
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Despite their unbreakable bond, Somerhalder jokingly clarified to Extra that the pair do attempt to maintain separate lives. Somerhalder tied the knot with wife Nikki Reed in 2015 and the couple share daughter Bodhi, 6, and a son, 4 months, while Wesley has been dating Natalie Kuckenberg since November 2022.
“Full disclosure, we don’t live together,” Somerhalder quipped. “But we basically do.”
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