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20 Former Real-Life Soap Couples That You Won’t Believe Were Ever Together
Wednesday, June 17th, 2020
Prepare to have your memory jogged — and your mind blown!
You know how sometimes you’ll be watching General Hospital, and it’ll dawn on you out of nowhere, “Hey, wait a minute… Maxie and Franco slept together, didn’t they?” (And indeed, they did.) Or during an episode of The Young and the Restless, it’ll occur to you that, once upon a faded recollection, Victoria and Michael were an item? (Which, in fact, they were.)
Now, take the “Whoa!” of stunning storyline-related remembrances like that, and multiply it by 100, because Soaps.com has put together a list of 20 former real-life soap couples, many of which we’d be willing to bet you’ve totally forgotten were ever an item. That is, if you even knew that they had been together in the first place!
Included in our strange and eye-opening stroll down Memory Lane are a GH heartthrob and the big-screen-bound blonde bombshell that he dated long, long ago; a pair of Y&R love interests whose romance continued when the cameras weren’t rolling; an All My Children alum and the Baywatch babe he once called bae; a Days of our Lives duo who spent a few seasons in a May/December relationship; and, finally, an Emmy-winning fan favorite for whom, some three decades back, a certain Goonie was, like the song says, good enough.
Wanna see who we’re talking about? Just click on the gallery below — but brace yourselves, OK? We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt when their jaw drops. While you’re here, be sure to subscribe to Soaps.com’s newsletter, thus guaranteeing that you never miss a story as startling as this one.
Image: Arlene Richie/JPI, Jill Johnson/JPI
1/24
<p>Go ahead and gasp — it’s true. <em>All My Children</em>’s Maria was hitched to <em>Seinfeld</em>’s J. Peterman from 1992-94. Fans of the actress (most recently <em>Young & Restless</em>’ Celeste) more likely recall her marriage of nearly a decade to her <em>All My Children</em> leading man, the late John Callahan (Edmund) — opposite whom O’Hurley acted on <em>Santa Barbara</em> (as Craig and Stephen, respectively)! How’s <em>that</em> for full circle?</p>
Image: Robin Platzer/FilmMagic/Getty Images
2/24
<p>In 2005, the <em>Guiding Light</em> Emmy winners who played Jonathan and Dinah became an item. During an interview with <a href="https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/still-bewitched-0/" target="_blank"><em>Soap Opera Digest</em></a> at the time, wardrobe stylist Martha Smith chuckled, “You have to make sure you knock on their dressing-room doors.” Tognoni married Joseph Chiarello in 2009; as of 2022, Pelphrey’s significant other has been <em>Big Bang</em> <em>Theory</em> alum Kaley Cuoco.</p>
Image: Lisa Rose/JPI, Jill Johnson/JPI
3/24
<p>The <em>General Hospital</em> Emmy winner, who plays Jason, is now a happily married family guy. But back in 1996, he was all about his then-girlfriend, the future <em>Sharknado</em> star (briefly Ashley on <em>Days of Our Lives</em>). “Two weeks after we met, I just never left her house,” he told <a href="https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/tbt-steve-burton/"><em>Soap Opera Digest</em></a> at the time. “She’s everything I want.”</p>
Image: Barry King/JPI
4/24
<p>Long (long!) before meeting husband Scott Bailey (Sandy, <em>Guiding Light</em>), the soap-hopper, who’s played Amber on both <em>The Young and the Restless</em> and <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>, dated the frontman for the Goo Goo Dolls. “He’s a good balance for her,” <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> castmate Susan Flannery (ex-Stephanie) told <a href="https://people.com/archive/no-down-time-vol-56-no-5/">People.com</a> in 2001. “He seems able to calm and reassure her.”</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
5/24
<p>Even at the end of their relationship in the early 1990s, the <em>Guiding Light</em> co-stars saved the drama for Harley and Mallet. Rumors persisted that the exes stopped speaking, but Ehlers told <a href="https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/life-beth-0/" target="_blank"><em>Soap Opera Digest</em></a> in 2004, “I don’t know that we didn’t talk when we broke up… I don’t think we ever were fighting. We just grew apart.”</p>
Image: Shutterstock
6/24
<p>From the late 1980s to the mid-’90s, there wasn’t a tighter couple than the <em>Another World</em> heartthrob (who played Dean) and the future <em>Baywatch</em> star (who during that time went from <em>Ryan’s Hope</em> to <em>One Life to Live</em>); they even did two TV movies together. And when rumors swirled that their engagement was off in 1996, she insisted to the <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1996-03-24-9604110208-story.html"><em>Sun-Sentinel</em></a> that “people just like to make trouble.” If only.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
7/24
<p>The <em>Days of Our Lives</em> stars (who play Chloe and Shawn, respectively) would’ve had beautiful babies. But Bjorlin’s mother was most definitely <em>not</em> on board with their lengthy relationship. As <a href="https://daytimeconfidential.com/2011/10/03/dirty-soaps-nadia-bjorlins-mom-on-brandon-beemer-if-you-get-married-and-have-children-i-w">Daytime Confidential</a> reported in 2011, she told her daughter during an episode of <em>Dirty Soap</em>, “If you get married and have children, I will kill you myself.” Yikes.</p>
Image: WENN
8/24
<p>The <em>All My Children</em> grad (who played Hayley) has been married to former leading man Mark Consuelos (Matéo) for so long now, it’s easy to forget that she had a life before him. But have a life, she did, one that included a brief 1994 romance with Young, then just a Hollywood wannabe a few years away from his big break on <em>Beverly Hills, 90210</em>.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
9/24
<p>Were it not for the pandemic, <em>Young & Restless</em> fans might never have known that Adam and Sharon’s portrayers were for a time an off-screen couple. “The reason why we finally mentioned it to the studio is… just so that we wouldn’t have to distance,” Case told the <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/the-young-and-the-restless/news/595945/young-restless-sharon-case-reveals-details-real-life-romance-mark-grossman/" target="_blank"><em>90210MG</em> iHeartRADIO podcast</a> in 2021, “in case the show wanted to write us in scenes together.”</p>
Image: NBC (2)
10/24
<p>Way back in the mid-’80s, before the <em>Another World</em> Emmy winner (for her portrayal of twins Vicky and Marley) made headlines for her relationships with older man Steve Martin and older woman Ellen DeGeneres, she was quietly involved with her soap castmate, the future <em>Young & Restless</em> actor who was at the time playing a pimp named Chad. Yes, <em>Chad</em>.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
11/24
<p>In the mid-’80s, the Emmy winners — then playing <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Frankie and <em>Santa Barbara</em>’s Eden — were daytime’s It couple. Alas, “it” was the one thing they couldn’t make. After their two-year marriage, the actress, now wed to her fifth husband, told <em>Soap Opera Digest</em>, “He thought I was somehow more valuable than him, and I could never live it down.”</p>
Image: Shutterstock
12/24
<p>Almost two decades after they crossed paths as <em>All My Children</em>’s Matt and Robin, the former Deborah Hunter (best known as Bold & Beautiful shrink Taylor) called it quits with her husband (once <em>Young & Restless</em> twins Blade and Rick). “There are situations,” she told <a href="https://www.soapcentral.com/bb/news/2005/1114-tylo_divorce.php">SoapCentral.com</a> in 2005, “where sometimes certain healings need to take place, and they can’t do that unless there’s distance.”</p>
Image: NBC (2)
13/24
<p>They’ll always have <em>Santa Barbara</em>. That’s the soap that paired up Irizarry (best known as <em>All My Children </em>baddie David) and Coleman (later Young & Restless’ Hope) as star-crossed lovers Scott and Celeste in the late-’80s. The couple’s real-life marriage lasted only a few years, but it left them with more than memories: They have a daughter together, Siena.</p>
Image: Shutterstock
14/24
<p>From 1992-2006 — back when they were <em>All My Children</em>’s Tad and <em>Loving</em>’s Tess (and, later, <em>One Life to Live</em>’s Lindsay) — the former marrieds were a real-life soap supercouple. In a 1994 interview with <a href="https://people.com/archive/serial-monogamy-vol-41-no-23/">People.com</a>, the Emmy winner (now a <em>General Hospital</em> scene stealer) recalled meeting David Hasselhoff’s ex-wife at her 35th birthday party as being “like falling in clover.” Aww.</p>
Image: Denis Guignebourg/JPI
15/24
<p>Daytime’s “it” couple in the early 2020s split up only eight weeks after their lavish steampunk-inspired wedding. What’s more, they were <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/general-hospital/news/621806/chad-duell-discusses-breakup-with-courtney-hope-general-hospital-young-restless/" target="_blank">never really married</a>, the <em>General Hospital</em> star (who plays Michael) revealed in 2022. “We didn’t actually sign anything.” Why’d they separate? “There wasn’t anything terrible that happened,” he said, adding that he’s “still on good terms” with the soap-hopper who took Sally from <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> to <em>Young & Restless.</em></p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
16/24
<p>Before Duell’s romance with Hope, he was seriously involved with the <em>One Life to Live</em> vet who played Starr and then Kiki to his Michael on <em>General Hospital</em>. When they split up after three years, she <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/wp-admin/_wp_link_placeholder">tweeted</a> that “it wasn’t an easy decision for us, but we’ve remained optimistic and friends.”</p>
Image: ABC (2)
17/24
<p>A decade before <em>Young & Restless</em>’ Victoria married leading man Thad Luckinbill (ex-J.T.), she divorced <em>another</em> of her leading men, the future <em>NCIS</em> and <em>Bull</em> star who played Cooper to her Steffi on <em>Loving</em> in the mid-’90s. Perhaps more shocking than that they were a couple is the fact that their son, August, is now — <em>what</em>?!? — in his 20s.</p>
Image: Brian Lowe/JPI, Jill Johnson/JPI
18/24
<p>After the future <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> leading man was cast as Carlo on <em>Days of Our Lives</em> in 1984, he began a relationship with co-star Gloria Loring, who played Liz. They were “together for three years,” the former Mrs. Alan Thicke told <a href="https://michaelfairmantv.com/former-days-star-gloria-loring-on-joe-gallison-don-diamont-the-coincidences-that-shaped-her-life/2012/10/02/">Michael Fairman TV</a>. “Don treated me with such kindness and respect,” in so doing teaching her to treat herself better.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
19/24
<p>While working on <em>Young & Restless</em> (as Ashley and Brad), the castmates became…well, more than castmates. In his book, <a href="https://amzn.to/3e8Z47r" target="_blank"><em>My Seven Sons and How We Raised Each Other</em></a>, the Bold & Beautiful leading man describes her as “a bit aloof, with a biting sense of humor.” But “I don’t think that’s the [full] impression I gave of her,” he told <a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/694825/bold-and-the-beautiful-don-diamont-book-my-seven-sons/">TV Insider</a>, adding, “That’s not the whole of who Eileen is.”</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI, John Paschal/JPI
20/24
<p>Three years after saying “I do,” the soap vets — who currently play Kevin on <em>General Hospital</em> and Ashley on <em>Young & Restless</em> — decided that they were done. But “this is an amicable situation,” Lindstrom told <a href="https://www.soapcentral.com/yr/news/2000/1211-davidson.php">SoapCentral.com</a> in 2000. “We remain the best of friends.” He’s now wed to Cady McClain (Dixie, <em>All My Children</em>); Davidson, to Vincent Van Patten.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
21/24
<p>You didn’t need to be a doctor to diagnose these smitten <em>General Hospital</em> alumni, who met while playing Britt and Morgan, respectively: During their 2013-16 relationship — which culminated in an engagement in 2015 — what the since-separated sweethearts were…was lovesick.</p>
Image: Brian Lowe/JPI, Colin Knight/JPI
22/24
<p>In 1976, when they were young New Yorkers getting their starts in showbiz, Bergman (still years away from being cast as All My Children doc Cliff) and Ebersole (the future Tony winner who recurred on <em>Ryan’s Hope</em> as kooky Lily) tied the knot. Though the marriage didn’t last, they still get along — so well that the Young & Restless star (who plays Jack) and his wife of 35 years, Mariellen, went to see his ex perform in L.A., he told <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/watch_magazine/archive/1001200/script-a-hard-abbot-to-break/">Watch!</a></p>
Image: Shutterstock
23/24
<p>Between stints on <em>General Hospital</em>, the Emmy winner spent two seasons on <em>Beverly Hills, 90210</em>, where she got involved with — and even engaged to — castmate Brian Austin Green, with whom she has a son, Kassius. Mind you, that pairing isn’t nearly as surprising as this last one…</p>
Image: Shutterstock
24/24
