There is a certain type of celebrity couple that takes the internet by storm. Actors who meet on set — especially those who played love interests together — is a tale as old as time, from Tom Holland and Zendaya to Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield. But what happens when high-profile people escape the perceived boxes fans put them into? Sometimes, different worlds of pop culture intertwine, and we get surprising couples — like Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet or Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce — that fans didn’t see coming.
What is it about these unsuspecting couples that has the internet collectively in a chokehold? These “random” celebrity pairings often feel surprising when both partners are respective powerhouses in their own industries. For Jenner, that’s her celebrity and beauty business, and for Chalamet, that’s his acting chops. As far Kelce and Swift, he’s a Super Bowl champion who achieved the highest success in his sport, while Swift is a musical record-breaker and overall legend. When those two corners of the world meet, people short-circuit.
Not every unexpected celebrity relationship has to start as elaborately as Kelce’s friendship bracelet gesture, which landed him the queen of the pop music industry. On Dec. 29, Dakota Johnson and Role Model were reportedly spotted at a candlelit dinner together, and this one had people questioning how two seemingly unrelated celebrities could suddenly exist in the same circle.
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are one of the most iconic examples of surprising celebrity couples. The influencer-actor duo first crossed paths at Kid Cudi’s birthday dinner in 2019, a few years before they went on to be in a Saturday Night Live skit together. The rest was history — Kardashian and Davidson were then spotted out together in Los Angeles, accompanied each other to the Met Gala, and even vacationed together in the Bahamas before splitting up in August 2022.
Kim is not the only one in her family to find herself in a trending celebrity relationship. Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet have been dominating headlines ever since they were seen at a Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show together in January 2023. People love them — fellow celebrities and fans alike.
So, Why Do People Lose It Over Certain Celebrity Couples?
When NFL boyfriends and their Swiftie girlfriends have something to bond over, it unites fandoms that are otherwise worlds apart. Swifties and Chiefs fans are some of the loudest and proudest, and are following the best of the best in their respective industries, so Tayvis is a prime example of the phenomenon that is the unexpected celebrity couple.
Even if it’s not always positive, the internet suddenly becomes overtaken by how the compartmentalized social circles and aesthetics we assign to celebrities don’t hold up in Cupid’s court. Sometimes, the mere clash of aesthetics sparks conversations, like the hot-and-cold coupling of Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly, where femme fatale meets punk rock.
So, no matter how hard people might try to predict when certain actors or singers are seeing each other, sometimes it’s the two celebrities from opposite corners of the pop culture universe that become the hottest ship.