EXCLUSIVE'Him and I Are Like Yin and Yang': Paul Wesley Gushes Over Bromance With 'Vampire Diaries' Costar and Business Partner Ian Somerhalder
Brothers on and off screen!
On Wednesday, March 27, while walking the red carpet at the 2024 Garden of Laughs comedy event at The Theater at MSG to benefit the Garden of Dreams Foundation, Paul Wesley exclusively spoke with OK! about his professional relationship with his Vampire Diaries costar Ian Somerhalder.
Paul Wesley attended the 2024 Garden of Laughs comedy event at MSG on March 27.
“It's great,” Wesley said of working alongside Somerhalder on their bourbon brand, Brother's Bond. “I mean, thankfully him and I are like yin and yang.”
The duo began their bromance after landing starring roles as the Salvador brothers on the popular CW show in 2009. Since then, the pair of heartthrobs have stayed extremely close, which lead them to work on their alcohol venture in 2021.
“We are a really good combination because the things that I sort of bring to the table are the opposite of what he brings to the table, and so it becomes a really nice dynamic in that sense,” Wesley, 41, added.
“We really get on and that's obviously a very important thing when you do business,” he shared.
Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder played brothers on 'The Vampire Diaries.'
As for who else he stays in touch with from The Vampire Diaries cast, Wesley said, “I'm very close with basically everybody.”
The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star then singled out costar Nina Dobrev as someone he frequently contacts from the cast besides Somerhalder.
“I would say probably Nina second just because I worked with Nina and Ian the most. We were in virtually in every scene together, so we got to know each other the best. The two of them are probably the two people I'm closest to.”
Additionally, Wesley spilled who he was most excited to see perform at the comedy event that night, which featured Bill Burr, Michael Che, Chris Distefano, Jim Gaffigan, Heather McMahan, Tracy Morgan, Sam Morril and Jon Stewart.
Paul Wesley recently starred in 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.'
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“There are a lot of great acts here. If I had to really pick one, I would say Bill Burr is probably the one that I'm most excited for. He's just so controversial and irreverent. I love it.”
As OK! previously reported, though Wesley and Dobrev get along now, in a 2019 interview, she revealed how they did not see eye to eye throughout filming the first season of The Vampire Diaries.
Ian Somerhalder is married to actress Nikki Reed.
"Paul and I didn’t get along at the beginning of the show. I respected Paul Wesley, I didn’t like Paul Wesley,” she said on Candice King and Kayla Ewell’s “Directionally Challenged” podcast at the time.
"I remember everyone would walk up to me after the show aired and they’d be like, ‘Are you and Paul dating in real life?’ Everyone thought that we had such good chemistry,” she added.
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"I realize now that there’s a fine line between love and hate and we despised each other so much that it read as love but...We really just didn’t get along the first five months of shooting," she concluded.
