Nina Dobrev: ‘I Didn’t Like Paul Wesley’ During First ‘Vampire Diaries’ Season

Nina Dobrev shocked a lot of “Vampire Diaries” fans this week when she admitted that she “didn’t like” Paul Wesley and they “despised” each other during the first few months of filming the first season of “Vampire Diaries.”

On the latest episode of the “Directionally Challenged” podcast, which is hosted by “Vampire Diaries” stars Candice King and Kayla Ewell, Dobrev dropped a bombshell when she revealed that she and Wesley didn’t get along well at the start of the show even though they were playing on-screen lovers at the time.

“Paul and I didn’t get along at the beginning of the show. … I didn’t like Paul Wesley,” she said, adding that many had asked her if she and Paul were dating in real life when the show started airing because they had such good chemistry.

The 30-year-old actress then shared that she soon realized that there is a fine line between love and hate and this might have contributed to the chemistry everyone was raving about at the time.

“[We] despised each other so much, that it read as love,” Dobrev recalled before laughing. “We really just didn’t get along the first maybe five moths of shooting.”

Nina also alluded to getting annoyed at the little things Paul did as she compared their relationship back then to a “sexless marriage.”

“When you work with anyone, or are spending a lot of time with anyone, little things are gonna annoy you about them,” she said.

Despite their differences behind the camera, Dobrev and Wesley, who played Elena Gilbert and Stefan Salvatore respectively on the show, went on to effectively portray the on-again, off-again couple for many seasons.

Things also took a turn for the better throughout the years that they are now “at a good place.” Dobrev even considers Wesley as one of her “best friends” and they like to “hang out a lot” as proven by their social media posts.

Though Nina and Paul didn’t end up dating in real life, the actress did get into a romantic relationship with another co-star, Ian Somerhalder, who also played her other love interest on the show.

Dobrev and Somerhalder dated from 2010 to 2013. When they broke up, the actor went on to marry “Twilight” star Nikki Reed.