Nina Dobrev Recalls How ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Caused Split From Ex-Boyfriend

Nina Dobrev revealed that landing a breakout role in “The Vampire Diaries” eventually led to relationship problems with an ex-boyfriend who also auditioned for the successful supernatural drama.

Dobrev recalled the experience as she spoke with Jessica Szor on the “XOXO” podcast which aired Wednesday.

The 33-year-old Bulgarian-Canadian actress discussed the audition process for the show and revealed that in the beginning, she did not know that she was already cast as Elena Gilbert in the lead role of the show.

The actress recalled doing several chemistry tests with actors who were being considered for the role of Damon Salvatore, her character's onscreen romantic interest.

“The first time I auditioned with the first round of Damons, I didn’t know that I was cast so they strung me along,” Dobrev explained. “But I later found out. I was the choice but they were auditioning all these guys. In fact, weirdly enough I was dating one of them. They were gonna chose him but they ended up not choosing him but I got cast then it got awkward.”

It strained the relationship and eventually, Dobrev said, “We broke up.”

The part eventually went to Ian Somerhalder who was Dobrev’s boyfriend from 2010 to 2013.

“Then they did a whole second round and for that, we did a huge chemistry read…there were at least 10,12, 13 guys that I had to read. Three of them were flown in from London, two of them from Australia…I chemistry read all of them,” Dobrev shared.

While the actress “had chemistry with a lot of people,” the role of Elena’s other love interest in the series, Stefan Salvatore, went to Paul Wesley.

Dobrev said the success of the show, which ran for eight seasons on CW, was a "miracle."

“The vampire drama in general, there was ‘Twilight,’ ‘True blood…’ when we were doing it, I remember talking, I don’t know, everyone’s a little burned out with vampire thing. We didn’t want to be the one that wouldn’t make it. It’s a miracle. They weren’t done with it. People wanted more vampires,” she said.

In the podcast, Dobrev and Szor also recalled how their friendship began while promoting their shows at an event with other CW actors in New York. Since then, the actresses said they have remained friends and have traveled together in the past.