These Celebs Have Been Best Friends Since Childhood
;In Hollywood, it can be difficult for celebs to determine who their real friends are. Their most loyal pals tend to be those they've known for many years and before they became famous. Many celebrity BFFs met when they were children. Some have weathered tough times over the years, but others have never wavered on their affection for one another. From Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake's bromance to Demi and Selena's Disney days, this list is full of celebs who have been BFFs since day one. Wait until you see who has been friends for over 30 years!
Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake
Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake met in 1993 when they both appeared on Disney's The Mickey Mouse Club. The variety show featured a lot of different kids as Mouseketeers, who would sing in front of a live studio audience. Many former Mouseketeers are still popular today, like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
At one point during filming, Timberlake's mom was actually Gosling's legal guardian until his mother was able to move from Canada to Florida. So for six months, the pair were practically brothers! In 2011, Timberlake told Ellen DeGeneres, “We used to do terrible things. We thought we were so cool."
Chaz Bono and Jennifer Aniston
Chaz Bono and Jennifer Aniston attended the same high school in New York and were quite close when they were young adults. They both attended LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and the photo above was actually taken while they posed in a locker room at their high school in 1987.
The Friends star told Allure magazine in 2011, "Every day a group of us would go to Chaz's house after school. I haven't spoken to him in awhile." The pair were friends before Chaz made the transition to become a man. He underwent a female-to-male gender transition between 2008 and 2010.
Elijah Wood and Macauley Culkin
Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin met on the set of The Good Son and have been friends ever since. In the 1993 thriller, Mark (played by Wood) goes to live with his cousin Henry (Culkin) after the death of his mom. Everything seems to be going fine until it's revealed that Henry has a fascination with death.
Today, Wood is most known for playing Frodo Baggins in the Lord Of The Rings franchise, while Culkin is best known for his portrayal of Kevin McCallister in the Home Alone films. While the BFFs have been very busy with their personal lives and careers, they have still managed to stay friends over the years.
Maya Rudolph and Gwyneth Paltrow
Maya Rudolph (pictured on the far left) and Gwyneth Paltrow (far right) have been pals since they were just seven years old. Their dads both graduated from Tulane University and moved to Los Angeles to start their careers in Hollywood. The pair attended the same elementary school and acted together in the school play "The Nightingale."
Paltrow played the nightingale, and Rudolph was the maid. Paltrow moved back to New York when she was 11, but the pair remained friends despite the distance. In 2001, Paltrow dedicated her SNL dialogue to Rudolph and shared the photo of the two of them from fifth grade.
Nicolas Cage and Sean Penn
Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage have been friends since before either of them had successful acting careers-but their friendship became cemented after they co-starred in the 1984 film Racing With The Moon. The duo has been friends for over 30 years, but their friendship hit a rough patch in 2001.
During this time, Penn criticized Cage for "selling out" by making movies such as Con Air. In response, Cage said, "He's paying a little too much attention to my career, I think. I'm not thinking too much about what he's doing, you know." Despite Penn's criticism, the two remain on good terms today.
Drew Barrymore and Courtney Love
Singer Courtney Love and actress Drew Barrymore have been friends for more than 30 years. They met when Drew was about eight years old and Courtney was 19. According to Love, the pair met while she was smoking in a bathroom. The pair is so close that Barrymore is the godmother of Love and Kurt Cobain's daughter, Frances Bean.
Since their initial meeting, Barrymore has gone on to star in more than 45 films and a handful of TV films and series. She's even been behind the camera, producing hit movies like Charlie's Angels and He's Just Not That Into You. Love has had a rocky, yet successful career and has starred in more than a dozen movies since 1981. The next BFFs are two of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs.
Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire have been friends for nearly 30 years. The pair met in the late '80s while auditioning for the series Parenthood and have been friends ever since. They first worked together on the film This Boy's Life in 1993 and then again in 2013 film The Great Gatsby.
The pair is often photographed hanging out together and is part of what is known in Hollywood as the "Wolf Pack" alongside Lukas Haas and Vincent Laresca. When Maguire split up with his wife Jennifer Meyer, the newly single star spent even more time with his acting buddy, who has never been married.
Tyra Banks and Kimora Lee Simmons
Tyra Banks and Kimora Lee Simmons met in the early '90s when they were working as models for Chanel and remain pals to this day. Banks is even godmother to Simmon’s daughter Ming Lee.
In 2008, the BFFs met then-President Barack Obama and Kimora embarrassed Tyra. The host of America's Next Top Model recalled Obama: "I have to apologize for my friend. She’s almost like family, I’ve known her since I was 17 years old, and with family, you love them but sometimes you want to say that you’re not related to them.’ And he said, ‘What are you talking about? You don’t think that I could be down and talk crazy like that?"
Amanda Seyfried and Mae Whitman
Actresses Amanda Seyfried and Mae Whitman have been friends since childhood. They didn't let fame come between them and are often photographed side by side at red carpet events. Amanda launched her career by appearing in daytime soap operas like All My Children and As the World Turns, but she became a household name after appearing in Mean Girls.
Since then she's beefed up her acting resume starring in numerous other roles. Mae has appeared in TV shows like the cult-classic Arrested Development and Parenthood as well as a long list of films including The Duff, Independence Day, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
Director Wes Anderson and actor Owen Wilson met in a playwriting class in college. "There was this thing where everybody, about nine of us, sat around a table and discussed plays," Anderson told AMC. "And I always sat in one corner, not really at the table, and Owen always sat in another corner, not really at the table, and we never spoke the whole semester."
While Wilson was initially shy, they later became roommates and eventually made a few films together, starting with 1996's Bottle Rocket about three rich kids who become small-time crooks. The pair has been good friends ever since and Owen is in all of Anderson's movies.
Brad Pitt and Christina Applegate
Actors Brad Pitt and Christina Applegate have been friends since they were young adults trying to break into the Hollywood scene. They even briefly dated in 1989. But it wasn't meant to be and Applegate actually ditched Pitt during the middle of a date to be with another guy—that's right—mid-date!
If you're wondering who the actress ditched the handsome star for, it was Sebastian Bach, the former singer of Skid Row). While Pitt and Applegate never hooked up again, they stayed friends. Both Pitt and Applegate went on to have lengthy acting careers in Hollywood and are still acting today. Can you guess which '90s pop stars are still friends today?
Britney Spears and AJ McLean
Britney Spears and A.J. McLean have something in common that most don't: they were both ridiculously famous '90s pop stars. Although Spears is still making music to this day and McLean isn't in the spotlight anymore, the two have remained buds. In 2016, McLean went to watch Spears perform at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, telling Us Weekly, “Her body's back! She looks fantastic! Britney's back, man.”
He added, "She's doing fantastic, dude. She was on her A game. She looked good, she sounded good. She was killing it dancing. Britney showed us around. It was just awesome. It’s a great show.” Spears then posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram "confessing" that she was a huge Backstreet Boys fan.
Taylor Lautner and Victoria Justice
Taylor Lautner and Victoria Justice were friends as kids before either one of them became famous. They have remained so close that even today people speculate that they're more than friends. Victoria is known for the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 and Victorious. She is also an accomplished singer and devotes much of her time to philanthropic causes.
Taylor launched into popularity after appearing as Jacob Black in the Twilight films. He also famously dated Taylor Swift. While both Taylor and Victoria's careers have kept them very busy, they have remained friends and have been photographed together on numerous occasions...platonically.
Cameron Diaz and Snoop Dogg
Actress Cameron Diaz and rapper Snoop Dogg both attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School in California. They also went to class with fellow stars Warren G and Nate Dogg. The actress told Us magazine in 2011: "We went to high school together. He was a year older than me….I remember him, he was very tall and skinny. He wore lots of ponytails."
She added that her interactions with Snoop went beyond regular friendship. They also participated in similar extracurricular activities together. "I'm pretty sure I bought weed from him," she explained. "I was green even in high school!"
Brooke Shields and Matt Dillon
Actors Brooke Shields and Matt Dillon were best buddies in the 1980s. Although there were rumors that the pair dated, they maintain that they never did. The two nearly co-starred in the 1980 movie Blue Lagoon, however, Dillon allegedly decided against making the film because he wasn't comfortable appearing nude on the big screen.
He went on to appear in films such as The Outsiders, The Flamingo Kid, and Singles. He dated Cameron Diaz but never married. Shields has appeared in several television programs and films. She has been married twice, including to tennis ace Andre Agassi. She and her second husband have two children.
Kim Kardashian and Nicole Richie
Reality star Kim Kardashian and Nicole Richie were BFFs when they were in elementary school. Kim recalled an incident that happened when they were kids, telling People magazine: “When Nicole Richie and I were around 11, we went into a drugstore in Malibu and took lipstick. We thought we were so badass! I can’t remember the name of the color, but it was a brown shade from Revlon.
I wasn’t much of a partier growing up, so this was about as rebellious as I got.” Nicole became an actress and a fashion designer, while Kim is one of America's most famous TV personalities.
Adam Levine and Jonah Hill
Actor Jonah Hill and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine met in middle school when they both got in trouble and wound up in the principal's office. They have maintained their relationship over the years and Jonah even officiated at Adam's wedding to model Behati Prinsloo in 2014.
He told Huff Post in 2016: “The joke I wrote was like, ‘Adam and I grew up together. It’s so nice to see all the people we grew up skateboarding with ― like Gene, Stevie Nicks, and Robert Downey Jr. I was kind of like giving him s--t because he had really famous people at his wedding.”
Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez
Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez met on the set of Barney and Friends between 2002 and 2004. Selena played a character named Gianna, and Demi played Angela. They've been good friends since they were seven years old. Both of them went on to star in two Disney series. Lovato starred in Sonny with a Chance, while Gomez appeared in Wizards of Waverly Place.
While they continued to call each other best friends in 2008, they had a bit of a rift over the next few years. They reconciled after Lovato went to rehab. Gomez also supported her pal after she publicly revealed she was battling Lupus.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were best friends while growing up in Boston, Massachusetts. Damon told ET in 2016: “I’ve known him for 35 years, and we grew up together. We were both in love with the same thing – acting and filmmaking. I think we fed on each other’s obsession during really formative, important years and that bonded us for life.”
He added, “He’s a brilliant director, but the problem is that he always gives the best parts to himself. So until he starts including the rest of us, I think we just have to go watch him be great in his movies.”
Matt Bomer and Lee Pace
Actors Matt Bomer and Lee Pace became friends after meeting in their high school drama club in Texas. The pair loved the play The Normal Heart because it was the opposite of their conservative hometown.
Bomer starred in HBO's adaptation of the play, while Pace appeared in the revival on Broadway. Bomer is most known for his role on the TV series Chuck. He's also appeared in White Collar and American Horror Story. Pace starred in the series Pushing Daisies as well as AMC's Halt and Catch Fire. His film resume includes the Twilight franchise and the Hobbit trilogy.
Connie Britton and Lauren Graham
Before they became television moms, Connie Britton and Lauren Graham were just two gals in the city trying to make it as actresses. They met in an acting class, of which Britton has said, "We were in class together, became friends and then we both decided to make the big move and give Los Angeles a shot."
Britton and Graham befriended a woman who was had recently gotten divorced, so luckily, the friend had a couple extra rooms available for them to crash in. Their big move turned out to pay off in big ways when they made it on TV!
Mel Gibson and Geoffrey Rush
Just after graduating from the University of Queensland, Geoffrey Rush crossed paths with a then-unknown Mel Gibson. Gibson at the time was an aspiring actor, and the two decided to become roommates for four months.
Rush was a frequent player at the time in Australian theatre productions. He was acting in a play called Waiting for Godot, when he met Gibson. The two didn't compete when it came to roles, but they did when it came to women. Rush often won out over Gibson. "That was probably my biggest achievement," Rush told The Daily Mail.
Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian
You've already read that Kim Kardashian was childhood besties with Nicole Richie. It's ostensibly through Richie that Kardashian met another famous friend from her younger years: Paris Hilton.
Hilton has told Yahoo! Style that she and Kardashian had been friends since they were "little girls," but of course, many people believe Kim Kardashian wouldn't have been famous with Paris Hilton. As young adults, Kardashian worked as Hilton's assistant and organized her closet. It was only after Kardashian's unfortunate tape leak that her star overshadowed the heiress's. Many say that because of that there is now bad blood between them, although they've never publicly admitted it.
Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand
Actresses Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand met when they were still aspiring actresses. McDormand was studying at Yale School of Drama.
Hunter told Vulture, "My boyfriend and Fran's boyfriend were best friends. I met mine doing a play at the Repertory Theater of St. Louis, and then I came back to New York. He said, 'Hey, my best friend is going to Yale, let's visit.' And his girlfriend was Fran." The group hit it off and moved to New York City together, but Hunter adds, "Then we broke up with our boyfriends and Fran moved in with me."
Adele and Jessie J
Two of Britains biggest voices sang together on the schoolyard back in the day. Jessie J told a radio station in 2016 that she used to go to school with Adele. They were just 16 to 17 years old and at that time, they both couldn't have imagined reaching the international stardom that they have.
Jessie J recalled that she and Adele used to sit in the schoolyard and say, "Oh my god do you know I am going to be Jessie J and you are going to be Adele... You don't know you are going to be that when you are 16 and you're eating your cheese sandwich on your break."
Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler
Before they were making movies, Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler were just two dudes living in The Valley, trying to make it as stand-up comics. They told 60 Minutes Overtime all about the days when they shared a $900 per month apartment.
"Back then, life was just doing stand-up or writing jokes. You would sleep until noon every day and kind of stumble out. You would have to be at work at 8:30 at night. Work was sometimes 15 minutes," Apatow said. They didn't consider themselves broke, though they were barely scraping by. "We could eat at Red Lobster once every month. That was a big night out," said Sandler.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are perhaps two of the funniest women in comedy. Everyone who runs in their circles knows that they two Saturday Night Live alums are the best of friends. Their friendship dates back to the early '90s when they met in Chicago.
In her autobiography, Yes Please, Poehler recalls being introduced to Fey through Charna Halpern, the co-founder of the improv theater they both went to: "She said there was another new improviser in another one of her classes whom she thought I would really like. Her name was Tina and she was like me but with brown hair."
Kristen Bell and Matthew Morrison
Kristen Bell and Matthew Morrison weren't just friends when they were growing up – they were more than friends. The two met when they were both students at New York University. Their shared interests in acting are ostensibly why they both took a liking to each other.
Bell and Morrison hit it off so well that they actually ended up being boyfriend and girlfriend at one point in their lives. Bell told Us Weekly in 2010 that her favorite part about Glee was Morrison because, "We actually dated very briefly, so I'll have to say maybe Matt Morrison is my favorite part of Glee for various reasons."
Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera
For as long as they've been pop stars, the world has pitted Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera against each other. People either sided with America's princess Britney Spears or her sexy and "bad girl" counterpart Christina Aguilera.
But believe it or not, there was a time in history when these girls actually got along. Before they became pop princesses, they both were on the Mickey Mouse Club as children alongside other actors such as Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling, who were also on this list! Unfortunately, it wasn't long before a feud took place of their friendship.
Ali Larter and Amy Smart
They may have co-starred together in Varsity Blues, but Ali Larter and Amy Smart share a friendship that goes all the way back to the '90s. They met back then when they were working as models in Italy.
After their chance meeting, the two blonde beauties decided to share an apartment in Los Angeles together while they both tried to make it in Hollywood. The friendship has definitely withstood the times. In 2011 when Smart married Carter Oosterhouse, Larter was one of her bridesmaids!
Liv Tyler and Kate Hudson
It's no surprise that these two ladies knew each other growing up. After all, their famous parents were actually friends. Goldie Hawn, Kath Hudson's mom, and Steven Tyler, Liv Tyler's dad, must have thought alike as well because they both decided to send their daughters to the same school.
Tyler and Hudson both attended Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences during the '90s. Of course, many celebrities or children of celebrities have gone to this famous Los Angeles high school. Little did teenaged Hudson and Tyler know, they'd end up starring together in Dr. T & the Women and they would share a kiss!
Robert Downey Jr. and Kiefer Sutherland
Back when they weren't nearly the stars that they are today, Robert Downey Jr. and Kiefer Sutherland were very good friends. So good, in fact, that they decided to be roomies together during the '80s.
While they were both trying to make it as actors, they shared an apartment and as a result, they'd share their woes with women. Back then, Downey Jr. was dating Sarah Jessica Parker and when things were on the rocks, Sutherland was a shoulder to cry on. "Better him than some stranger," RDJ told Howard Stern.
Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts
Back when they were unknown women in Australia, actresses Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts were classmates in high school. The two women clearly had the same interests and even went to the same theatre company.
It wasn't until they were both cast in 1991's Flirting that they both became quite close. "We already knew each other but that's when our friendship forged," Watts once said. Since then, the two actresses have made it big in Hollywood and through the years have been seen supporting each other on the red carpet.
Aubrey Plaza and John Gallagher Jr.
Aubrey Plaza and John Gallagher Jr. knew each other while growing up in Delaware. The two had a love of acting at a young age, although they both went in different directions. Plaza became known for her role on Parks and Recreation, while Gallagher Jr. became known for his role on Broadway's Spring Awakening.
Gallagher Jr. told Vulture, "Aubrey was my first girlfriend when I was about 15 years old. We grew up together in Delaware; she's from Wilmington as well. We did community theatre together, and yeah, we had quite the young love for a while."
Corey Haim and Alyssa Milano
Corey Haim and Alyssa Milano knew each other as kids. The child stars famously dated for a brief time in Hollywood's yesteryear. They only dated for three years, after which, Milano would go on to date a long list of Hollywood A-listers in their pre-pubescent days.
Milano recently came under fire for her apparent ignorance towards the sexual assault that Corey Haim and mutual friend Corey Feldman suffered as teen actors. Since she has been vocal in light of the #MeToo movement, the fact that she didn't know about what happened to her former beau didn't sit right with many people.
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie
By now you know that these ladies were both friends with Kim Kardashian, but more importantly, they are both known for being friends with each other. Hilton and Richie grew up in the posh Bel-Air neighborhood.
It wasn't long before the two best friends ended up starring in a reality television show together in the early 2000's. From 2003 to 2007, they both starred in The Simple Life, which documented Hilton and Richie as they tried their hand at living like "normal" people by living on ranches and farms throughout America. Unfortunately, these women had a falling out and things were never the same.
John Krasinski and B.J. Novak
Jim and Ryan from The Office actually got along quite well in real life. In fact, they knew each other as children! Not only were they on the same little league team as boys, but they also ended up going to the same high school.
Novak told Reddit, "I sometimes think that if I were to wake up and it turned out The Office was all a dream, the fact that John Krasinski was in it with me would be what I'd realize afterward should have been the obvious tip-off. 'Oh! And John Krasinski was in it, too! But they called him Jim!'"
Lauryn Hill and Zach Braff
Zach Braff grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey but back then, he had a neighbor who was bound for stardom too and it was none other than singer Lauryn Hill!
The pair knew each other growing up and Hill even attended Braff's bar mitzvah. Braff recalled to Jane magazine, "There was a game called Coke and Pepsi: You'd have a partner, and one person was Coke and the other was Pepsi... Depending on what the DJ would yell, you had to run and get on that person's lap. And Lauryn was my Coke and Pepsi partner."
Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid
It wouldn't be too off base to see why Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid are best friends. After all, they are two of the most popular supermodels in the present day! But before they took to the runway, the girls knew each other as teens.
Jenner once told InStyle, "I met her for the first time seven years ago [in 2018] over Twitter. I was probably 14 or 15. We met up and had sushi and now we're best friends." Growing up as wealthy kids in Southern California with famous parents, it's a surprise that they hadn't met sooner!
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis
Of course, these two knew each other growing up, because they both starred on That '70s Show together when they were young! Kunis was the youngest actress on the cast at just 15 years old when the show started. Kutcher was 20 years old.
Though they played boyfriend and girlfriend on-screen, at the time, there was nothing going on between them in real life. But many years later in 2012, Kutcher and Kunis made everyone's dreams come true when they began dating. In 2015, they even tied the knot and they now have two kids together.
