Maya Rudolph & Gwyneth Paltrow
“I hosted [SNL] once before, but this week has been really extra-special to me because one of my best friends is on the show now, and I’m so proud of her,” Paltrow said to the audience while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2001. “We’ve known each other since we were 7 years old, and she’s super-funny and talented, and I’m so glad she’s in the cast. Her name is Maya Rudolph.” There you have it, folks.
Zach Braff & Lauryn Hill
Here’s something you probably never knew: The “Doo Wop” singer was actually at Braff’s bar mitzvah. No, really. The actor confirmed it himself in 2017 when Paris Hilton tweeted a request asking her followers to tell her some new information.
Selena Gomez & Demi Lovato
The former Disney stars’ friendship is truly a tale as old as time. If you didn’t already know, these two were on Barney & Friends together since the early aughts.
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Justin Timberlake & Ryan Gosling
Gomez & Lovato aren’t the only celebs who met on a children’s TV show. Timberlake and Gosling became friends on the set of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club. Later, they were roommates for a bit. So yeah, the pop star and the Notebook actor have a long history together.
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Jennifer Aniston & Chaz Bono
“Every day a group of us would go to Chaz’s house after school,” Aniston told Allure in 2011. “I haven’t spoken to him in a while.” That same year, Huffpost published a photo of the two smiling in the locker room at their school, so yes, there’s actual photo evidence that these two hung out.
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Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
Believe it or not, this A-list friendship began at a Little League baseball game in Boston, where Damon and Affleck grew up. “I’ve known [Affleck] for 35 years, and we grew up together,” Damon told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. “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.”
Nicole Richie & Kim Kardashian
The SKIMS founder confirmed her childhood friendship with Richie with an embarrassing photo on Instagram in 2014. “#ThrowbackThursday @nicolerichie and I being oh so cool at 13 years old,” she wrote.
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Vanessa Hudgens & Ashley Tisdale
No, Hudgens and Tisdale did not meet on the set of High School Musical. In reality, they met a year prior to being cast in the film when they were both working on — wait for it — a Sears commercial.
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Meghan Markle & Katharine McPhee
Long before marrying a prince, Markle performed alongside McPhee in shows as a child. The Smash and Country Comfort star even posted a throwback pic of them in 2019. “Both did musicals together as a kid,” she captioned the post. “One is now the duchess and the other is starring on the west end. Basically the same life if you ask me.”
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Rachel Bilson & Rami Malek
Bilson and Malek were friends in high school, but they have clearly drifted apart. Recently, the O.C. star recalled posting a throwback photo of her and the Bohemian Rhapsody actor, which he quickly asked her to take down. Despite the awkward encounter, Bilson revealed on the April 27 episode of The Ladygang podcast that they’ve since talked it out and are “all good.”
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Beanie Feldstein & Ben Platt
These two theater kids go way back. In 2017, Feldstein told Seth Meyers that she and Platt met a bat mitzvah when they were kids. Starting in ninth grade, they went to school together. “The second week of school he got his braces off, and he texted me like ‘I got my braces off,’ and I left my class to come see his teeth," she recalled. That’s true friendship.
Leonardo DiCaprio & Tobey Maguire
These longtime pals met when they were just starting out in Hollywood, jumping from audition to audition at just 12 years old. “I just made him my pal,” DiCaprio told Esquire in 2014. “When I want someone to be my friend, I just make them my friend.” They later went on to become neighbors.