Nina Dobrev used to "despise" her 'Vampire Diaries' co-star Paul Wesley.

Nina Dobrev

Nina Dobrev

The 30-year-old actress played both Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce in The CW's supernatural drama series - which ran from 2009 to 2017 - and has said that despite romance rumours that circled herself and her on-screen love interest Paul, who played Stefan Salvatore, at the start of the show, the pair actually hated each other for the first five months of shooting.

She said: "Paul and I didn't get along at the beginning of the show. I respected Paul Wesley, I didn't like Paul Wesley. 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. I realise 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."

Although Nina and Paul never dated, she did enjoy a romance with fellow co-star Ian Somerhalder - who played Stefan's brother Damon Salvatore, and eventually ended up winning the heart of Elena - from 2011 to 2013.

And despite getting off on the wrong foot, Nina says she's now the closest with Paul out of all the 'Vampire Diaries' cast, and she would even consider the hunk - who is married to Ines de Ramon - as one of her "best friends".

Speaking to Candice King and Kaya Ewell - who played Caroline Forbes and Vicki Donovan on the show respectively - on their 'Directionally Challenged' podcast, Nina said: "Most of the time, love interests in film and TV don't get along and that reads as really intense chemistry.

"Maybe we had a moment where we actually connected, and he looked at me and he was like, 'Ten years from now, when we're not on this show, you're gonna really miss me. You're gonna miss these times; you're look back, and this is gonna be the good old days. We'll appreciate each other in 10 years.' He was so f***ing right. We ended up getting to a good place and it was fine. Of everyone, I think I probably see him the most and hang out with him the most. We're probably the closest. We hang out a lot. We're really good friends. I love his wife. It's so funny how time changes everything because I never thought he would be one of my best friends."

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