Looking back at young love! To the satisfaction of many longtime Shawnmila shippers, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s longtime friendship transitioned into a steamy relationship in 2019, and they shared many sweet moments before splitting.
Five years earlier, Mendes and Cabello met while they were both opening up for Austin Mahone on tour. At the time, Mendes was fresh off of his Vine success and Cabello was still a part of girl group Fifth Harmony. Ever since their meet-cute, the duo maintained a close and supportive friendship.
The music stars teased their interest in each other over the years, with one of the earliest ”will they, won’t they” moments occurring in 2015. During an appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden in November of that year, Mendes admitted that he had tried to “make a move” on Cabello after the show’s host asked about the status of their relationship. The “Treat You Better” crooner claimed that his longtime pal “swerves” him every time.
James Corden then told the pair that he didn’t “believe” them and suggested that “there’s no way you haven’t made out.” Cabello responded: “He friend-zones me! He calls me ‘kid!’”
Mendes and Cabello would later team up for the single “I Know What You Did Last Summer” in 2017. The following year, Mendes told Beats 1 that the Cuba native was his “favorite person in the whole world,” causing Cabello to share that she loved the singer “so much.”
At long last, things began to officially heat up between the duo when they dropped the sultry single “Señorita” in June 2019. Cabello’s split from then-boyfriend Matthew Hussey followed the song’s release, and fans soon began to see the duo everywhere together before they finally confirmed their romance the following month.
Though they’re happy in their pop stardom, the pair still prefer to keep many details about their romance private.
“I don’t know; people can say whatever they want,” the “Havana” singer told Elle in October 2019. “They can speculate, but at the same time, we are going to live our own lives, enjoy it, and fall for each other like nobody is watching. That is how I want to live. I never want to open the door for people to feel like they are involved. Like I said, I want it to be mine and [his]. That’s why I’m so tight-lipped about it: because I want to protect it.”
Scroll down for a look at the pair’s lengthy history — including their 2021 split:
