Total Twi-hards! Kelly Clarkson, Kylie Jenner and more celebrities were just as smitten by Stephenie Meyer‘s vampire saga as the rest of the world — and some are still obsessed.
The first supernatural novel hit shelves in 2005, and three years later, a movie adaptation starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson premiered and made $393 million worldwide. The film’s massive success turned Pattinson into a certified heartthrob — and Clarkson caught the fever.
In 2009, the “Stronger” singer joked that she and her friends were “searching for our very own personal Edward” to sweep them off of their feet. The same year, she belted her hits to a cardboard cutout of the Batman actor during a concert.
Jenner, for her part, is just as invested in the franchise as she was when it was all the rage. In July 2021, she shared an Instagram Story of herself watching the first movie after it became available to stream on Netflix. “Couldn’t be happier,” she wrote at the time, documenting her screening of the 2008 classic.
Twilight was followed by sequels New Moon in 2009 and Eclipse in 2010. The fourth book in Meyer’s series, Breaking Dawn, was split into two movies, which premiered in 2011 and 2012, respectively. While the movies were big hits, the page-turners themselves were just as popular.
Barack Obama‘s daughters, Malia and Sasha, were part of the series’ target demographic at the height of its popularity, and at the time, a source told Us Weekly that the politician used the franchise as a way to bond with his kids.
“They read all the Harry Potter books together and have moved on to the Twilight series,” the insider noted.
The vampire saga’s popularity spawned a string of other supernatural pop culture hits, including The Vampire Diaries, which ran for eight seasons from 2009 to 2017. Nina Dobrev, who starred as Elena on The CW show, knew she might never have gotten the opportunity without Twilight forging the path.
“Kellan [Lutz], Ashley [Greene] and the whole group — we all run in the same circles,” the Degrassi alum told MTV of the Twilight series stars. “I think that we’re all really happy for each other.”
Fans were crushed when the time came for the final Twilight movie, effectively ending the series’ pop culture reign. However, some of the actors weren’t as crazy about the franchise.
“It was like it was a book that wasn’t supposed to be published,” Pattinson famously told E! News of Meyer’s original novel in 2008. “I was just convinced, like, ‘This woman is mad. She’s completely mad and she’s in love with her own fictional creation.’ And sometimes you would feel uncomfortable reading this thing.”
Scroll down to see which celebrities fell hard for the Twilight franchise — and which ones are still fans:
