Tough choice! Nina Dobrev revealed who she’d pick between her former Vampire Diaries costars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley — and her selection was surprising.
Dobrev, 31, was tasked with choosing between Somerhalder, 41, whom she dated in real life for nearly three years, and Wesley, 38, after E! News shared an Instagram photo of the stars sipping their new bourbon on Monday, August 17. “POV: You’re Elena on #TheVampireDiaries. Who are you choosing?” the outlet captioned the snap.
After tagging Dobrev in the photo, the Flatliners star replied: “@enews the bourbon 🥃 😉.”
While the Fam star’s TVD character Elena Gilbert was involved in a love triangle with brothers Stefan Salvatore and Damon Salvatore (played by Wesley and Somerhalder, respectively) the Canadian actress and Somerhalder dated off-screen from 2010 to 2013.
When Dobrev and Somerhalder split in May of that year, a source told Us Weekly exclusively at the time that the pair, who were still filming the beloved CW drama, were “consummate professionals.” The insider added: “They will continue to work together and remain best friends, which is where the relationship started.”
Somerhalder went on to wed actress Nikki Reed in April 2015 and the pair welcomed their first child together, a daughter, Bodhi, in July 2017.
In January 2019, Dobrev opened up about being pals with her ex and Reed, 32. “I don’t think that’s weird at all,” she said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen at the time. “I think that’s great. Why can’t everyone be friends?”
The Degrassi: The Next Generation alum added: “I think that they have a beautiful baby, and they are happy and so am I, and what’s bad about that?”
As for the alcohol that won Dobrev’s heart in that photo with her former flames? It’s called Brother’s Bond and is Somerhalder and Wesley’s latest venture. “Here it is. Our passion. Our baby. Ladies and gentlemen please meet, Brother’s Bond Bourbon. Time. Quality. Passion. Distilled for you and me,” Somerhalder captioned a May Instagram photo of himself holding a bottle of the booze. “We appreciate your support more than you know.”
The fan response to the TVD-inspired drink was so overwhelming that the brand’s website actually crashed. “I’m sorry that the Brothersbondbourbon.com site went down, it’s because hundreds of thousands of you went to it at one time and then throughout the whole day,” the V Wars star explained in an Instagram video at the time. “It just shut down, it was so overwhelmed. So thank you for that, it’s an amazing problem to have.”
