How old are Dan Howell and Phil Lester? Dan and Phil age and more as YouTubers confirm 16-year relationship

YouTube personalities Dan Howell and Phil Lester have recently revealed that they have been dating for more than ten years. The relationship was made official in a video posted through their channel on Tuesday, October 14.

Notably, Howell, 34, started the video by questioning whether he and Lester, 38, were romantically linked. The latter responded by agreeing to the same as they were sitting together. Dan was jokingly willing to leave and started disclosing more details, as he said:

“We fell into it hard and fast in 2009 and here we are almost 16 years later.”

Lester then told Howell not to speak anything on how long they had known each other. Dan said that they never aimed to label the relationship in any manner, adding that he and Phil decided to live together, which eventually happened.

While none of them opened up about anything else related to their romance, Phil Lester referred to the relationship by claiming that nothing remains perfect and that people should avoid believing that everyone is “ideal of human partnerships.”

As of now, the duo has confirmed the arrival of another collaboration in the form of a podcast. Furthermore, Dan addressed his bonding with Phil by saying:

“We have had ups and downs like anybody. We have lived a thousand lifetimes of a normal person’s partnership and I have no idea why we’ve survived.”

Meanwhile, the latest YouTube video has already received more than one million views.

Dan Howell and Phil Lester have been active on YouTube for many years: Career and more explained

According to The Argus, the pair’s first meeting happened on the popular video platform. They later moved to London as they started presenting for BBC One after residing in Manchester for a long time.

Dan Howell and Phil Lester’s journey began with a gaming channel, which also became popular among the general public at one point. They even started collaborating on certain occasions. However, Phil’s career dates back to 2006, when he shared his first blog, and Dan started pursuing the same around three years later.

Around six years ago, the close friends came out as gay. In 2024, Lester and Howell spoke to BuzzFeed, opening up about the challenges that emerged after coming out. Howell said at the time that he initially thought it won’t be too easy and addressed the reasons for the same by adding:

“It was a weird thing for us that because of our content, a lot of it was comedy and storytelling and sketches, but there was obviously a lot of talking about real stories from out life. Especially after I’d opened up about my struggles with depression and started to talk quite candidly about some of those things.”

People magazine stated that Dan Howell and Phil Lester took a break from each other after the Interactive Introverts tour around seven years ago. In between that, the former wrote a book titled You Will Get Through This Night, and Phil did not stop sharing more content on YouTube.

In 2023, their gaming channel returned, and a year later, they went on a tour called Terrible Influence. Dan and Phil also performed at the Brighton Dome in January 2025, and they expressed their happiness about the same, as they told The Argus:

“When we come to a place like Brighton, that’s always so accepting and joyful - particularly for the queer community - it gives us hope that everything’s gonna be alright!”

Meanwhile, Dan Howell and Phil Lester’s joint YouTube channel has accumulated more than 800 million views so far. They are additionally active on other platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter).