These Soap Opera Stars All Married Their Co-Stars

"Most people didn't know that we were even dating until we were married."

Things can get pretty steamy on the set of soap operas -- both on and off screen. With such great chemistry, it’s no wonder that many co-stars take their relationships from the show to real life. Through the years that soaps like General Hospital and The Young & the Restless have been on the air, more than a few actors have ended up truly falling in love. Thankfully, their relationships have all had a lot less drama than their characters!

Read on to find out which soap opera stars are married to each other…

1. Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are perhaps the most well known soap opera couple, having met on the set of All My Children . When they first started dating, they kept things a secret because they were worried what the executives would say. No one even knew they were dating until after they eloped. Some co-stars didn’t even find out until Kelly became pregnant with their first child.

“We didn’t want people to see us as unprofessional. We were very professional so most people didn’t know that we were even dating until we were married for like, you know, six months to a year,” Kelly shared .

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2. Bill Hayes & Susan Seaforth Hayes

Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes first met as co-stars on Days Of Our Lives back in 1970. Looking back on their first encounter on the NBC lot, Susan says Bill took her breath away. They went on to fall in love both on and off screen. The couple tied the knot four years later and were married for almost 50 years, remaining together until Bill’s passing in early 2024.

“[Head writer] Bill Bell put us together for one scene and he loved so much what was between the two of us that he scrapped my story and he scrapped [Susan’s] story and he did a long, long, long wonderful arc-ing story for Doug and Julie and it was the best,” Bill told Soap Opera Digest . “We had the best story. Absolutely fabulous story. Everybody in the country watched Bill and Susan fall in love and Doug and Julie fall in love all at the same time.”

3. Susan Walters & Linden Ashby

Back in 1985, Susan Walters and Linden Ashby met on the set of Loving . The couple went on their first date in October and just a few months later, they were engaged. By April of 1986, the couple had tied the knot -- saying their vows on a free weekend in the midst of a busy production schedule.

“We were engaged in January and got married in mid-April. So it was very quick. In fact, we started dating in October and we were married within six months of our first date. Years later, I said to my mom, ‘You never said anything about the fact that I was marrying this person after knowing him for less than six months and I was only 22. What were you thinking?’” Susan told Soap Opera Digest .

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4. Vincent Van Patten & Eileen Davidson

Eileen Davidson and her husband Vincent Van Patten first met on the set of The Young & The Restless . They were both married at the time so their relationship didn’t turn romantic right away. The couple have since insisted that there was no infidelity involved before their divorces but after things were finalized, their relationship moved quickly. They tied the knot in 2003 and welcomed their first child soon after.

“We met on Y&R . I wanted to get pregnant right away because I was 41, which was a main factor. And honestly, if you ever hear about people who are supposed to be together, that’s just us," Eileen told Closer .

5. Kassie Wesley & James DePaiva

Kassie Wesley and James DePaiva may have fallen in love on the set of One Life To Live but they had actually briefly met before Kassie joined the cast. A few years prior to her audition, she was performing at a bar with one of James’ co-stars. After she wrapped up, James came over to compliment her -- which she didn’t take seriously. Then when they reunited on OLTL , there was a spark between them. Although they admittedly teased each other a lot, Kassie says things felt right with James.

“When we first started working together, I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ I felt like I had known him forever, I mean, he just felt really familiar to me,” Kassie shared on The Locher Room podcast .

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6. Crystal Chappell & Michael Sabatino

Crystal Chappell and her husband Michael Sabatino first met when they were appearing on Days Of Our Lives in the early 1990s. Looking back, Michael says he noticed Crystal during their first days on set and immediately wanted to know who she was.

“Right across the set, right across, Crystal was working with Peter [Reckell] and I was like, ‘Who is that?’ I would love to meet this person. ‘Well that’s who you’re going to be working with.’ I was very lucky,” Michael said on The Locher Room podcast .

The couple tied the knot in 1997 and have since welcomed two children.

7. Maura West & Scott DeFreitas

Maura West and Scott DeFreitas were both early in their careers when they met on the set of As The World Turns . The pair became friends while working together but things turned romantic in 1998. Scott can even pinpoint the exact date , October 16, when they fell in love while dancing together at an industry event. He proposed on the scoreboard at Yankee Stadium and the couple tied the knot in 2000, shortly before welcoming their first child.

“We were really good pals for a while, so it wasn’t love at first sight, but when it hit us, it hit us hard,” Maura told The Chicago Tribune .

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8. Michael Saucedo & Rebecca Herbst

When Rebecca Herbst first auditioned for General Hospital , she wasn’t intending to do a soap long term. When casting director Mark Teschner told her they were going to write a part for her, she thankfully agreed because it changed the course of her life. She met her husband Michael Saucedo and they’ve since welcomed three children.

“I don’t even know how to put my feelings about that into words! I don’t know quite how to express the gratitude and the love I have for GH and to think back and go, ‘Had I not taken this job, maybe I wouldn’t have met Michael.’ I can’t even imagine my life without him or my children, so I definitely know that I made the right decision! It worked out for me!” she told Soap Opera Digest .

9. Cindy Fisher & Doug Davidson

Cindy Fisher and Doug Davidson reportedly first met when they both starred in a Polaroid commercial together. They then reunited on the set of The Young & The Restless where they fell in love. Doug proposed one Christmas Eve and they tied the knot in 1984. They’ve since welcomed two children.

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10. Jon Lindstrom & Cady McClain

Jon Lindstrom and Cady McClain were both appearing on As The World Turns when they met and fell in love. While Jon says it “didn’t hurt” that their characters were also falling in love, he explained that the couple actually really fell for each other during their commute to set.

“ ATWT shot on a stage way out in the middle of Brooklyn, and Cady and I both lived in Manhattan,” he told Soaps In Depth . “We would finish our scenes and be done around the same time, so we often ended up taking the hour-long train ride back to Manhattan together and got to know each other that way. We got to be very very good friends before anything else transpired.”

The couple ended up tying the knot in 2014.

11. Melissa Fumero & David Fumero

Melissa Fumero met her husband David Fumero on the set of One Life to Live but she’d actually had a crush on him for years. When she was still a teenager, she had seen him in Mariah Carey’s “Honey” music video and was “obsessed” but had no idea who he was. Meanwhile, David had seen Melissa on OLTL and thought she was beautiful.

When David ended up joining the cast, Melissa already had a boyfriend. When they later broke up, David tried to make a move. Melissa admits she was hesitant at first because her co-stars had warned her that he was a “player” but she eventually gave him a chance. They began dating and two months into their relationship, she learned that David was the model from the “Honey” video.

“As a little time went by and I started having actual conversations with him, I started thinking that he was nothing like how people had described him to me … That was a real valuable lesson for me: not believe the pervasive gossip about someone I really didn’t know. Here’s the moral of our story: After 15 years together, and two beautiful boys, I was definitely right about David. Oh, yeah; I was right,” Melissa told Puraphy .

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