Neighbours’ real-life couples exposed – on-set straying, engagement, and brutal dumping
From iconic couple Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue to Chris Milligan and Jenna Rosenow, Neighbours has seen some of its stars get together off-screen over the years – but other stars found romance on the Aussie soap?
Although Neighbours is known for its drama, it is also known for its hot romance plots, which have featured numerous love triangles and clandestine affairs.
It comes as no surprise that plenty of Neighbours stars over the years have taken their on-screen romance off-camera.
From Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue’s iconic romance in the 1980s to Chris Milligan and Jenna Rosenow’s announcement of their engagement this week, the Australian drama has seen plenty of cast members getting together off-screen.
Daily Star is taking a look at the couples, from the happily married to the ones who didn’t stand the test of time.
Stefan Dennis and Gail Easdale
Stefan Dennis, a beloved Paul Robinson actor who has been on the drama since its inception in 1985, has been married to his wife Easdale since 2000.
They have three children: son Cameron, daughter Darci, and another son named Declan, who played Louis Curtain in Neighbours last year.
Whilst Paul is part of the furniture on the Aussie soap, his actress wife didn’t make her appearance until 2016.
She played Julie Quill, Paul’s arch-enemy, from January until June of that year when her character was condemned to ten years in prison.
Stefan and Gail’s romance began years before they married when he was in a relationship with his co-star Gayle Blakeney, who played his second wife Christine when he realized he had a love for her.
In 2015, he told the Herald Sun: “I told Gail that I was drawn to her, but as I was still in a relationship, nothing could happen, so we became best friends instead.
“We were inseparable.”
The pair stayed close friends for years, and it was soon after he split from Gayle that they ended up getting together for good.
Chris Milligan and Jenna Rosenow
When Jenna Rosenow joined Neighbours in 2013, Chris Milligan, who has portrayed Kyle Canning on the serial since 2011, began dating her.
She played Amber Turner in 2016 when the pair both left the soap to pursue a career in Hollywood.
Chris later returned to the soap in 2019, whilst Jenna is set to star in a Netflix drama with Katherine Heigl this year.
Jenna revealed her ring in a gorgeous photo of the two on the beach in Malibu, California, earlier this week, confirming their engagement.
Takaya Honda, April Rose Pengilly, and Benny Turland were among the co-stars who sent messages of congratulations to the happy couple.
On Takaya’s podcast, Chris talked about the first time he met Amber in 2013, confessing that he fell in love with her right away.
He said: “My best mate Jordan Smith who used to work on the show, he played Andrew Robinson, he walked into the green room one day and said ‘The new girl is here, you’re in trouble.
“I had no idea what he meant and then Jenna walked in and I was like…I think I’m in trouble here.”
Travis Burns and Emma Lane.
Travis Burns, who portrayed Tyler Brennan on the drama until 2018, and his co-star Emma Lane, who played Courtney Grixti, are married.
In 2017, the couple married in a lavish ceremony attended by many Neighbours actors, including Lily Van Der Meer (Xanthe Canning), Matty Wilson (Aaron Brennan), Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy), and Mavournee Hazel (Karl Kennedy) (Piper Willis).
While Travis’ storyline as Tyler came to an end with the character being sentenced to prison, the couple had to maintain a long-distance romance while she was located in the United States.
Travis and Courtney have been dating since 2013, and when their characters dated on the drama in 2017, they relocated to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
Courtney’s character also dated Josh Willis, played by Harley Bonner.
Harley Bonner and Ariel Kaplan.
Although the character, who is the real-life son of Neighbours great Carla Bonner, had an on-screen romance with Emma, he began with real-life twin Ariel Kaplan, alias Imogen.
In 2013, Harley and Ariel started dating while working on the soap opera together, and they shared plenty of lovey-dovey photos with their fans.
Ariel said when they went public with their romance: “I love him more every day. It’s all really good.
“I am very regimented and organized and Harley is pretty much the most laid-back person in the world.
I made him a little bit more on time and he relaxed me.
I love him more every day. It’s all really good.
“I made him a little bit more on time and he relaxed me.”
However, after three years together, the couple announced their split in 2016, with Ariel stating that they had terminated their relationship amicably and “still chatted every day.”
Both have moved on after then, with Harley seeing fashion model Natalia Roser since early 2017 and Ariel Kaplan dating Dean Cooper.
Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue.
Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue are a renowned couple from Neighbours, whose on-screen wedding as Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell was the most-watched Neighbours episode ever, with approximately 20 million viewers.
Kylie and Jason began dating in 1986 and even created a song called Especially For You Together together, but they broke up after three years when she left him for INXS vocalist Michael Hutchence, who died in 1997.
Jason was left devastated by the split, telling The Mirror in 2016: “It was an extremely painful parting of the ways and, without a doubt, I took a long time to recover from it. Years, definitely.”
He added: “It was bad enough that she’d run off with anybody but she happened to run into the arms of the greatest rock god of the period, the very guy who I secretly wanted to be.
“That was a pretty big punch to take.”
Jason married Angela Malloch and has three children with her: Jemma, 20, Zac, 19, and Molly, nine.
Kylie has had a number of rocky relationships, including with model James Gooding, Olivier Martinez, and Spanish model Andres Velencoso, but she appears to have found happiness with GQ chief Paul Solomons..
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