Dove Cameron and Damiano David may be happy in love and planning their wedding, but their relationship had a rocky start after a less-than-friendly meeting backstage.
During an appearance on Wednesday’s (February 4) episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, the “Boyfriend” singer shared how she and her rocker fiancé started dating after two wildly different run-ins at the MTV Video Music Awards, per E! News.
“We started dating in the most ridiculous way,” she said. “We met at the VMAs, which is, like, the stupidest way you can meet your partner. Not because the VMAs are stupid… [but because it] sounds like a book, like a fan fiction.”
Dove explained that their first encounter at the 2022 VMAs wasn’t anything to write home about, admitting that he “barely looked at me” when she met him and his seemingly friendlier Måneskin bandmates Victoria De Angelis, Ethan Torchio and Thomas Raggi backstage.
“And he was also not giving off friendly vibes. I was like, ‘That guy f—ing hates me,'” she recalled. “Later, I learned he was just in a really bad place. It had nothing to do with me, but I took it personally.”
A second chance “meet cute” at the VMAs the following year proved more successful.
“And then the 2023 VMAs rolls around and we had a reason to talk,” she said, adding that they were both single and in a better place and David was “so friendly.”
“And then he was like, ‘Do you want to come to our show at Madison Square Garden?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,'” she said. “And then we just started dating, and now we’re engaged.”
Cameron and David confirmed their engagement in January 2026 after two years of dating and months after they first sparked rumors they were headed down the aisle. She recently shared “very sweet” details from the private proposal.