Dove Cameron Shares Her and Damiano David’s Love Story: ‘He’s the Best Person I’ve Met in My Life’
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Dove Cameron’s love story with her boyfriend, Damiano David of Italian rock band Måneskin, began in fall 2023. The couple sparked dating rumors after they were seen getting close at a party. Cameron had also been spotted at one of Måneskin’s New York City concerts in September, per People.
David broke up with his last partner, Italian model and influencer Giorgia Soleri, in June 2023; they had first started dating in 2017.
Cameron, meanwhile, had been in a relationship with her Descendants co-star Thomas Doherty starting in 2017, too. She announced their split on her Instagram Story in December 2020. “In October, Thomas and I decided to part ways,” she shared. “The decision was incredibly difficult, but we still have love for each other, and will remain friends.”
Love found both David and Cameron again, as things escalated between them during the fall. The couple confirmed their dating in February 2024 with their first red carpet appearance. In May, they made their Met Gala debut.
Here, what to know about David and his romance with Cameron.
David and Cameron first sparked relationship rumors in October 2023.
According to an Italian news outlet, Cameron and David were first linked together in October 2023, when a video reportedly leaked on social media of the pair making out at an after-party at Dirty Mondays in Los Angeles. The PDA moment came after Cameron attended a New York City Måneskin concert the month before.
Cameron spoke about how she and David first met and what happened when their dating became public.
Cameron spoke at length about David in her June 2024 Cosmopolitan digital cover story. When asked how they first met, Cameron revealed the connection wasn’t immediately romantic.
She explained, “The first time was at the 2022 VMAs, and his band and I were both up for the same award. You just run into different artists backstage, and when I met them, I don’t think I even spoke to Damiano. I didn’t think anything of it. I went about my night. I’d just won a VMA. And then a couple months later, their team had reached out to me about coming to their album release, and I couldn’t make it work with the dates, but I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so sweet that they thought about me. We only met once.’ At one point, the band and I had been thinking about doing a collaboration. They had recorded something, so I went in, and I recorded over that track. They’d asked me to open for them on their tour and I couldn’t make it happen. There were just these passing-ships-in-the-night things happening. So when we met again at the 2023 VMAs, we had a reason to talk to each other.
And when he came up to me, it felt like…I don’t know, a year can do a lot. It felt like it had been 10 years or something. When we had met before, he was in a very different space and I was too, so we didn’t register each other at all in that way. And then he was like, ‘We’re starting our world tour at Madison Square Garden. If you’re still in town in a few days, we’d love it if you came.’ It was super innocent. And then they invited me back to their greenroom and then we started talking and then he asked me to the after-party. And then very quickly it became ‘Let’s have dinner at 8:00 at this spot.’ He’s a Capricorn, so he was very much like, ‘Okay, these are my intentions.’ It was super honorable. He’s like a 1950s gentleman, angel, teddy bear. He’s the best person I’ve met in my life.”
Their relationship became public before they were ready for it to be, Cameron explained later in the interview: “At one point, some paparazzi photos got leaked. We went back to the hotel room and we were like, ‘Well. Fuck, I guess.’ I think in the pap photos we were kissing, and both of us had never been in that situation. There’s no handbook for how to handle this. We were pretty casual at that point. So it was, do we trust that this is going to go right? We didn’t know. So we went about it in the most sane way we could think of, which is just leave it. Live our lives, but live them mostly quietly.”
In November 2023, David and Cameron were seen together in Brazil and Australia.
It appears Cameron traveled with David during some of Måneskin’s tour, as Cameron was seen in both Australia and Brazil in November 2023. At the beginning of the month, she was photographed leaving a Måneskin concert in Brazil with David.
In late November 2023, David and Cameron were photographed kissing and holding hands on Bondi Beach, Australia, while his band Måneskin was touring in the country.
David and Cameron had a January 2024 dinner date with friends.
On Jan. 24, 2024, the couple was photographed leaving dinner arm-in-arm. They had been on a double date at Catch Steak in West Hollywood, according to Just Jared.
They made their red carpet debut at the 2024 pre-Grammy gala.
The couple walked the red carpet at the 66th Pre-Grammy Gala on Feb. 3, 2024. They stopped to share a passionate kiss in front of photographers.
Cameron was wearing a sleeveless red dress with a corset bust, and David had on a black vest over a white button down with the sleeves rolled up.
Then, at the W magazine Grammys after-party on Sunday, February 4, they were photographed gazing into each other’s eyes and smiling.
Cameron and David went to the 2024 Met Gala together.
On May 6, Cameron and David made their Met Gala debut as a couple. While this was David’s first time attending, Cameron previously went in 2022.
She wore a transparent, floral-embroidered gown designed by Diesel. David, also in Diesel, wore a black suit with transparent mesh cut-outs. On the red carpet, they put their rapport on display, smiling and laughing while looking into each other’s eyes.
Cameron and David attended the Cameron Boyce Foundation’s 2024 Cam for a Cause Gala.
On Sunday, June 2, Cameron and David attended the third annual Cam for a Cause Gala for The Cameron Boyce Foundation. The event honors Cameron Boyce, her Descendants co-star and close friend who passed away in July 2019 from sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.
Cameron wore a pale-blue ball gown with black polka dots and a sweetheart neckline. David wore wide-leg trousers and a white button-up under a brown leather bomber jacket. He coordinated his tie to Cameron’s dress.
Cameron opened up about how she and David were careful before exploring their romantic connection and what he taught her about how safety feels in relationships.
Cameron explained to Cosmopolitan in June 2024 that they were very cautious before beginning to really date each other and explore their romantic connection. “From the outside, it looks like it was very hot and heavy, and it looks like it was overnight, but we had both been in situations where we were very harmed in the past, and we are very sensitive people,” she said. “And I think when we met, we were not looking, and it was just sort of investigating. It was like, ‘Huh, that’s interesting. That’s not what I expected.‘ And so it was very, very slow, cautious, feeling-out, interview-type questions for eight hours before it was finally like, ‘Okay, are we holding hands now?’ I remember I was fascinated because he presents in a way that seems very easily digestible and then you spend two minutes around him and you realize he is the kindest, most generous, most innocent, most giving person. He’s just a beautiful, sensitive soul.”
She said generally of relationships, “I actually think that the safety that you build together allows for the solid ground, and then it’s all exciting.” David showed her that through his character. “I’ve been spending time with him and all of his friends and his brother, and they are incredibly sensitive, incredibly romantic, incredibly emotional, very caretaking, equal parts masculine, feminine, equal parts nurturing and protecting,” Cameron said. “And I wouldn’t say that American men aren’t, but that’s just something I’ve overwhelmingly noticed in Italy. There’s a certain balance between masculine and feminine that is very attractive to me as someone who dates men and women. It feels whole to me.”
She added that she met him as she was coming out as queer. “So how he knew me was through the lens of my queer identity,” she said. “And as my partner, he is very, very supportive. I’ve never felt invalidated by dating him as a straight man. I’ve always felt like he saw me as my full self and for my identity, while also not feeling threatened or diminished by that.”
David is the lead singer of Måneskin, an Italian rock band.
David started Måneskin (meaning “moonlight” in Danish) with friends Victoria De Angelis and Thomas Raggi in 2015, when they were teenagers in Rome. De Angelis told Variety that they found drummer Ethan Torchio “on Facebook.”
Of how the band formed, De Angelis explained, “I was in a punk band with Damiano. He sucked, so we kicked him out: ‘Ciao, bello!’ Then I formed a different band with Thomas, but we needed a singer and a drummer. Meanwhile, Damiano had written to me and said, ‘Can we please re-form the band?’ I said OK, and we found Ethan on Facebook.”
The band now has an enormous social following: 4.88 million subscribers on YouTube, 7.5 million followers on TikTok, and 6.8 million followers on Instagram.
One of their biggest moments came in 2021, when Måneskin represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest and won for their song “Zitte e Buoni.”
Måneskin’s discography consists of three studio albums (Il ballo della vita in 2018, Teatro d’ira - Vol. I in 2021, and Rush! in 2023), 13 singles, and two extended plays.
In 2017, the group auditioned for X Factor Italia season 11. Their performance of the song “Beggin’” by The Four Seasons went viral on TikTok several years later. They ended up getting second place. After the show, they went on to release an EP of covers, including their take on “Beggin’.”
David is 25 years old.
David is a Capricorn born on Jan. 8, 1999. Cameron, born on Jan. 15, 1996, is also a Capricorn, making them a solid pairing astrologically.
According to the AstroTwins, “Two ambitious Capricorns are on a lifelong mission to get ahead. If you can reach the brass ring faster by teaming up, then why not? You certainly admire each other’s unflagging determination and crafty tactics—and you apply your business savvy to courtship, much like a game of chess.”
David is from Italy.
David is Italian. He was born and raised in Rome and speaks both English and Italian.
David said in January 2023 that he stopped drinking alcohol.
David spoke to The Guardian about Måneskin and hit back at public perception of them. “I think the view people have of us, and of me, it’s very off-target,” he said. “People think we behave like the Sex Pistols, or Mötley Crüe, but we’re nothing like that. We’ve got more educated on the risks of drugs and how they affect your body. I don’t even drink alcohol anymore.”
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