British YouTube sensations Dan Howell and Phil Lester have taken the internet by storm with the revelation that they have been secretly in a romantic relationship for 16 years. With a touch of humor, they described this disclosure as unraveling “one of the biggest conspiracies in internet history.”

Known to their legion of fans simply as Dan and Phil, the duo expressed that it was high time to dispel the “weird vagueness” surrounding their relationship, which has fueled speculation for years.

In a 46-minute video aimed at ending what Phil called the “apocalyptic constant stress of the Dan and Phil dating conspiracy,” he posed the question many have wondered: Were they “friends, lovers, a comedy duo, business partners, or flatmates?”

It turns out they were all of the above, yet their announcement has sparked curiosity about why they chose to keep their relationship hidden, even from their own families.

Dan shared that his decision to keep both his sexuality and his relationship with Phil a secret stemmed largely from experiencing an “extremely homophobic childhood.”

However, this was news to Dan’s father, Tim, who recently told the Daily Mail that he was “not aware” of any such challenges during his son’s upbringing.

Although the couple’s announcement would have come as little surprise to many in their army of fans, it prompted a huge outpouring of support, with one devotee commenting: ‘It is bigger news than Taylor Swift getting engaged.’

Such is the extraordinary following the pair have amassed. Between them, the pair have nearly 13 million YouTube subscribers, and they’ve worked alongside the likes of Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Prince William.

Along with their phenomenal online success, Dan, 34, and Phil, 38, have hosted a BBC Radio 1 show, published best-selling books and performed to packed houses on sell-out world tours covering 80 dates across five continents.

Yet very little is known about the pair – though the Daily Mail can now reveal that they have amassed a staggering £8.5million fortune through their social media empire.

This includes a £4.1million modern penthouse apartment which Dan and Phil splashed out on in 2022.

Financial records uncovered by the Daily Mail show the presenters each have their own companies which manage their individual earnings.

Phil has Amazingphil Limited, which is worth £2,248,530, while Dan’s company, Dan Howell Limited, is worth £1,428,251.

Together they run Dan and Phil Productions Limited, which has reserves of £203,137, and they also have their own online merchandise store, IRL Digital Limited, which has £369,856 in reserves.

The pair recently split a £148,876 payout when they closed another business.

That brings their joint earnings to more than £720,000 – and a combined total of nearly £4.4million.

Alongside that is the spectacular home the duo bought in Islington, north London, where Dan and Phil film many of their comedy and gaming videos.

The complex has its own family health club, with state-of-the-art facilities, including a 25-metre swimming pool for adults.

It also has its own luxury cinema with six screens featuring no more than 25 seats each, that hosts films from blockbusters to art productions.

It is a far cry from the pair’s more humble beginnings. While Dan grew up in the leafy Berkshire village of Winnersh, he took part-time jobs in a DIY store and Asda before enrolling at the University of Manchester where he was studying law.

But he dropped out after a year after becoming one of the first successful YouTubers.

Meanwhile Phil, who grew up in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, had worked as a dog walker and car washer before securing a degree in English Language and Linguistics in 2008, and a Master of Arts in Video Post Production with Visual Effects in 2009, at the University of York.

Both were aspiring internet stars when they met in 2009 on Twitter, when Dan messaged Phil seeking advice on his budding YouTube career.

In 2010, they moved into a small Manchester apartment after realising they were more successful together than as individuals.

Though the pair were inseparable, both maintained an air of mystery when it came to their private lives. Yet they announced last week that they had been a couple all along, with Dan saying: ‘We fell into it hard and fast in 2009, and here we are almost 16 years later.’

He explained it had taken so long to discuss the relationship publicly because of the effects of his ‘extremely homophobic childhood’, which meant he had been ‘deep in the closet’.

Dan added: ‘In my mid-20s I felt we had to hide the relationship because I was still hiding who I was to my friends, family, myself.’

The revelation posed troubling questions about his childhood, yet that appears to have come as a surprise to his family.

Dan – who has a younger brother Adrian, 28 – lived with his father Tim, 64, and mother Karen, 59, in a £415,000 three-bedroomed, semi-detached house which was sold in October 2020.

Karen, who trained as a remedial massage therapist, owns and manages a business called Team Actuate, which has offered massage therapies and wellbeing packages to companies since being set up in 2002.

She now lives in a modern three-bedroom house in Reading, bought for £490,000 in June 2022.

Tim and Karen appear to have gone their separate ways. Tim, who had been the company secretary of Team Actuate, resigned as a director of the firm in August 2018.

He now lives in a modest council-owned terraced house in Winnersh.

Insisting he was baffled by his son’s claims that he had a homophobic childhood, he added: ‘I wish him all the best. He’s a YouTube superstar, my Daniel.’

And Karen said: ‘I love them both, I’m very happy they’re together. They’re soulmates.’

Meanwhile, Phil’s parents Nigel, 70, and mother Kathryn, 69, live quietly on the Isle of Man.

His older brother Martyn, 41, has played a part in the duo’s success, co-founding their merchandise business while running a management agency for visual content creators.

Phil and Dan clearly wrestled long and hard with the idea of announcing their relationship.

They took a break from YouTube in 2019 and in June that year both separately came out as gay, roughly two weeks apart.

While praising their fans, they said their private lives had been intruded by internet sleuths and that they had also faced homophobia, which Dan said had led to him having therapy.

He said: ‘What we had was the most important thing to me and I wanted to protect it, so when other people tried to grab it and drag it into the light, I felt completely violated.

‘Having all of these people trying to out us, and being so hostile to me when I tried to hide it, was so triggering. Honestly, it could have killed me.’

Dan said he felt like someone had put a curse on them, as they had achieved huge success yet he said there were times when he thought he might be ‘happier without all of this’.

One insider told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s been hard on them, knowing who to trust. [It’s] out of fear, but they also wouldn’t want to put people in a challenging position by asking them to keep their secret.

‘Now they are able to draw a line under it all and it will be exciting for them to be able to get closer to people and live their lives without any barriers.

‘Both Dan and Phil have been fearful of living [as a couple] for quite some time, then to also factor in how they are in a relationship as well, it’s been really hard on them.’

The couple teased they will share more tales about their romantic journey on a podcast.

At the same time, they said they were keen to avoid the ‘dystopian nightmare’ that is ‘couple vlogging’.

Dan said: ‘You are sharing your life and you are selling the perfect relationship on Instagram. Look at how we kiss. Look at how we vacation in Santorini.

‘And then when your relationship inevitably goes wrong, not only do you have a personal problem, you’ve destroyed your entire professional life because – congratulations – everybody got invested in the storyline of your relationship.’