The Truth About Emma Stone And Andrew Garfield's Relationship

Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield are two of the most recognizable and celebrated actors of the last decade. The two have each had a whirlwind year, with Stone taking on the title role in Disney's "Cruella" and Garfield shocking fans with his belting vocals in the movie musical "Tick, tick...BOOM!" While each star can demand whatever screens they appear on, it's the images of the two together that kept pop culture fans enchanted since their days as up-and-coming actors.

Of all Hollywood friendships, few have as deep and intense of a history as these award-winning celebrities. The two have been intertwined in each other's lives since the days of "The Amazing Spider-Man," according to IMBd, and we have been obsessed with the ups-and-downs of their off-screen relationship ever since. Ten years since the release of the blockbuster superhero film, Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield's connections have changed in lots of ways.

Sparks fly on the set of The Amazing Spider-Man

The beginning of Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield's relationship seemed like its own romantic comedy. Both had successful films under their belts by 2010, with Stone leaving audiences charmed in the hilarious "Easy A" and Garfield stealing scenes in "The Social Network." The two met soon after during the audition process for "The Amazing Spider-Man," according to E! News. The newly-minted Peter Parker felt that Stone was the perfect Gwen Stacey. "I met her first at the screen test and I was like, 'Oh, man, if I have to spend six years of my life talking about one thing over and over again to camera crews and stuff, I hope it's with this person,'" Garfield reportedly said about Stone. "She came in and she was like a shot of espresso," Garfield later said in an interview released on "The Amazing Spider-Man" Blu-ray and DVD release. "She's incredibly energetic and enthusiastic and she had this sense of play and fun, which was incredibly exciting."

The movie's director also noted the couple's instant chemistry. "There were fireworks," director Marc Webb said, according to another E! News article. "She could take Andrew's improvisation and witticisms and one-up him. It was amazing to see them go back and forth, and it really became fun to watch them."

Stone said their relationship on-screen felt "authentic," something that clearly bled into their off-screen lives, too.

But the two kept their relationship relatively private

Reports began swirling about Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's real-life relationship in 2011. Us Weekly reported that the two were official in June 2011, a month after filming ended for the first installment of "The Amazing Spider-Man." "They got close during filming and have been hooking up," an anonymous insider told the magazine. However, they both wanted to keep things low-key for a while as each had just ended previous relationships.

But those quiet rumors were soon confirmed by beachside make-out sessions and public hand-holding. In November 2011, they were seen holding hands in New York City, according to E! News. The rumors about the real-life lovebirds were undeniable by the next summer, though. In August 2012, Stone and Garfield passionately kissed on a Malibu beach, according to E! News. Their chemistry was as striking in the real world as it had been on the big screens, and no one could get enough.

The endless paparazzi appeared to become intrusive, however. When asked about their relationship in a 2012 Glamour interview, Garfield chose to keep the details under lock-and-key. "That's a personal question. I think certain actors can talk about their lives in a way that is free and open. I think we just want to be actors and get lost in the stories that we're telling. I mean, you're assuming things that may or may not be true ... But, we don't really like talking about anything personal in our lives."

They were the most wholesome Hollywood couple

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone stayed side-by-side throughout the rollout of the first installment of "The Amazing Spider-Man" and the filming of the film's 2014 sequel. While audiences loved seeing them both on and off-screen, Garfield and Stone continued to keep the details of their relationship quiet. When pressed by Ellen DeGeneres in a 2014 interview, Garfield dodged questions about kissing Stone on the film's set, according to InStyle. That summer, the two made a statement to both the public and paparazzi when walking through New York City. Each held signs over their faces with handwritten notes, according to InStyle.

"Good morning!" read the sign Stone held. "We were eating and saw a group of guys with cameras outside. And so we thought, let's try this again. We don't need the attention, but these wonderful organizations do." Garfield wrote out the links to organizations such as Youth Mentoring Club and The Worldwide Orphans Organization.

But the couple poked fun at the strange nature of their celebrity relationship. On a 2014 sketch of "Saturday Night Live," Stone crashed Garfield's episode to satirize their "The Amazing Spider-Man" romance scenes, hilariously botching their kissing scene. The two seemed to have had a perfectly balanced sense of humor and undeniable chemistry everywhere they went, including the red carpets of their film and the Met Gala, according to Cosmopolitan.

The first cracks in their relationship

While fans soaked in Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's onscreen chemistry, the pair grew increasingly quiet about their relationship. However, fans noticed that Garfield was absent from the 2015 Oscars, where Stone had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress, according to Cosmopolitan. People later reported that the two went on a break in April 2015.

"It's one of those situations where only Andrew and Emma quite know if they'll pick up where they left off or [if] they've separated," an insider told the magazine. By the end of April, Us Weekly had reported that the two had officially "ended things."

"[Garfield had] been in a dark place for months, getting into his role," a source told Us Weekly, acknowledging that Garfield's work in "Silence" had strained the actor's personal life. "He wasn't being the best partner," the source said.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in June 2015, Stone skirted around the details of the couple's alleged break-up. "See, I never talk about this stuff for this exact reason — because it's all so speculative and baseless," she said. "I understand the interest in it completely because I've had it, too. But it's so special to me that it never feels good to talk about, so I just continually don't talk about it." While there weren't any official statements made by the Garfield and Stone at the time, it appeared the flame of their relationship had fizzled out.

But the two remain great friends today

While our hearts were broken by the time Emma Stone told Rolling Stone she was single in 2016, it was clear that she and Andrew Garfield remained on good terms. In a chat with the Hollywood Reporter, Garfield was quick to name Stone as an actor he would choose to be on a deserted island with. In October 2016, Stone reflected on her whirlwind year filming "La La Land," perhaps alluding to their break-up. "It's been a good year. And sad. Pros and cons," she said, according to Teen Vogue. When asked specifically about Garfield, she told reporters he was "someone I still love very much."

Garfield and Stone's relationship proved to be a real-life bittersweet love story like the award-winning "La La Land." Garfield sang Stone's praises for her performance, testifying that he was her "biggest fan," according to InStyle. He continued complimenting her work on Vanity Fair's "Little Gold Men" podcast. "It's been bliss to be able to watch her success and watch her bloom into the actress she is," he said, according to People.

But Andrew still had to keep a big secret from his friend Emma

In the years since, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone seem to have remained good friends. Stone married "Saturday Night Live" writer Dave McCrary in 2020, according to Us Weekly, with the two having their first child in March 2021. And according to InStyle, Garfield is dating model Alyssa Miller. There aren't any hard feelings, however.

Stone and Garfield still keep in touch. Garfield was apparently forced to lie to his former Spider-Man co-star about his rumored appearance in Marvel's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," according to People. "Emma kept on texting me. She was like, 'Are you in this new 'Spider-Man' film?'" Garfield said on Josh Horowitz's podcast Happy Sad Confused. "And I was like, 'I don't know what you're talking about. "She was like, 'Shut up. Just tell me.' I'm like, 'I honestly don't know' — I kept it going, even with her. And then she saw it. She was like, 'You're a jerk.'" The joke and Garfield's lie were just a part of some harmless Hollywood fun, though. Once Hollywood's favorite couple, Garfield and Stone have proven to become friends who can joke around and celebrate one another's success.