Benny Blanco, Selena Gomez secretly dated months before hard launch

Benny Blanco recently revealed that he and his now-wife Selena Gomez dated for nearly a year before the world found out they were together.

The Grammy-nominated music producer, whose real name is Benjamin Joseph Levin, provided insight into the couple’s relationship timeline in a recent interview with El País, a Spanish news outlet, where he spoke about his upcoming album “Hermoso,” his career and navigating fame.

Blanco, 38, opened up about being in the spotlight, especially now being married to someone as high-profile as Gomez. “It’s not something I love. It affects my life a lot. It’s a necessary evil, a price I’m willing to pay in exchange for the things I get because of it,” he said.

The hitmaker, who has worked with artists such as Rihanna and Justin Bieber, said it took a while for him and Gomez to make their relationship public. Gomez hard-launched it on Instagram in December 2023.

“We kept our relationship private for a long time, about eight or nine months. And she asked me, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? I understand if you want us to just be friends.’ And then I said, ‘You know what? Screw it,'” Blanco shared. “We’re lucky because we both have friends and family we’ve known since before all this, and we’re surrounded by a good group of people we love.”

Blanco and Gomez are partners, music collaborators

Blanco and the Rare Beauty founder tied the knot in September 2025 at a ceremony reportedly held in Santa Barbara, California.

Photos shared on social media show Blanco wearing a black tuxedo with a bow tie, and Gomez wearing a white halter-style gown with a ruffled neck and sweeping skirt, both custom Ralph Lauren.

Gomez and Blanco first worked together on the singer’s 2015 album “Revival,” and multiple other times throughout their careers. Last year, before getting married, they released a joint album, “I Said I Love You First,” which chronicled “their entire story – before they met, falling in love, and looking to what the future holds,” according to a news release.

In the interview with El País, Blanco was asked about collaborating with Gomez on music and whether they have any challenges balancing their personal and business lives.

“We’re easygoing people. … We don’t have those kinds of fights. I would never raise my voice to her,” he responded. “If something doesn’t sit right with us, she might say, ‘I don’t like that!’ And I’ll say, ‘Okay.’ And then we try something else. Fortunately, we don’t clash. We have very similar tastes.”

Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Benny Blanco, Selena Gomez agreed to go public months after dating