Sparks were flying between Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco this Fourth of July holiday.
The Only Murders in the Building actress shared a pic of herself cuddling with the music producer on her Instagram Stories July 4, weeks before they are set to celebrate their first dating anniversary.
While Selena, 31, and Benny, 36, have largely kept their relationship out of the spotlight, they have occasionally spoken about their romance in the press.
“She just like the best, most genuine person. Everything is so completely real,” Benny gushed about Selena to Drew Barrymore on the May 2 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show. “I’ll walk by the mirror as I’m walking to her and I’ll look at myself and I’m like, ‘How did I get here?'”
Before they began dating, the two were friends and colleagues—they collaborated with J Balvin and producer Tainy on the 2019 song “I Can’t Get Enough.”
Benny, a 12-time Grammy-nominated songwriter who also cowrote many more hit singles such as Selena’s ex Justin Bieber‘s 2020 track “Lonely,” revealed that he and his girlfriend began their relationship in late July 2023, around the time of her birthday. And according to him, it was the “Come and Get It” singer who made the first move.
“She was like, ‘Hey, you want to hang out?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah,'” Benny said on the May 14 episode of The Howard Stern Show. “I remember sitting there and she’s like, ‘Well, I would have worn something different for this date,’ and I was like, ‘What, we’re on a date?'”
Now, the two are best friends. “We laugh all f–king day,” he said. “She inspires me.”
Benny, real name Benjamin Joseph Levin, also shared the romantic way he surprised his girlfriend for Valentine’s Day. “She loves movies,” he said. “So I rent out a movie theater. And she loves a comfortable couch, so I took out the seats and we put like a huge couch in the front.”
The producer also cooked and gathered for his girlfriend her favorite foods to eat while watching her favorite film.
“I brought a deep fryer, everything, made her fried pickles,” he said. “I got her all her favorite Taco Bell. She loves Hot Cheetos. I got hot Cheetos. And then she loves movie theater nachos, so I brought in a nacho machine. Her favorite movie growing up was Almost Famous, so we watched Almost Famous.”
Benny, who has often showcased his cooking skills on social media, also documented another delicious romantic endeavor on his TikTok April 29, one day before he released his cookbook, Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends.
The songwriter shared a video of him cooking a steak for Selena, which was delivered to her house with a handwritten note on a paper towel that read, “I love you! Sleep well! I made you steak!”
As for what’s next in their relationship, Benny shared on The Howard Stern Show that he hoped to one day have kids and after Howard Stern told him he predicts marriage for him and his girlfriend, Benny said, “You and me both.”
But when asked about a ring, he joked, “I don’t have anything, what do you mean? I got no shoes on. I gotta get my act together.”
It’s an interview moment that made Selena laugh. “He can’t lie to save his life,” she told TIME in an interview published May 29. “If he’s asked a question, he’ll answer it.”
“I don’t know what the future holds,” she noted, “but I do know that he’s not going anywhere any time soon.”
Read on to find out how more stars celebrated the Fourth of July…
Instagram / Nina Dobrev
Shaun White, Nina Dobrev, Keleigh Teller & Milles Teller
The couples celebrated Independence Day together.
Instagram / Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco
The singer and songwriter cuddle up in honor of America’s birthday.