Dove Cameron says timing mattered when she first met Damiano David

Dove Cameron says she and fiancé Damiano David first crossed paths at exactly the wrong moment.

The singer and actress got candid about her relationship with the Måneskin frontman in a recent episode of Call Her Daddy, reflecting on their first meeting at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards.

At the time, both Cameron and David’s band were nominated for Best New Artist, an award Cameron ultimately won. 

Despite briefly interacting backstage on that day, Cameron recalled that David seemed distant and uninterested, which led her to assume he disliked her. "And he was also not giving off friendly vibes. I was like, ‘This guy f****** hates me.’ I was gonna go on with my night. I met a bunch of people. Everybody's like, ‘Congrats.’ I didn't think about it," said Cameron. She continued, "Later I learned he was just, like, in a really bad place," she clarified. "It had nothing to do with me. But I took it personally, and I was like, 'F****** weird. Alright, bye.'" 

The two went their separate ways that night, with no expectations of reconnecting. Cameron also addressed David’s past claim that she initiated contact by sliding into his DMs. She clarified that she didn’t send a flirtatious message, but simply reposted a performance video and tagged the band. She insisted she was genuinely a fan of their music.

When they reunited at the 2023 VMAs, circumstances had shifted. "We had a reason to talk. He was single, and I was single, and he was in a better place, and I was in a better place." David reintroduced himself, invited Cameron to a Måneskin show at Madison Square Garden. "I was like, 'Yeah, I remember you. Like, you're so different now.' He was so friendly. And then he was like, 'Do wanna come to our show at Madison Square Garden?' And I was like, 'Yeah,'" she said. "And then we just started dating, and now we're engaged. Like, it's so, so innocent and simple."

Looking back, Cameron doubts a romance would've worked during their first meeting. She shared that she was deeply depressed at the time and intentionally celibate. She called that period a year-long emotional low where she wasn’t open to intimacy or dating. "If I had met him before I did in a way where he was interested in me and there was an opportunity for us to be dating, I would not have been ready because I was so depressed," said Cameron. "I was, like, celibate." She added, "I was like, ‘Don't touch me, don't look at me, don't come close to me, I'm not leaving my house.’ I was like dark night of the soul for a year." 

By the fall of 2023, however, she felt ready to move forward. "I literally texted my friends, and I was like, ‘I think I'm ready to date.’ The couple went public in early 2024 and announced their engagement in January 2026.