According to People, the couple met at a dinner party in 2009 and dated for a while, then broke up. They remained friends, though, and both had lingering feelings that they didn't address until 2015.
"It had been marinating within me, my love for him and figuring it out and coming to terms with it, over the years," Smith said. Porter remembers that, after a date to see Hamilton at the Public Theatre, "[Smith] said, 'I love you, and I've always loved you, and if there's any chance, I would like another shot — I would like us to have another shot at this.'"