James Marsden; Lizzy Caplan.Photo:Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty Images;Neilson Barnard/amfAR/Getty Images for amfAR

Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty Images;Neilson Barnard/amfAR/Getty Images for amfAR
James MarsdenandLizzy Caplan’s relationship is still strictly platonic — but they’ve had some fun with romance rumors anyway.
In a new joint interview withVanity Fair, the longtime friends opened up aboutbuzz that they were datingback in 2014, two years after they starred in the comedyBachelorettetogether.
“We were with each other all the time, is probably why. We liked to get the gossip going,” said Marsden, 49, of what possibly started the rumors.
“Oh yeah. Love that side of it all,” joked Caplan, 40.
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James Marsden (far right) and Lizzy Caplan (far left) inBachelorette(2012).Gary Sanchez Productions - BCDF Pictures

Gary Sanchez Productions - BCDF Pictures
TheDisenchantedactor then asked Caplan, “Remember just smoking our asses off? I was never a smoker [before].”
“I know, I used to bring that out in people in my youth. It’s terrible,” she joked in reply.
Though the duo has been spotted out spending time together in 2014, theFatal Attractionactressput dating rumors to bedin a conversation with PEOPLE that summer.
“He’s just one of my best friends,” she said at Showtime’s Emmy Eve Soiree in August 2014. “He’s one of my dearest friends.”
But even if the pals had been romantically linked, theMean Girlsstar was quick to point out that she’d keep it a secret. “I wouldn’t tell you anyway!” she said of Marsden, whosplit from his wife of 11 years, Lisa Linde, in 2011.
In the newVanity Fairconversation, Marsden said Caplan helped him through the divorce. “I was going through a divorce, and she was one of my closest friends during that time,” he said.
James Marsden and Lizzy Caplan in 2015.Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Sony PIctures/AP Images

Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Sony PIctures/AP Images
The former spouses share sonJack, 22, and daughterMary, 17, while Marsden also has a 10-year-old son,William, with Brazilian model Rose Costa.
Meanwhile, Caplantied the knot with Tom Rileyin September 2017, a year afterthey got engaged. The two welcomed sonAlfiein 2021.
“My whole life is different than it was 15 years ago — all vast improvements,” theFleishman Is in Troubleactress told PEOPLE last month. “While I appreciate that time, I’m also very happy to be in this new chapter, [where] my priorities are set.”
She added, “There are definitely benefits to getting older, as well as the shock and fear that comes along with it.”
source: people.com