2025 just started and Jessie actors Josie Totah and Karan Brar have already fooled us with what many of us believed was the *cutest* hard launch ever on TikTok. On Jan. 12, Totah posted a now-deleted TikTok of the two to the song “Brooklyn Baby” by Lana del Rey. In the video, Brar was seen putting his arms around Totah before she pulls him in for a kiss. My Jessie heart was exploding seeing this. But it turns out the video was a full-on joke.
Not long after Totah posted and deleted her original video, she shared another TikTok captioned, “WE ARE TWO PLATONIC FRIENDS WHO DANCED A LITTLE TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN.”
Before making fans lose it with their rumored relationship, Brar seemingly teased a potential romance with Totah in a July 7 Instagram post. Brar posted a photo carousel, which featured an adorable picture with Totah (showing the two seemingly having a date night). Brar captioned the post, “people, places, and things” and kept fans guessing about the couple’s relationship status in the comment section.
For those of you who don’t know, Totah and Brar acted together in the Disney Channel show Jessie which follows a nanny of four wealthy kids in NYC. Brar portrayed Ravi Ross in the series, an adoptee who is notably the smartest of the four Ross children. Totah portrayed the recurring character of Stuart Wooten, who was crushing on Zuri, Ravi’s younger sister.
In November 2023, Brar published a heartfelt essay in Teen Vogue, titled “How I Found Myself.” In the essay, the actor discussed his mental health struggles, especially regarding balancing “public Karan and private Karan.” In the essay, he also discussed his experience of coming out as bisexual to his roommates Cameron Boyce and Sophie Reynolds. “They said my bisexuality changed nothing for them,” he wrote.
Five years prior, Totah publicly came out as a trans woman in a TIME essay titled, “My Name Is Josie Totah – And I’m Ready to Be Free.” In it, Totah discussed how she knew she wanted to be a woman before she knew what being “transgender” meant. “When I was five, long before I understood what the word gender meant, I would always tell my mother that I wished I were a girl,” she said. “Since I could speak in full sentences, I was like, ‘Give me a dress!’ I always knew on some level that I was female.”
Since starring together on Jessie, Brar and Totah have remained close but many fans did *not* expect to see these two kissing online. Before Totah shared her follow-up TikTok video, fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared their support for the two (and reactions), because, TBH, all of our Disney hearts were melting.
Josie Totah shares that she is dating her ‘Jessie’ co-star Karan Brar. pic.twitter.com/L5lIKOJdWI
— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 13, 2025
this being the biggest gag in disney history 😭
— Vix 🎸 (@skinnyforlunch) January 13, 2025
JOSIE TOTAH AND KARAN BRAR FROM JESSIE????? RAVI AND STUART??? OH MY GODDDDD IM SO HAPPY FOR THEM IM GAGGGGGED pic.twitter.com/YRGuWqE5mx
— ju🐯 ྀི (@juloccd) January 13, 2025
WHATTT OMG pic.twitter.com/HM1WeLMkjX
— marco (@outfotime) January 13, 2025
this is the craziest plot twist I’ve ever witnessed pic.twitter.com/jEc1T1a2cd
— bear (@oplivio) January 13, 2025
why is this the only piece of celebrity gossip i’ve ever cared about in my entire life
— ʎqqɐ🦋 (@aabbyn_) January 13, 2025
IDK about you, but I was *living* for the idea of Totah and Brar dating.