From Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, to Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, celebrity couples often look weirdly alike. In fact, the phenomenon has coined the term'doppelbanger' – two people with similar facial features who are intimately involved. This has led to speculation that looking similar is somehow conducive to a better or more long-lasting relationship. But researchers in Germany, who used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse celebrity photos, have found there is no evidence to support this. Celebrity couples who look alike are no more likely to stay together than pairs who have different faces, such as David and Victoria Beckham, and Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, they say.

It is a phenomenon that has fascinated scientists for decades – couples tend to look alike over time. The idea first surfaced in 1987, when researchers from the University of Michigan studied proposed that years of shared emotions resulted in closer resembles due to similar wrinkles and expressions. Now, a team from Stanford University is taking another look at the theory and found that people do not grow to look like their significant other, but choose them because of their similar facial features. The findings suggest that people search for a mate with the same features just as they do when it comes to finding a mate with the same values and personality traits. A team from Stanford University is taking another look at the theory and found that people do not grow to look like their significant other, but choose them because of their similar facial features.