Chris Martin Says Dakota Johnson Is One of His Best Friends amid Split Rumors

Chris Martin considers longtime partner Dakota Johnson one of his best friends — even amid breakup rumors.

The Coldplay frontman, 47, gave a hint as to his relationship status with the Madame Webb actress, 35, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, including her in a lineup of his exclusive list of “best friends.”

“Phil [Harvey], Dakota, Jonny [Buckland], Will [Champion] and Guy [Berryman],” he said, naming Johnson, his bandmates and the band’s manager. “My kids.”

Martin is dad to daughter Apple, 20, and son Moses, 18, with ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow. The couple famously announced their “conscious uncoupling” in 2014, and finalized their divorce one year later.

Though Rolling Stone reported that the “Yellow” singer did not want to discuss his relationship with Johnson, as he didn’t feel it was his story to tell, he did say the pair listened to Kacey Musgraves’ album Golden Hour together only a few days earlier.

“It is important to say that [romantic love] is such a big factor in everything, even though it feels right to keep it precious and private; I’m not denying its power,” he said.

Martin and Johnson were first linked in the fall of 2017, and made their first public appearance together at Stella McCartney’s Autumn 2018 Collection event in January 2018.

Though they’ve largely kept their relationship out of the public eye, Martin gave the actress a special shoutout while performing his song “My Universe” in 2021.

“This is about my universe, and she’s here,” he told the crowd at the London show.

In March, Johnson told Bustle that she was a big fan of watching Martin perform.

“I don’t know. I love watching him. I could watch him every day,’ she said. “I don’t know how to explain it. I feel like, I don’t know… I’m watching my most favorite being do his most favorite thing.”

A source told PEOPLE that same month that the couple had actually been engaged for “years” after first sparking rumors in 2020, but “were in no rush to get married.”

When breakup rumors began swirling over the summer, a rep for Johnson shut them down, telling PEOPLE the pair were “happily together.”

“Sure, they’ve had issues and taken breaks in the past, but things are great now,” a source told PEOPLE shortly after. “They both love their career. They are balancing things the best they can.”