‘PLATONIC LIFE PARTNERS’: Childhood soulmates live like married couple

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Two best friends and childhood soulmates reveal they are in a “platonic life partnership” and “building a future” together.

April Lee and Renee Wong, both 24, have known each other for years, but in 2021 they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together – not as girlfriends but as partners.

Think Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia, but several decades earlier.

Wong moved from Singapore to Los Angeles last September to start a life with Lee.

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“Renee and I are platonic life partners, a relationship that combines qualities from friendship, marriage, and polyamory,” Lee wrote in an essay for Refinery29.

“We are each other’s primary partners, but we don’t have sex (even hugs are sporadic and occasional), and we date other people,” she explained.

They share a studio apartment – sleeping in separate beds, of course – and while they both date other people, their “deep, unconditional love” is the priority.

They are also financial partners, and are looking into being legally recognized as each other’s first of kin.

The PLPs often share details of their partnership on TikTok, showing others there is an alternative roadmap for relationships.

“We’ve romanticized the notion that one person could be our everything: our roommate, our financial and emotional support, our co-parenting partner, our best friend – and on top of all of this, they have to also be our lifelong lover. It just doesn’t seem realistic,” Lee wrote.

This seemed like the better option.

According to Lee, sharing a life with someone while not having to worry about keeping their “romantic connection alive” is a huge “relief.”

In fact, she believes the reason their relationship works so well is they “don’t have the added burden of making each other orgasm.”

Lee said she was inspired by an article about women in the 1800s who had no romantic interest in one another but married so they could continue to pursue their careers without being held down by the constraints of a relationship.

Rather than live alone or live the rest of their lives “with a spouse or two,” they found the third option – “building a life with your best friend” – much more attractive.

“When someone consistently helps you become the best version of yourself, and your future feels brighter and bolder with them, why would you not want them by your side forever?”