As one of Hollywood’s most eligible bachelors, “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest always makes headlines when he’s photographed with a new woman by his side. But on June 17, 2025, it was an old friend — and an old photograph — that piqued fans’ curiosity.

Longtime NBC News correspondent Andrea Canning, best known for her crime reporting on “Dateline,” posted a nearly 30-year-old photo on social media of herself and Seacrest, with her arms wrapped around his neck. She tagged him and wrote, “Throwing it back to 1997 @ryanseacrest #roomies”

With no additional context, Canning sent her followers into a frenzy, with many begging for more details.

Andrea Canning Lived With Ryan Seacrest & 2 Other Male Roommates in Los Angeles

Seacrest didn’t like or comment on Canning’s post, but thousands of others did, including one who wrote, “That’s it? No details???!! You tell stories for a living and we want a story….😜”

Another commented, “we need the tea.😂” and someone else chimed in, “So. Many. Questions.”

In 2013, Seacrest revealed on his KISS-FM radio show how he and Canning became roommates, according to Us Weekly. Living in Los Angeles with two other guys, all in their early 20s, he said they decided “that we should look for a stranger” to be their fourth roommate.

“But, even better, we should have a girl stranger move in who can help us recruit (women) because we were 22 and completely single,” he told his co-hosts. “At the time when we were going out, it was much easier to meet a girl if we had a girl with us, as opposed to just three guys being together. That was part of Andrea moving in. We were like, ‘We’re going to need your help here!’”

Canning then called into the show, Us Weekly reported, and reminded Seacrest, “I met you at one of your raging parties. We all ended up having those parties, but that’s what I remember the most. They were so much fun!”

The two reminisced about stocking up on beer at Costco and Canning recalled, “Our parties became so legendary that we had to move, remember? The cops kept shutting them down! There were too many people and the neighborhood was plain.”

Ryan Seacrest & Andrea Canning Lived Together Before Their Big Breaks

When the photo of Seacrest and Canning was taken in 1997, he was still five years away from making his debut on “American Idol,” the show that would change his life. He had moved to L.A. from his native Atlanta, where he worked as an intern and then a nighttime host at a local radio station.

Seacrest managed to land a radio gig in L.A., as well as some small TV shows, including a kids’ game show started by one of his heroes, TV legend Merv Griffin, who also created “Wheel of Fortune,” which Seacrest began hosting in 2024.

“I was on the radio in Los Angeles doing afternoon drive,” he told iHeartRadio’s Math & Magic in 2024 about his big break on “Idol,” noting, “I had been on television a little bit and gotten some good experience, but nothing at the level with the impact of what was about to come.”

Seacrest is expected to return to “American Idol” for his 24th season, with tapings in the fall.

He and Canning, meanwhile, were roommates while she was in L.A. working as a field producer for the entertainment TV show “Extra.” Her bio states that she moved to Ontario, Canada in 1997 to work as a reporter for two years before moving on to Miami before getting scooped up by ABC News in 2004, per her online bio. She later joined NBC and “Dateline” in 2012.