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While Gavin Casalegno remains loyal to his The Summer I Turned Pretty character, Jeremiah, the actor credited his marriage for helping understand the appeal of Belly and Conrad’s romance.
During a panel at Texas Christian University earlier this month, Casalegno, 25, weighed in on Team Jeremiah vs. Team Conrad — including how his relationship with wife Cheyanne King changed his perspective on the love triangle.
“Growing up, I never understood the Conrad appeal, unfortunately,” Casalegno quipped in footage from the Valentine’s Day event uploaded on TikTok. “I think being an adult now, and just trying to figure out my life, it made me understand — while looking for life partners — the whole Belly and Conrad thing.”
Casalegno joked that he was “not going to say that too loud,” adding, “All in all, as far as choosing sides, I think having stability and having someone to do life with that is your best friend [is important].”
He continued: “You always hear about being friends first so when you jump into something romantic, you know everything about each other. At the end of the day, sparks can fade but when you have a solid relationship and solid friendship, I don’t think people understand [how important that is].”
Casalegno surprised fans in November 2024 when he revealed that he exchanged vows with King, 23, in a surprise ceremony. “FOREVER CAPTIVATED BY YOU🕊️,” he wrote alongside several Instagram photos from the big day, which he tagged King in after she changed her social media username to reflect her married name: Cheyanne Casalegno.
Casalegno has largely kept his love life out of the spotlight after his past romance with Larsen Thompson. The former couple dated for six years before calling it quits in 2020. Two years later, Casalegno opened up about being a “hopeless romantic” in his relationships.
“I lived in Texas at the time and she was inviting all of her friends to the party, and at this point, I was already talking to her parents. I secretly bought a plane ticket out to go surprise her for her 16th,” he shared with Seventeen magazine at the time. “Her parents brought her to some restaurant at Universal Studios, and I jumped out of the corner and fake proposed with a Hershey’s kiss. Little did I know her dad was standing right there, and so that was the first time meeting him. It was hilarious. We laugh about it now, but I haven’t found a length that I wouldn’t go to make a romantic gesture.”
The actor’s insight on The Summer I Turned Pretty comes ahead of the third, and likely last, season of the hit Prime Video series. Based on Jenny Han‘s book series of the same name, The Summer I Turned Pretty centers on Belly (Lola Tung) and her brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman), who spend the summer visiting a beach house belonging to their childhood friends, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Casalegno). After initially having a crush on Conrad, Belly’s life gets more complicated when she finds herself developing feelings for Jeremiah.
While Han’s book series ended with Belly and Conrad together, the creative team behind The Summer I Turned Pretty has remained tight-lipped about whether the show will closely follow the events of the book series. Casalegno, however, previously showed his support for a different outcome of the central love triangle.
“I do feel like there’s a strong chance that that’s a possibility,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2023 about the show potentially straying from the original events in the books. “Obviously, I know where [my character Jeremiah] ends up going and what ends up happening. But I don’t emphasize on that. Because I think Jenny writes it so well that I’m able to kind of get there naturally without having to force it in a certain direction.”
The Summer I Turned Pretty is currently streaming on Prime Video.
