Ever since “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3 debuted its first two episodes last week, there’s been debate online about whether Belly and Jeremiah were officially broken up when Jeremiah hooked up with Lacie on spring break, but star Lola Tung said “it’s wrong” either way.
“No matter whether you think that he cheated or not, it’s wrong,” Tung said in a Wednesday interview with Elle, referring to Jeremiah rebounding so quickly and hiding it from Belly, even if it was a proper breakup. “I personally don’t think they were on a break or broken up, because that argument was so quick and everything happened so fast.”
The argument between Belly (Tung) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) happened before he jetted off to Cabo for spring break with his fraternity brothers, about which Belly felt in the dark. However, Tung said Belly was “not completely blameless” in their supposed breakup.
“She didn’t reach out either,” Tung said. “There is a little bit more of a mess in her own head.”
Jeremiah doesn’t come clean about his hookup with Lacie when he arrives back on campus and he and Belly make up, leaving Belly to find out about his cheating by overhearing Lacie and her friends talking during a party at his fraternity months later.
The realization prompts “pure shock for Belly,” Tung said. “This is someone who’s been her rock for so many years and who she’s known her entire life … It can be heartbreaking when you feel like you don’t know everything [about someone].”
This time, their breakup is crystal clear, but when Steven gets into a car accident that leaves him in critical condition, Tung said Belly’s priorities shift again when she comes face-to-face with Jeremiah, who asks her to marry him, to which Belly accepts.
“She’s almost lost someone else in her life that’s really important to her, and they both experienced a huge loss years before that — it’s still obviously affecting them and their relationship,” Tung said, referring to the death of Susannah.” The thought of losing more people in her life, whether it is Steven or Jeremiah, is just not an option.”
“Jeremiah is showing up and trying to be there whenever she will let him. I think, in that moment, she’s completely overcome with all of these emotions and is in a very vulnerable space,” she continued. “They both are, and they really want to lean on each other, because they do love each other. Even though Jeremiah did mess up, I think when it’s put into perspective, it feels so silly compared to literally a life-or-death situation.”
While Tung said Belly isn’t “thinking of Conrad in that moment,” she admits Belly and Conrad will always have an “unspoken connection.”
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3 releases new episodes Wednesdays on Prime Video.
