Lucy Hale's Struggles During Pretty Little Liars Went Beyond Her Relationship With Co-Stars

Highlights

• Lucy Hale struggled with an eating disorder and felt pressure to fit in with her Pretty Little Liars co-stars.
• The relationships between Pretty Little Liars' four main stars were not as close as fans may have expected.
• Despite any tension or rumors, Lucy Hale says she still has love for her co-stars and considers them family.

Lucy Hale starred alongside Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell, and Troian Bellisario in the hit television show Pretty Little Liars, but the four of them were not exactly best friends for the entirety of filming, and Lucy Hale struggled with an eating disorder while filming. Pretty Little Liars ran for seven seasons on the network Freeform, and the story was based off a book series of the same name. It was a young adult sensation filled with drama, love, and even murder.

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As many young women in the entertainment industry feel, Lucy Hale felt pressured to stand beside the three other stars of Pretty Little Liars. Many rumors were started about Hale and her other cast mates, most of which were not true. Hale opened up in a recent podcast that though the four of them certainly went through some rough patches throughout the filming process, ultimately there is a lot of love between them.

Lucy Hale's Eating Disorder Started While Filming Pretty Little Liars

The pressure of fitting in with her Pretty Little Liars co-stars and suddenly being launched into fame was a lot for actress Lucy Hale to deal with. While on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Hale revealed that these pressures caused her to develop an eating disorder.

"What the f**k these are angels among me. Do I fit into that?" Lucy Hale revealed her insecurities about standing beside the three other girls.

Standing beside the other stunning women on Pretty Little Liars, Hale had a difficult time not comparing herself to them. She felt a lot of pressure to look as pretty as the rest of them, which caused some tension in her relationships with the cast.

Hale described being "overwhelmed" with the lifestyle changes that came with being on a popular television series, as well as her attempts to fit in with those around her. Her response to this feeling was to control her eating.

"To know that young women were watching this show... I just want people to know, I was not in a good place."

While Hale has since been open about feeling these pressures and going through an eating disorder, she has no idea if co-stars Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell, and Troian Bellisario felt similar things.

"I don't know if they felt the same way," Hale admitted, since she "never" had a conversation with anyone about this subject matter.

Her lack of communication about this subject with the other three girls certainly points to them having more than just a few rough patches. One would assume that this subject would be common ground for the three girls, but Hale clearly did not feel comfortable discussing the pressure she felt with Benson, Mitchell, or Bellisario.

Why Lucy Hale Didn't Hang Out With Her Pretty Little Liars Co-Stars

Fans expected Pretty Little Liars four main stars to be best friends right off the bat. They were playing best friends on the television series, so they must be friends in real life. Fans certainly love when a fictional relationship is able to transfer into the real world.

Unfortunately, the friendships audience members saw on Pretty Little Liars did not exactly correspond to how the four girls felt about each other in their personal lives.

On a recent episode of the podcast Call Her Daddy, Lucy Hale opened up about her relationships with the other three Pretty Little Liar girls.

"I've always found it tricky to connect with people," Hale admitted to the podcast host Alex Cooper.

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Hale went on to explain that she often did not hang out with her Pretty Little Liars cast mates, and that they would frequently go out on the town without her. This caused many fans to assume that the other actresses on the show did not like Hale.

Hale assured Alex Cooper that those rumors were completely off base.

"I was marching to the beat of my own drum," Hale explained. "There was always a lot of love."

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Since the four women were at the forefront of the show and quickly became famous, the public began to pit them against one another in the media. There were always questions and rumors about whether they got along and who was the biggest star.

"People always wanted to pit us against each other. Were we all best friends? No. Some of us connected some of us did not. Did we have rough patches? Of course. We were in our f**king 20s, of course," Hale said to podcast host Alex Cooper.

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While Lucy Hale admitted to going through rough patches with her Pretty Little Liars co-stars, she was adamant about it being simple, young people drama. Any feuds or rumors that were posted online were blown out of proportion, according to Hale.

The media certainly tried to pit them against each other, though.

"Realistically, there were magazine covers, and they were only choosing one," Hale explained. The actress made it clear that the four of them really tried not to allow the external competition to affect them.

Since Hale, Benson, Mitchell, and Bellisario all essentially grew up together during the filming process, Hale holds a special place in her heart for the three girls.

"I loved them, I still love them to this day," Hale said of her co-stars. "I'm so proud that we maintained a level of... it felt like family. You don't always vibe with certain family members, but you're family."

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