The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s Jeremiah and Belly may as well be this generation’s Ross and Rachel with the way fans are fighting over whether they were actually on a break — or not — before he cheated.
Jenny Han‘s hit Prime Video series, which is based on her book franchise of the same name, focuses on Belly (Lola Tung) who gets caught up in a love triangle with two brothers. After exploring her feelings for Conrad (Christopher Briney), she starts to reconsider whether his brother, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), is her perfect match.
As if dating siblings isn’t complicated enough, the third and final scene took a page out of We’ll Always Have Summer by having Jeremiah secretly sleep with someone during a tense moment in his and Belly’s relationship.
But here’s where things get really complicated. Since Jeremiah and Belly fought days before he was unfaithful, viewers are divided on whether he was a single guy when he slept with Lacie. Fans of the hit sitcom Friends are very similar with the debate of what constitutes a break from a relationship — but what does The Summer I Turned Pretty cast think?
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“It is debatable whether or not that’s considered cheating or not,” Han noted to People in an interview released after the July 2025 season premiere. “Because they technically were broken up. It’s really how different people [interpret it].”
She continued: “I think that for me, as the creator of the world and the characters, I have to have empathy for all of them.”
Keep scrolling to see where each cast member lands on the great cheating debate:
Jenny Han
“I think that Jeremiah genuinely thought that they were broken up. I don’t think Belly felt the same way,” Han told Vanity Fair in July 2025. “It feels like a huge betrayal.”
Han acknowledged Jeremiah’s mistake, adding, “It wouldn’t feel great for anybody — even if both parties thought they were broken up — to open up Instagram and see your ex-partner with someone else so soon.”
Lola Tung
During the same interview, Tung weighed in on who was in the wrong.
“It’s pretty absurd that an argument that was so short and quick would cause Jeremiah to think that they were broken up,” Tung explained to Vanity Fair before confirming she thinks Belly and Jeremiah were on a break. “I appreciate how passionate everyone is about picking their sides.”
Gavin Casalegno
“I can see why both characters feel the way they do, and they are both very valid,” Casalegno, who plays Jeremiah, told Vanity Fair at the time. “There are deeper things in both of their thought processes that have led them to this point in their relationship. What he did was wrong, yes, but it’s not always black and white.”
Chris Briney
While Briney’s character Conrad isn’t involved in the infidelity story line, the actor still had thoughts.
“[It is a] a gray area but would I say they were on a break? Probably not,” he told Vanity Fair. “I don’t support either decision, but sleeping with someone on your spring break and then getting back together with your girlfriend is a little sleazier.”
