No matter how many other TV shows the Pretty Little Liars cast stars in, they will never escape the teen series that brought them fame. For the most part, that seems to be a good thing. Every actor likes hearing that their work has made an impact. And the stars seemed to like filming the series set in eerie Rosewood. However, Ashley Benson detailed the downsides of PLL. She didn't enjoy every minute. And rumors of an ongoing fight between Ashley Benson and Lucy Hale have persisted for several years.
Pretty Little Liars is like Gossip Girl in many ways. Both TV shows feature characters who are close friends but who sometimes argue, get upset with each other, and disagree. Because Pretty Little Liars is all about the highs and lows of having a group of best friends, fans always want to know if the actors care about each other IRL. Did the actors who played Aria Montgomery and Hanna Marin loathe each other? And are they pals now?
Did Pretty Little Liars Stars Ashley Benson And Lucy Hale Feud?
The Pretty Little Liars cast was busy in 2022 and that included Ashley Benson and Lucy Hale. The two actors continue to star in TV shows, but they have explored the world of film too, which has been cool to see. Benson starred in a few movies, including The Loneliest Boy in the World and Private Property. And Hale starred in the emotional drama The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry.
Even though Benson and Hale are in their 30s now and it has been years since Pretty Little Liars wrapped, rumors persist that the two co-stars once loathed each other.
Several sources have written about this rumored feud. A Pretty Little Liars fan posted on Tumblr with the details of Benson and Hale's rumored fight.
According to this Tumblr post, fans realized that Lucy Hale didn't go to Coachella in the spring of 2012. Ashley Benson attended the festival with Troian Bellisario and Shay Mitchell.
The Tumblr post continued that when Lucy Hale released an album, her Pretty Little Liars co-stars didn't seem to say anything nice about it or even talk about it at all.
Why would someone start a rumor about a feud between Ashley Benson and Lucy Hale? This rumor seems based on the fact that sometimes, Benson is photographed with her other co-stars, and Hale is rarely there.
Some Pretty Little Liars fans talked about this supposed feud on Reddit. A Redditor posted in a thread called "Teaon the Actors?" and wrote, "People noticed that Shay, Ashley and Troian didn't support Lucy when she released her music. Same when she got her show "Life Sentence" on the Cw but they supported Ian and his book, Keegan and his book and photography and then there was that engagement party and Lucy wasn't there."
Benson and Hale have never confirmed the rumors surrounding them. It seems likely that the more people talked about these co-stars fighting, the more that things got exaggerated. The Pretty Little Liars actors have never indicated that they don't get along.
Are Pretty Little Liars Actors Ashley Benson And Lucy Hale Friends Now?
While Ashley Benson seems to have met Troian Bellisario and Shay Mitchell on the set of Pretty Little Liars, it turns out that Benson and Lucy Hale knew each other prior to PLL.
Hale told Wired, “We met actually on Myspace. I was 15. We had mutual friends in common, I didn’t randomly find her."
Hale explained that she and Benson both were pals with actor Kendall Schmidt from Big Time Rush and he introduced them. She continued to Wired, “But we became Myspace friends, and then our first hang out was at Disneyland. We were like super, super tight when we were teenagers and then kind of lost touch. And then Pretty Little Liars brought us back together.”
Hale and Benson haven't said that they are still best friends. Since they are both busy with their own lives, it doesn't seem that they see each other as often as they did when they starred in Pretty Little Liars together. And neither actress has said that they are still good friends.
But they're definitely not fighting, and there is no proof that they ever did. In March 2023, the PLL cast went to an event together. E! News reported that Benson, Hale, and Troian Bellisario attended a gathering for Every Day Action.
Ashley Benson posted photos and wrote in her Instagram caption, "My girls last night." Hale called it "mini reunion for an amazing cause."
While Benson hasn't mentioned whether she is friends with Hale in interviews, she does talk about Bellisario and Mitchell. Those three actresses appear to be best pals who make a point of spending regular time together.
In a 2012 interview with Cosmopolitan, Benson said of Pretty Little Liars, “I see that as my college years." The actress continued, "We were together for seven years, and I saw them more than my own family."
Of Mitchell and Bellisario, she explained, "We all live by each other. Minutes away. So it’s very funny. I want to see them, but I also have to be mindful right now, even though I’m getting tested weekly [for COVID-19]. It’s a scary time for everyone. I’ve never met Shay’s baby, and she’s like, ‘You have to see her!’ They’re like my sisters and they always will be.”
Pretty Little Liars fans will remain forever curious about the state of Lucy Hale and Ashley Benson's friendship. But nothing massive or devastating seems to have happened between them. Benson sees her other co-stars more often than Hale. But if Benson and Hale bump into each other or end up at the same event, they seem to have a good time, and they both think of the Pretty Little Liars cast fondly.