At a loft apartment in Manhattan for their Teen Vogue cover shoot, Tell Me Lies costars Grace Van Patten and Jackson White are at their most playful, dancing around the intimate set without a care in the world. White’s ’70s soft-rock playlist—a mix of the Eagles’ Desperado, the Doobie Brothers, and the Bee Gees—plays in the background. At one point, while they both sing Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” White starts jumping on the couch, his arms mimicking the upward trajectory of a rocket ship. Van Patten cannot contain her laughter. They’re a world away from the on-again, off-again couple they play on TV.
For three seasons on the hit Hulu young-adult drama series, the 29-year-old actors have become the face of the ultimate toxic romance, playing out a cautionary tale about the enduring ramifications of getting into bed with the wrong person. Adapted from Carola Lovering’s 2018 novel and executive produced by actor Emma Roberts, among others, the series chronicles the volatile, years-long entanglement of Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco, whose tortured, often abusive relationship wreaks havoc on their own lives as well as their coed group of college friends.
The third season, airing now, sees Stephen becoming more diabolical than ever, blackmailing Lucy into confessing on videotape that she lied about being sexually assaulted in a misguided attempt to protect her best friend. As Lucy finds herself effectively held hostage by her ex, the rest of their friends, who have spent years noticing Stephen's increasingly toxic behavior, gradually open their eyes wider to his true colors.
While Lucy and Stephen are locked in a vicious cycle of mutually assured destruction, the actors’ real-life partnership is one of affection and balance. After initially keeping their relationship under wraps, the couple are ready to pull back the curtain on their love story, offering a rare glimpse into the life they have quietly built together.
For the last few years, Van Patten and White have had nearly identical schedules, allowing them to integrate their lives without moving in together—at least not yet. “Here’s the deal: We both had dreams of being homeowners. The show gave us an opportunity to do that. We couldn’t just abandon our individual dreams,” White explains.
“It’s like a city home and a country home,” Van Patten adds of their respective Los Angeles-area dwellings. “When we need solitude and quiet, we go to his. We’re in the little cabin, and it’s so cozy. And when we want life and energy, we go to mine. It’s a really good balance.”
Van Patten and White may have grown up on opposite coasts in New York and Los Angeles, respectively, but their early lives were strikingly similar. They are the same age—she’s a Scorpio, he’s a Pisces—and, in an alternate universe, might have crossed paths as undergraduates at the University of Southern California. But, to hear them describe it, they connected exactly when they were meant to, proving the adage that timing is everything.
The eldest of three daughters of Emmy-winning director Tim Van Patten and model Wendy Rossmeyer Van Patten, Grace remembers regularly visiting her prolific father on the set of The Sopranos, where, she told Vogue in 2021, she would watch the late James Gandolfini transform from a “teddy bear” into a terrifying New Jersey mafia boss. “I thought that was so fascinating and also scary at a young age,” recalls Van Patten.
As a teenager, Van Patten attended LaGuardia, the storied Manhattan performing arts high school—despite some initial reservations about “doing the same thing every day”—where her classmates included Timothée Chalamet. But she was not completely sold on a career as a thespian. She chose to defer her admission into USC’s theater program, wanting to expose herself to other potential interests like criminal psychology, philosophy, and writing, but “everything I was learning, I was kind of interpreting it as, How do I then put that into being an actor?” she explains.
Like his girlfriend, White always seemed predestined to pursue a career in the arts: His mother is Golden Globe-winning actor and singer Katey Sagal; his late father, Jack Cameron White, was a drummer who played with the likes of Tina Turner and Rick Springfield; his late grandfather, Boris Sagal, was a director; and his stepfather is Kurt Sutter, the creator of Sons of Anarchy. White is notably blasé about the concept of fame because he has spent his entire life watching his mother—who rose to fame on the popular sitcom Married… With Children—navigate the limelight. “Growing up, we’d be at a restaurant and TMZ would stick a camera in her face," he says, "but she was always so charming and cool about it. It’s normalized for me.”
From age six to eight, White would rush home from school every Friday and head to the Burbank studio where his mother filmed the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules—which also starred Kaley Cuoco, the late John Ritter, and the late James Garner—in front of a live audience. He regularly ran between craft services and dressing rooms. But more than anything, sitting in the crowd, “I just watched them crack people up,” he recalls. Sagal did not let White or his sister act professionally until they were 18, but he notes, “that [experience] was definitely formative, now that I think about it. That can get you hooked.”
After a few smaller projects, Van Patten’s big break came when she played a young woman grieving the suicide of her twin brother in the first season of Nine Perfect Strangers. That performance put her on the radar of writer-producer Meaghan Oppenheimer, who was in the nascent stages of adapting Tell Me Lies. “She’s one of those people where even when they’re doing something ‘unlikable’ onscreen, you want to be around them, you want to watch them,” Oppenheimer says.
In 2025, Van Patten used that skill to play Amanda Knox in Hulu’s miniseries, executive produced by Monica Lewinsky, about the public figure whose wrongful conviction in her roommate's death was overturned. “[Grace] has a warmth and openness to her that not only makes her easy to connect to, but for me in particular, there was a reflection of youth that I could see in both what we knew of Amanda then and [what] I felt also for myself,” Lewinsky tells Teen Vogue. “I’m sure there are a lot of women who would meet Grace and sort of go, ‘I remember being that way.’”
Though White grew up around acting—and discovered his own passion for it through theater—music is his first love. He was actually planning to follow in the footsteps of his father, who passed away in 2024. “He really was the first person to teach me about discipline,” White says, his voice growing a little quieter. Throughout our conversation, he seemingly involuntarily taps the table in front of him with a pen. “When I wanted to be a drummer, he said, ‘You can’t be a drummer unless you take 12 to 15 drum lessons. And if the teacher says you have it after that much time, then I’ll let you pick one set of drums from my locker.’ He had, like, 10 sets of drums at the time. I took the 15 lessons and he said, ‘Okay,’ and he took me into his drum locker, and he had these black Gretsch piano-finish drums that I pointed to. It was his favorite set of drums, and he was such a kind man, he let me have them. I have [them] to this day.”
White attended a small music program at USC, but dropped out after realizing he needed a “project-based” job that had some kind of structure. He then spent two years studying the Meisner technique and then broke out as Kathryn Hahn’s college-bound, bone-headed son in the HBO miniseries Mrs. Fletcher.
Since then, White has unwittingly carved out a niche as the toxic boyfriend, bringing with him a kind of unflinching, unsettling intensity every time he pops up onscreen. The people around him describe him as “sensitive” and “caring” in his personal life, but White has a bit of darkness within him that bubbles to the surface when he steps into one of these roles. “I don’t mean I’m f*cked up, but I had to grow up a little fast,” he says.
“He really had a vulnerability to him that no one else had, and I knew that was the only way to have Stephen be,” Van Patten recalls of the pair’s first chemistry read over Zoom. She had called in from her family’s home in Florida, and he was at home in Los Angeles. “Because if anyone leaned into the asshole of it all, I think it would have been too obvious. I think why this show works is there are moments where maybe you do want them to be together, and the audience has to feel that in order to be two seconds later really pissed or really scared.”
Unlike his character, White is open about his mental health and how his background has shaped him, including his journey with sobriety. In his mid-20s, around the time of the Tell Me Lies audition, he decided to get sober. “I had enough of the misery, of the open-endedness, of ‘What is my day going to be like? And what’s going to happen today and tomorrow?’ I just ate fear for breakfast. I ran on fear, and I substituted all those feelings with whatever I could get [my hands on]. I had had enough,” he recalls. Perhaps because he felt he had nothing to lose in his self-tape audition, White offered a “dark and funny” take on the character that immediately caught Oppenheimer’s—and later, Van Patten’s—attention.
For her part, Van Patten recognized in Tell Me Lies an opportunity for Lucy to explore how a teen can mistake newfound lust and desire for love. “I thought it was really unique in the way that it took these young people’s feelings very seriously,” she says. “Your responsibilities are very low, so most of your time is consumed by how friendships and relationships make you feel.”
Despite popular belief, Van Patten and White didn’t actually meet in connection with the show; in her recollection, their first encounter was in passing at his SPF-18 co-star Carson Meyer’s birthday party in 2016. (White admits that he doesn’t remember this.) “I met him on my way out," Van Patten says, "and he was wearing a big leather jacket and a lot of rings.”
When they were brought back together in the audition process for Tell Me Lies, Van Patten wasn’t sure if they would get along interpersonally in their first read-through over Zoom. But she could tell that the two had “instant chemistry” when they were acting together. Clearly, they did.
Months later, after doing another chemistry read in person, White, who had still not officially landed the role of Stephen, flew to New York, where Van Patten was living at the time, under the guise of just hanging out. He claims his brain, for lack of a better word, “short-circuited a little bit” because “she has that power.” Even though he was “dying to” make the first move, he says he “didn’t have the balls” to do so, choosing instead to leave the ball in Van Patten’s court.
One night, after the two had dinner with some mutual friends, they walked around the city, making small talk. Van Patten, like a true New Yorker, is a very fast walker, and White struggled to keep up, always trailing behind her by at least a few paces. They made it at least a mile or two around the Brooklyn Heights Promenade before they finally broke the ice. Once they landed on a stoop, they discussed the reasons why they should not date, and then, like a scene straight out of a romantic comedy, she kissed him. “I’m happy I did,” she says, grinning. In a subsequent in-person chemistry read, they pretended that they weren’t dating.
Early one morning, Van Patten woke up to a text from Oppenheimer saying that White had finally been cleared to play Stephen. Without a second thought, she ran into the bathroom to tell White, who was in the middle of taking a shower. Right after, Oppenheimer called White personally to break the news.
“You were like, ‘I know already,’” Van Patten recalls.
“And she was like, ‘How?’” White chimes in. “And then you said—”
“‘Hey.’”
The actors will never forget their soon-to-be boss’s immediate reaction. “What I said on the phone was, ‘Oh my God, you wh*res.’ Obviously, they’re not wh*res, but that was the word that came out—jokingly, obviously,” Oppenheimer says with a laugh. Though there have been many stories about failed romances between costars, Oppenheimer chose not to concern herself with the worst-case scenario. “I think that it’s actually quite normal to date your coworkers in any industry, and they both are pretty sane people. They want their job to go well, so I just felt like it wasn’t going to become an issue,” Oppenheimer says. The fact that her romantic leads quickly gave each other finger tattoos did give the showrunner pause, but at the end of the day, she adds, “I wouldn’t write a show like Tell Me Lies if I worried too much about workplace romances.”
Leading up to the launch of the show's freshman season in September 2022, Van Patten and White tried to play what he called a “practical joke” on the general public to see how long they could get away with keeping their relationship a secret. “But more as a fun thing, not because we actually cared if people knew about it or not,” Van Patten insists. They kept the rumor mill spinning for months, posting suggestive photos and declaring in multiple interviews that they had “a crush” on each other. In early 2024, Sagal unwittingly blew their cover, revealing on a podcast that the couple had been dating “since the audition.”
At either her place or his, when they’re not busy running lines with each other, Van Patten and White enjoy the cozy comforts of domesticity. Their quiet time at home is often spent hanging out with White’s “scrappy little mut” Fred, who Van Patten jokingly says has very “human” eyes that make “you feel like he’s looking into your soul.” Van Patten inherited her parents’ penchant for cooking, White says, and makes all kinds of elaborate meals—chicken parmesan; different kinds of pasta (sausage and peas was a recent favorite); Greek bowls—and he can make a mean steak. They admit they are not great planners, instead wanting to live in the moment. Sonia Mena and Spencer House, their Tell Me Lies co-stars who are also dating in real life, are often their partners in crime on little impromptu outings around Los Angeles.
The couple share a lot of the same taste in shows, movies, and music. Van Patten proudly introduced White to The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (which he loved) and has been trying to get him to start Vanderpump Rules, but together, they've been watching more scripted fare (The Beast in Me) than unscripted as of late. And on a regular basis, they go to the movies. “Even if we know we’re not going to like the movie, we’ll just go see a movie for the popcorn and the routine of it,” Van Patten says. Sometimes she falls asleep mid-movie with her head on his shoulder.
“I really appreciate being still in a way that I did not before I met Jackson,” Van Patten says. “I’d get very sick of a place and have to leave, and I was just always on the move and living out of a suitcase until two years ago.”
White jumps in, “I’m a homebody, so I’m learning to be more out of my comfort zone, and I think she’s learning to be more rooted. I think we’re getting that from each other.” Later he adds, “We have a very similar way of existing. We like our comforts, but we also crave adventure.”
Perhaps that adventure-seeking nature helps them both navigate the unpredictability of the entertainment world, the only industry they have ever really known. “I’m a very anxious person, and I don’t feel safe to be anxious in front of a lot of people," Van Patten says. "This is the first relationship I feel really safe to be anxious in front of. He is so calming and makes me feel really listened to, and grounded and okay. In the same way that I need my mom to tell me everything’s going to be okay, I feel like if Jackson’s like, ‘It’s all good, it’s going to be okay,’ then I really believe that.”
“You’re a very self-reliant person, which is such an attractive quality," White adds, unprompted, "and I know that you’re a very vulnerable, mushy person too. When you show that side, I enjoy supporting you.”
Toward the end of our conversation, Van Patten and White are barely able to contain their excitement about the “bonkers” season 3 finale. Hulu has yet to make an official announcement about the show’s future, or if this season will be its last. As they wait to hear about a potential return to playing what is maybe the most toxic relationship on TV right now, Van Patten and White have their sights set firmly on the future.
Van Patten is keen “to not get caught in a rut” of repeating the work she has already done. With the heaviness of Tell Me Lies, she says, “a more lighthearted thing would be nice.” But, ultimately, for her it’s about falling in love with the character, which she considers a “rare,” “lucky” thing.
White looks at her fondly as she talks about what’s next. “I like watching how you choose things,” he says. “Even if you are anxious, you don't go about it in an anxious way. You go about it in a thoughtful way.”
White will continue to work in front of the camera, but says he also has aspirations of following members of his family—including his stepfather and aunts—into writing and directing. Given the preeminent role that music will always play in his life, a lot of the work he has written on spec has some kind of musical component. But he also just loves a good underdog story. And, at the end of the day, White still dreams of eventually starting a family. Like many children of divorced or separated parents, “I’ve craved that stability [of a family unit] my whole life,” he says, his voice softening. “When the dynamic’s a little complicated, I want that togetherness. I’d love to travel with my family and still get to make movies.”
When Van Patten is asked if her real-life partner is anything like his onscreen counterpart, her automatic reaction is to jokingly say, “Yes.” Thankfully, the only (literal) baggage that Van Patten has taken from her years of playing Lucy is her enviable collection of low-rise jeans.
“I think it does hopefully translate onscreen, that there is a deep connection. And even when Lucy and Stephen aren’t necessarily connecting, there’s still some energy between us that probably people feel,” says Van Patten. “We’re so comfortable with each other, and I couldn’t imagine doing this with anybody else.”
On the set of their cover shoot, the couple cements this notion as “Sara Smile” by Hall & Oates plays over the speaker. They mouth the lyric “It’s you and me forever” to each other, in a world of their own as the camera flashes, the sun streaming through the window.
Credits
Photographer Andy Jackson
Stylist Cornelius Lafayette
Assistant Stylist Reza Marcano
Hair Jacob Rozenberg
Manicurist Eri Handa at Home Agency
Make-up Misha Shahzada
Groomer Melissa DeZarate
Tailor Marquise Foster
Set Design Maisie Sattler
Production Modem Creative Projects
Executive Producer Malcolm Khaldi
Production Manager Jeremy Machado
Production Assistants Dino Kuznik & Sam Hana
Location Garys Loft
Creative Editorial Director Mi-Anne Chan
Digital Director Alyssa Hardy
Global Fashion Director Tchesmeni Leonard
Entertainment Director Eugene Shevertalov
Programming & Creative Development Director Amalie MacGowan
Senior Editor P. Claire Dodson
Senior Designer Liz Coulbourn
Senior Manager, Social Media Jillian Selzer
Video Manager Ali Farooqui
Copy Editor Dawn Rebecky
Research Editor Shayna Posses
Beauty Editor Donya Momenian
Associate Fashion Editor Samantha Gasmer
Assistant Fashion Editor Crystal Okonkwo
Motion Cover Film
Director Andy Jackson
Director of Photography Luis Villanueva
Assistant Camera Remy Yin
Gaffer Sangwoo Suh
Audio Harry Flax
Compliment Battle Video
Director Amalie MacGowan
Producer Ali Farooqui
Director of Photography Mar Alfonso
Cam Op/Gaffer Rylie Field
Audio Nic Maupin
Production Assistant Myles Haywood
Romance Hotline Video
Director Ali Farooqui
Director of Photography Luis Villanueva
Cam Op/Gaffer Rylie Field
Assistant Camera Remy Yin
Gaffer Sangwoo Suh
Audio Harry Flax
