Kissing Booth: It is interesting to watch that the on-screen love triangle of The Kissing Booth 2 has been extended to real life. The Netflix stars Jacob Elordi and Taylor Zakhar Perez portrayed love interests for Joey King’s character, Elle, and real-life certainly imitates the same.
Back in 2018 when Kissing Booth first released on Netflix, Elordi and King were dating each other off-screen as well as on-screen.
“We were so close and throughout filming, I was just best friends with Jacob,” King told Seventeen in June 2018. “I guess there was no moment, but I feel like the friendship kind of naturally was like, ‘Oh, hey, this person is super frickin’ awesome. We have so much in common and we really love spending time together. Maybe there’s something more there.”
“It was never like this moment of ‘OMG, I can’t let him see me like this.’ You know what I mean?” she continued. “We were open books with each other. There was nothing we wouldn’t talk about. He’s just so great. After the first month, I was like, ‘Hmm, I think I like him.'”
The couple expressed their attraction for one another and continued dating throughout the filming.
“It was such an interesting experience meeting your boyfriend on set because you spend so much time together and become so close so fast,” she told Bello in 2018. “We were spending 17 hours a day together, and all of us would hang out after work and watch movies together and stuff. It was great.”
However, when a publication spoke with King in February 2019, she opened up about her split with Elordi.
“It’s bizarre that people are intrigued about an aspect of my life that’s something that you usually only talk about with family,” King told at the time. “I’ve kind of learned to not let it bother me so much, because when people ask those questions, it becomes overwhelming and you’re like, ‘I just want to experience what I’m experiencing privately because whether it’s hard for me or not, I just want that respect and space.'”
“But I also realized, these people invested themselves in a performance of mine, and it really touched them, and now they really want to know what I’m up to, personally,” she continued. “I’ve learned, and this comes with accepting self-happiness, to just be flattered by it — because what my fans and what my supporters say and do for me on the flip side of that, on not asking me who I’m dating and what I’m doing, I think it’s so special.”
In the same month, Netflix announced the sequel of the show in which Elordi and King worked again but this time as exes. King spoke about her experience working with her ex and noting that it was a “sacrifice”.
“Honestly, it was a really beautiful time. Because I learned a lot about myself and I grew as an actor. I grew as a person on this. It was fine. It was good. I think for me because I am very much a frickin’ huge fan of the Kissing Booth myself… going back and doing that and making the sacrifice of what, obviously, everyone is thinking about and what I’m not outwardly addressing, but what I’m kind of on the sly addressing, making those sacrifices was totally worth it,” King said on the Mood With Lauren Elizabeth podcast in November 2019.
The former couple went on to promote the sequel in July and said that it was difficult to date in the public eye. “I’ve publicly gone through some things, privately gone through some things, it’s all about finding your balance, finding what makes you comfortable,” King said. “And it can be brutal, but, you know, happy endings do come to those who are patient.”
“Unfortunately, it just has my name involved in it but it literally has nothing to do with me. It just doesn’t affect the trajectory of my life. So I just kind of ignore it,” Elordi added. Given that, both the actors have come back in the world of The Kissing Booth post-split in August.
“No one’s thinking to themselves, ‘That was easy,’ because it wasn’t,” King said of filming the sequel with Elordi. “I’m sure people will analyze every movement and every detail. And you know what? Let them. But at the end of the day, I was just thrilled to be Elle Evans again.”
“Elle Evans needs her Noah Flynn, and whatever that means for my personal life, I’ll do anything to make sure the story of my character who I care about so much is complete,” she added. Although, the new heartthrob in The Kissing Booth 2, Perez soon became the new love interest for King.
Alongside a shot of them being silly at the beach, Perez admitted that he “could write about this woman all day.”
“She is the reason I joined the KB2 family, she welcomed me with open arms and love, she supported me, she pushed me, she made me laugh (like pee my pants laughter and had to check my underwear), she inspired me to be a better actor, she shared her family with me, THE LIST GOES ON,” he wrote. “Grateful for you forever.”
The rumored couple went on a vacation together last month and shared pictures on their Instagram that made fans go crazy on the internet.
“Last weekend we went to celebrate her birthday and a friend of mine’s birthday. We just went together and had a good time. I love her. I love her dearly. I’d do anything for her,” he said, before denying dating the actress. “We’re not dating. I’ll end it with that,” Perez expressed his feelings for King.
In fact, the pair spent their quarantine together. “When we got back to Los Angeles, we just kept hanging out. We live really near each other,” he explained. “And then the quarantine hit and we kinda just needed someone to trust during that time, like, ‘OK, I know you’re not going out. I know who you’re seeing.’ So we just became really close.”
“It’s been interesting how everyone is trying to make something out of it, but it’s fine,” he said. “It’s like, hey, I would love to be dating Joey King. Like, she’s dope.”
“I’m a huge fan of dating your friend, someone that you know and you trust, because that’s where it all starts, right? That trust,” he continued. “For me … non-sexual intimacy is so much more important to me, first.”
Being said that, fans are looking forward to catching up with more Kissing Booth drama on-screen and off-screen. The upcoming installment of the series is due for 2021 while the shooting has already done along with the previous installment.
For more updates, keep watching this space.
