Diehard members of Team Jess, look away! Life & Style is reporting that Alexis Bledel and Jared Padalecki, who played on-screen sweethearts Rory Gilmore and Dean Forester throughout Gilmore Girls‘ run, dated IRL. Let the shock set in, and then we’ll resume…
It’s quite well known that Alexis Bledel dated Milo Ventimiglia—aka Jess Mariano, the bad boy who stole Rory’s heart away from her first BF, Dean. There are cute pictures of them all over the internet. But it seems Alexis wanted to keep her alleged relationship with Jared a bit more hush-hush, since this info is just now coming to light.
Life & Style spoke with the show’s casting director, Mara Casey, who revealed the quiet romance. “We did have a joke about casting all of Alexis’ [real-life] boyfriends,” she said. “She dated Jared and Milo (Ventimiglia). And she also dated a young New York actor named Chris Heuisler, who played a guest role. Real sweet kid.”
This third guy she mentions, Chris Heuisler, only appears in one episode in season two, so we think we can skip over analyzing the significance of that.
If Alexis and Jared did date, this adds a whole new dimension to the Jess vs. Dean debate that played out on screen over seasons two and three—and even dragged on into late season four. So excuse us if we’re looking for every sign of Rory’s not-so-pretend chemistry with Dean when the Gilmore Girls revival hits Netflix on November 25.