Why Troian Bellisario 'Always Felt Like the Older Sister' to Her Pretty Little Liars Castmates

Troian Bellisario and her Pretty Little Liars costars were truly as close as sisters. 

Appearing on the Wednesday, Jan. 29, episode of Sophia Bush’s podcast, Work In Progress, the two actresses bonded over how they were able to form such strong friendships on their respective shows, Pretty Little Liars and One Tree Hill.

Bellisario starred in all seven seasons of the hit teen drama series Pretty Little Liars – based on the novel series of the same name by Sara Shepard – from 2010 to 2017. The Freeform series followed five teenage girls who begin to receive threats from an anonymous person; it also starred Shay Mitchell, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Sasha Pieterse and Janel Parrish, among others.

Bush, 42, said that she built a “kind of second family” while starring on her long-running CW teen drama One Tree Hill. Bellisario, 39, said she felt the same and noted that she and her costars were each other’s “home and away from [their] families.”

Bellisario added, “We were all different ages and different experiences.” When the series started, Bellisario was 24, Benson was 20, Hale was 20, Mitchell was 23, Parrish was 21 and Pieterse was 13.

“I had gone to college, I finished high school and finished college, and a lot of the girls had gotten their GEDs or had been homeschooled or who didn't go to college,” she added of the differences in their paths.

Because of that, “they were getting to go through in high school," Bellisario said of filming moments like passing periods and proms. "[That was] not their high school experience because they've been homeschooled.”

“There were a lot of definite shenanigans going on, but I think I always felt like the older sister, that got to go away to college and now was coming back on Thanksgiving break,” she explained. “I was like, ‘Oh, okay. I see what you guys are up to. Yeah. But I'm good.’ ”

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“It was also really fun because, as you say, they become your second family,” she said. “We really felt like sisters because you're spending all this time together, and you're not always gonna be best friends, but, like a sibling.” 

“If anybody has a sibling, you know, it doesn't matter if you're not best friends. It doesn't matter if you got in a fight the day before you're, like, you're still at dinner together. You're still hanging out,” she added. “It's fine because it's just — these are your second family.”

Bush immediately agreed with Bellisario’s sentiments. “It's real-life dynamics. We were together for 10 years, and none of us had any idea how to be adults when we first met," she said of One Tree Hill's cast.

“We went through all of our s--- together," she continued. "We were doing all the things that you do in your young life, but if anybody from outside our little circus family had anything negative to say about anybody in it, it was like —”

Bellisario interjected to say, “Hell no.”

Pretty Little Liars is available to stream on Max, Hulu and Disney+.