Some of the younger commenters have yelled at me before for not knowing the cast of Pretty Little Liars. Like, I know who Ashley Benson is from her interviews, but not because I’ve ever seen her in anything. So it is with Troian Bellisario, another young actress from Pretty Little Liars. I only know her from event photos, basically. But I’m going to remember her name from here on out, because this young lady is en fuego!! Bellisario spoke to Cosmopolitan while attending the DNC. She’s very active in pro-choice issues, and she’s a former Bernie Sanders supporter who is now happily voting for Hillary Clinton. And she has some thoughts about Taylor Swift and the Kardashians. You can read the full piece here. Highlights:
Voting for Hillary as a former Bernie supporter: “There’s a stigma attached to, “Oh you’re only voting for Hillary because she’s a woman,” or, “You’re only voting for Hillary now that Bernie has joined Hillary’s team.” But I think she is the most qualified person to become our president. We’d be so lucky to have her as our president. I mean, I was definitely a very big Bernie supporter. [But] I was somebody who really thought that it was always going to be Hillary, so when the time came for me to be with her, it wasn’t a difficult switch for me … I felt like they were both very wonderful candidates. But I know it’s very difficult for a lot of my friends, and a lot of my friends feel angry and disillusioned right now. I’m considering it my mission to try to unify the party within my friends group, to try to say, “I understand that you’re pissed off, I understand that you felt like you had a candidate who represented you and now you’re not sure if you can jump on board with Hillary,” but I’m doing my best to help win them over to support her, because I think it’s really important that we all move forward as a party.
How she feels about Bernie or Bust Bros: “I feel really frightened. I understand that what a lot of people saw in Bernie was somebody who was an outsider, and so maybe it’s easier for them to change their vote over to Trump, who is an outsider of the political system — but I see that as a dangerous thing. I happen to think that if you were following Bernie and now you’re gonna go over to Trump, I don’t know what your politics are. I don’t really follow that line of logic.”
Team Kim Kardashian or Team Taylor Swift? “Oh god, I have such an aversion to the Kardashians because I literally don’t understand people’s obsession with them and I don’t want to accept them as our closest thing to a royal family, so I guess I would be Team Taylor Swift? However, I’m so appalled by what I consider to be her false feminism. It seems like she’s this person who’s like, “Sisterhood!” and then she does nothing but tear down the women that were once her friends. So is it possible to just be, like … this is a two-party system that I don’t want to be a part of? Can I just say that? Can I say that I would choose the Green Party in this?
LOL at choosing the “Green Party” of Taylor vs. Kimye. I think Katy Perry might be the Green Party, maybe? No, it’s Rihanna. Rihanna is the Green Party in this situation. But what Bellisario says about Taylor’s “false feminism” is absolutely correct. And she sounds like a really thoughtful and pragmatic young woman when it comes to politics too. That’s one of the things that I never really understood about the Bernie-or-Bust people… did they not realize that it was always going to be Hillary?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Mr. Crowhood has the biggest crush on her and I’m not even mad because ME TOO
She’s stunning, isn’t she? The prettiest PPL actress, IMO. The show is really stupid, I stopped watching after the first season, but she’s a good actress.
She seems to have a good head on her shoulders, and she’s pragmatic and level headed. I also don’t understand how someone could switch from Bernie to Trump. Apart from both being sort of outsiders, they are the polar opposites.
Of course no one would actually switch from Bernie to Drumpf. She has no idea what she’s talking about.
@starkiller Uh… Some people are absolutely switching from Sanders to Trump. Are you serious? I personally know of more than a few.
Watch out girl, there’s a pull down song with u in it coming soon in Tay Tays new alum. At this rate she’s going to have enough material for several.
Or she’ll be tweeted about by KKW. It’s probably just best at this point for everyone to ignore all three of these crazies (KKW, KW, TS)….maybe they will all go away.
Jonathan will be tweeting something nasty about Troian in 5…4…3…2… Thats 99% of the time how Kim does it. Let her trolls do the work. She only pops off when she wants headlines and she feels people will really back her.
@mellie…Right? TS hasn’t said a word about this, but guess who keeps it going? KW had to pop off at that Drake concert he appeared at. Pot stirrer keeping it going!
I wouldn’t be so worried in this case. Troian’s a tough cookie.
Well, Troian’s dad can destroy her. Not everyone is afraid of Swifty.
She looks a bit like a swarthy Kaley Cuoco in that last photo.
I can see that. I also thought she looked like a much better version of Patricia “Aloof” Mara.
Her resemblance with Patricia 🙂 is actually (or used to be, at least) a recurring joke amongst her and her PLL costars on their social media.
“swarthy”? Maybe that’s because she’s half black
i was thinking that too….. like white people tell me what swarthy is….
This actress is atleast 1/4 1/2 black….
Is her show still on? New season? Or new project? She’s a bit late on the TayTay train. But hey, publicity.
She is at the Democratic National Convention answering questions about the election and important issues when the reporter randomly threw in a Taylor Swift question. She was promoting Hillary Clinton not herself. Re-read the interview.
Yes her show is still on and they asked her more questions about political stances than anything. But ok
How come all defense of Taylor always come at the expense of everyone else?
Its the only way swifties know how to defend Taylor’s insanity
They always attack the messenger instead of listening to the message. You can’t get any lower than attacking Michael J. Fox and his Charity’s website because he pointed out Swifty would date his son and write mean songs about him. In other words stating a fact about Taylor’s behavior. So of course he had to be taken down.
She has created a generation of young girls who think feminism equals not telling the truth about Taylor Swift or critiquing her.
If you don’t watch PLL I’m not sure how you consider your life to be complete, and I’m saying this as a 35-year-old woman. I also love Troian. I think she’s spot on in what she says here and I’ll always love her for that debacle where she let the dude who found her phone Snapchat Coachella from her account. She’s a gem, this one.
That was hilarious
35 yo PLL looney here too…TB is by far the best actor in the cast. And not being afraid of tay tay…yeah you teach them girl!!
Hahahah, agree so much! I love Troian / Spencer so so much.
yoooooo ALL OF THIS. Troian really is very talented and I hope she can get some good projects after the show. She has REALLY been killing it this season and I think they are giving her more to work with since the time jump. My husband and I watch the show together! (We’re 28)
OOOP! I was gonna WHOOOO really big but then she blurbbed herself into a new *HONK* for her (keeping and eye out for this gal!)
I want her dress.
I am really surprised by her! In a good way. One nit picky thing though: feminism doesn’t mean you have to be nice to other women. It just means you believe in equality of the sexes. Men can tear each other down all they want without being man haters. This argument always bothers me. You can’t be a feminist unless you support all other women. Taylor’s feminism needs to evolve for sure though, we could talk about that all day.
I didn’t think she was saying that Taylor wasn’t or couldn’t be a feminist (as in the noun use of the word). It kind of sounded to me like she was saying that Taylor promotes another ideological definition of feminism (Taylor-ism?) that she doesn’t agree with.
She did say that it is Taylor HERSELF who promotes “sisterhood” but then goes back on it, which suggests to me that she thinks that Taylor Swift is a hypocrite, but who knows what would happen if she said the word “hypocrite” out loud in relation to Taylor Swift.
Smart girl.
I love all the PLL ladies, but Troian holds a very special place in my heart, and always has. This only makes me love her more! Thank you for covering her.
Her dad created Magnum PI, and she’s engaged to the guy from Suits. I watched about a season of PLL. I just couldn’t handle it. I kept shouting at the screen “WHERE ARE THE PARENTS!?” because they’re supposed to be playing… I don’t know, 10th graders when it starts?
Her father is producer Donald P. Bellisario.
I like her point of view, you go girl! Finally! But she needs to watch her back now, because Taylor is mean girl and she remembers everything – every word. Taylor is more powerful, she still has supporters. Supporters in Hollywood, one call… and… career is over.
Nah, I think Troian is safe for now – she is an actress, not a musician plus her dad is a major name in tv and holds plenty of influence in his own right. Taylor is a musician, I doubt her tentacles of behind the scenes influence extend that far into Hollywood itself.
The Swifties will go after Troian maybe, but it won’t have the same impact it did on Camilla Belle.
At this point I don’t get why any celeb is getting in the middle of this mess.
agree, tho um…which one? Tay or Hill? lol! 🙂
While I usually can’t stand products of Hollywood nepotism, at least she has a brain.
@Mellie. I agree. Nepotism within Hollywood produces mediocre actors 95% of the time. Troian is a brilliant, talent young woman with or without her fathers influence around town.
I adore this woman, HONK for Troian
You can be a bad friend and bitchy to other women without being a “faux feminist”. She means “false sisterhood” not “false feminism”
+1. I completely agree with you that the actress should have kept it to “false sisterhood.”
Also, Taylor is quite the equal opportunity take down artist, male or female. And I think she’s more of a tribalist than anything else, as in the Tribe of Taylor.
100% – “I happen to think that if you were following Bernie and now you’re gonna go over to Trump, I don’t know what your politics are. I don’t really follow that line of logic.”
I haven’t watched PLL in a few seasons but Troian is actually an excellent actress. No joke. She’s miles ahead of most teenshow actors. Glad to see she’s intelligent, funny and thoughtful too 🙂
I agree with Ollie and would go further. It is a bad precedent to start calling women “false feminists” because you don’t like them or because they may behave in
self-contradictory or inconsistent (specifically, human) ways. Are we really going to fight to be the real feminists, the true feminists and upstage and denounce each other? I don’t think that’s good for women. Will it become like the Mommy wars? Will we one-up each other on our feminist righteousness and chops? This is divisive and promotes the stereotype that women can’t really get along with each other. I’d favor a softer approach. Just sayin’.
I think there could be a distinction made between feminist and feminism though. She didn’t say Taylor was a false feminist — she said Taylor promotes a false feminism, which I assume to mean that the ideas behind her brand of feminISM are problematic to her.
When she said that “It seems like she’s this person who’s like, “Sisterhood!” and then she does nothing but tear down the women that were once her friends” it basically sounded like she was saying that Taylor is a hypocrite since it is Taylor herself who talks about sisterhood and then goes back on her word about it.
The Tay-Tay fans probably would have heaped vitriol like no tomorrow on her if she had directly called Taylor a hypocrite though.
Taylor believes in herself and doesn’t give a flying f-k about other women or men. She is just looking out for herself and had no problem using truly disgusting narratives to elevate herself and win pr war. So much for her being a good role model
True True!! Though I hope this backlash recently is teaching her to dial back her ego just a bit…a tiny lil bit.
I’ve loved Troian ever since she publicly came out about her eating disorder a few years back (and loved her castmates for supporting her after that as well). She always seems like she has a good head on her shoulders and regularly engages in relevant topics on social media. She’s a good one
Hey if I had to somehow pick a team between those two groups I think I’d echo her answers completely. Team Neither. She sounds really intelligent and I loved her answers about politics, it is sad that we do have this level of extremism in the party but what can you do but hope people realize the stakes eventually.
Is it terrible I love that Tay’s finally getting called out? Not being bashed, just being brought to the carpet on her BS “feminism”.
” “Sisterhood!” and then she does nothing but tear down the women that were once her friends.”
What would be an example of that?
She tried to tear down kanye west, but which of her female ‘friends’ has she torn down?
honestly…?
(not a fan of swift at all, just wondering where this girl (don’t watch her show either) gets this info to say it in an interview as the reason she doesn’t like swift.)
Completely off topic: She is half Black. Her mom is Deborah Pratt.
Anywho, she does have a good head on her shoulders. I love PLL and follow her snaps. She isn’t always doing “enlightening” things but you can see she is relentlessly curious, which is a sign of intelligence.
She also recently finished directing school which she attended between filming seasons of PLL. It shows a commitment to taking charge if her future. She isn’t just sitting around hoping the opportunity falls in her lap. She is preparing for the next stage of her career.
I’m surprised she wasnt on people’s radar? She smart, talented and beautiful. Loved her for years!!!
Btw anyone who would refer the kards, as the royal family for this country, pretty much makes it known to anyone they’re speaking to that they are clueless in life.
Never seen Pretty Little Liars- but wow.
She seems plain spoken, bright, and not petty or engaging in bullshit.
And so damn on the nose.
Going to IMDB to see if there’s something she’s in that I might watch. Wanting to love her.
wow! She sounds just like her character in PLL…intelligent! That was really nicely worded, I mean the part about Sanders and Hillary…I couldn’t care less about the idiocy of the Kardashians/West vs. Taylor but I guess she was just answering the question and actually it was a good answer.
I’ve watched PLL – Troian never stood out to me before but she certainly does now. I feel the same way with the election and the Kimye vs. Swifty debacle. She seems like a gem.
40 year old PLL looney here and Troian is my fave.