What happens in Stars Hollow stays in Stars Hollow. Alexis Bledel sparked a romance with Milo Ventimiglia on the Gilmore Girls set — but he’s not the only former costar she’s fallen for.
The pair portrayed Rory Gilmore and Jess Mariano, respectively, on the beloved 2000s series. Their characters dated on and off throughout the show, and in the real world, the actors were together for four years before splitting in 2006.
Bledel eventually went on to marry Mad Men costar Vincent Kartheiser in 2014. Three years later, when she was up for an Emmy for her work on The Handmaid’s Tale, the This Is Us hunk proved the old pals were still on good terms.
“I’m very happy for her,” Ventimiglia told Bravo’s Daily Dish. “She’s always been a great actor.”
Though fans have been pining over the Second Act star for years, he’s more focused on finding the perfect role than the perfect partner.
“Everything is second position to work — everything,” he told Haute Living in May 2021. “I’ve had friendships and relationships that definitely had a hard time with that. I’d get home from work and a girlfriend would want to spend time together, and I’d have to make sure I did spend time with her, sit down and eat, maybe turn on a movie for 20 minutes. But when my bowl is empty, I’ve got to go into my office and close the door and work for another two hours so my lines are spot on and I’m ready to be on set the next day, so I’m not wasting time for the crew.”
Ventimiglia continued, “You kind of have to dedicate yourself to it in a greater way, and some things are going to be sacrificed while others can run concurrently. … [In relationships], you have to give someone room to live their life to their fullest, and hopefully those two lives can just run on the same track.”
Gilmore Girls may have ended in 2007, but the cast still remains supportive of one another — and even reunited for a Netflix spinoff, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, in 2016.
Five years later, Bledel weighed in on the hot debate about which love interest her character should have ended up with — Jess, Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki) or Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry). However, her answer didn’t give fans much closure.
“Jeagan?” she joked during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, mashing up all three names. “I can’t single somebody out.”
Scroll down to learn more about the Gilmore Girls cast’s real-life love stories:
