Ashley Benson is Teen Vogue’s April 2020 cover girl. The 22-year-old ‘Pretty Little Liars’ actress sits down for a chat with the magazine and dishes on her love of acting, her first kiss on camera, prom, staying true to herself, her relationship with boyfriend Ryan Good, and many more. Her first real kiss was at fifteen in front of an army of producer types and some 50 extras. “The guy playing my boyfriend was in his 20s. I was like, ‘This is my first real kiss. So don’t be creepy!’ Everybody on set thought it was the cutest thing,” the actress recalls.
Speaking about a private plane ride she took with Justin Bieber, Ryan Good and Selena Gomez, Ashley says that, “We were messing around, being absolute idiots to this Carly Rae Jepsen song, ‘Call Me Maybe.’ Ryan was slapping his face with pancakes, and Justin wanted to videotape it. I was like, Whatever. When he got home, Justin calls and says, ‘Can I please tweet that video?’ Now it’s everywhere!”
Ashley grew up in Orange County watching Lakers games on TV and memorizing lines from her favorite movies. At twelve, she made her first steps in the business, shooting commercials for Pop-Tarts and trying to convince her parents to let her drop out of school to focus on acting. “This sounds crazy but my goal is to be nominated for an Oscar. I was the kid who was practicing my acceptance speech when I was ten,” the lovely actress confesses.
On staying true to herself, Ashley told Teen Vogue that, “I’ve seen a lot of people — for example, Lindsay Lohan — who got into the wrong crowd. I always have my eye on what I want. And I don’t want anything to distract me from that.” What she wants right now is to focus on her career and be taken seriously as an actress. “I always get offered the pretty, popular girl roles. But I want to do something dark, really challenge myself and get out of my comfort level,” she says.
The actress has been dating Ryan Good for over a year. On their relationship, Ashley admits that it wasn’t always so easy. “The first couple of months, it was all Skype. He was in Japan, Europe — everywhere. I’d have to wake up at two in the morning to talk to him. It’s hard being in this industry. You’re always away from your family and friends and boyfriend,” she confesses.
Benson told the magazine that she never went to the prom. Therefore, when she was invited to a prom-themed party at The Beverly Hilton hotel, hosted by the fashion label Young & Reckless, she says that, “My boyfriend wanted to go all crazy in a powder blue tuxedo. But I treated this like my real prom. I wanted good pictures. I got a black strapless dress and a hot pink clutch with spikes on it. We got a white limo — so tacky — and danced to Rihanna and Kanye West. It was the best!”
Speaking about this new season of ‘Pretty Little Liars’, Ashley would take the girls to New York City. “It’d be so cool if we were on the Jumbotron in Times Square and A was chasing us around the city,” she says. What about a ‘Pretty Liars’ movie? “The producers are talking about doing four seasons and then wrapping it up with a feature film. We’d all want to go somewhere we’ve never been before. To be followed around by A in a whole other state or country could be really exciting. We would love to make it happen — not just for us but also for the fans,” the young actress told Teen Vogue.
Read Ashley’s full interview in the April 2020 issue of Teen Vogue.
Photos courtesy of TEEN VOGUE
