In case you haven’t heard, Belly and Jeremiah are officially engaged, but if you took a casual look at her left hand, you wouldn’t know it. Belly’s engagement ring on The Summer I Turned Pretty is subtle, to put it mildly. Fans immediately began criticizing it when it made its debut in “Last Supper,” episode 3 of the third season. And now, TSITP star Lola Tung is defending Belly’s engagement ring.
In a new interview with Pedestrian TV, the actor called all the backlash “very funny” but also, “a little much.” She continued to defend the jewelry, saying that she loved the ring and calling it appropriate for Team Jellyfish and “very them,” especially given their current finances.
Noting that Jeremiah is now $20,000 in debt to his dad because he forgot to take some core classes needed to graduate, Lola called the ring “practical” and “beautiful.” She added, “It’s not about material things, you know?”
She also responded to the criticisms in a separate interview with PopSugar Australia, defending her character’s fiancé. “Jeremiah was trying to be a little smart buying a ring that wasn’t crazy expensive and putting his father further in debt,” she said. “He knows Belly very well and he knows her style, and it’s a very practical ring and very beautiful and simple.”
These are all rational points, considering Jeremiah and Belly are two college students with no real income to speak of. However, Jeremiah is not a rational character. He is a 21-year-old frat boy who didn’t read the fine print on his major requirements, costing himself and his dad $20,000. He’s a man who cheated on his girlfriend of three years—“break” be damned—and then in a desperate attempt to make up for it, proposed in a hospital parking lot.
I’m supposed to believe that he wouldn’t voluntarily go into credit card debt to pay for a bigger engagement ring? This is one piece of propaganda I will not be falling for!
