The Summer I Turned Pretty author calls out fans for villainising Belly but forgiving Conrad

22 September 2025, 15:42

The Summer I Turned Pretty author calls out fans for treating Belly like a villain. Picture: Prime

By Sam Prance

"I think we as a society maybe judge women harsher and are quicker to want to forgive the male characters."

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The Summer I Turned Pretty author Jenny Han is calling out the sexism surrounding how people treat Belly in comparison to Conrad.

Ever since The Summer I Turned Pretty debuted, people have felt passionately about the show's characters and who Belly ends up with. However, the Team Conrad versus Team Jeremiah debate got so heated in season 3 that it led to fans turning on Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad and even bullying Lola Tung, Gavin Casalegno and Christopher Briney.

Most notably, Belly has been subject to an intense wave of criticism and it intensified after the season 3 finale. Now, Jenny Han has defended Belly and condemned viewers for being harsher on Belly than her male counterparts.

The Summer I Turned Pretty Cast react to fan comments

Discussing the severe reactions to Belly's behaviour in season 3 with Teen Vogue and whether they're justified, Jenny argued: "I think the fans can be really hard on women in general." In the final episode, Belly blames herself for ruining Conrad and Jeremiah's bond. However, Conrad reminds Belly that he and Jeremiah did that of their own accord.

Jenny then pointed out that people love men who've done terrible things: "I'm not the first to say it but I think, in the era of prestige television, you see these complicated heroes, the anti-heroes like a Tony Soprano, Don Draper, and you see them literally murdering people or beating up women, but people really love those characters."

She added: "But then you see them being really harsh on Carmella [Soprano] or Betty [Draper] for not being a good mom. I think we as a society maybe judge women harsher and are quicker to want to forgive the male characters. I think it's totally great to forgive Conrad, but I also think people should be forgiving Belly as well."

Lola Tung as Belly in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 finale. Picture: Prime

Defending Belly further to Variety, Jenny said: "I love her so much. To me, her story is about having love for yourself. That's something that hopefully people see by the end of the story is her having some forgiveness."

She continued: "I think a lot of the sort of back end of the story is about her grappling with her feelings of guilt and shame around choices that she's made and and mistakes that she's made."

What do you think? Are fans too harsh on Belly?