In a new interview with Glamour, Jared openly discussed his relationship with Alexis for the first time.

In 2016 the casting director of Gilmore Girls, Mara Casey, gave an interview in which she said, “We did have a running joke about casting all of [Alexis Bledel’s] real-life boyfriends. She dated Jared and [Milo Ventimiglia].” Is that true?
It is true! But I had never met Alexis before the show. We did date, but they cast me as a human being, and then I became a boyfriend.
When Alexis and I met, we were both 17 years old and were both Texans and kind of in this new, strange city and I was like, “Hey, want to go out to dinner?” I know she dated Milo for a while and yes, she and I did date.

Before or…?
It was before because he wasn’t on the show until season 2. I think we dated during season 1.

How did you two keep it a secret?
I don’t know if we tried to keep it a secret. I wish it was scandalous or something! I think it was more kind of silly. We were two 17-year-old kids who were like, “Hey, you want to go bowling?” It wasn’t anything super juicy.

You’ve said multiple times that you’re Team Jess over Team Dean. But do you feel like we, as a society, should still be Team Rory? She kind of sucks too.
I laugh when people are like, “I’m Team Dean.” Dean cheats on his wife! And Rory didn’t help.
Rory had some issues. You know, she was a kid growing up and trying to navigate her way in a weird world without a really solid father figure and with a kind of kooky, neurotic mother. I’ll say this: Yes, I’m Team Rory. I think Rory was trying to live her life, and she wasn’t malicious. She wasn’t one of these mean girls who were like, “Oh, I’m gonna start a rumor about this person or that person. I’m gonna try and ruin this life.”
Did she make some mistakes? Fuck yeah! Of course! We all do. She probably hurt some people, she probably got hurt. But I think she was just trying to live her life and figure it out. She wasn’t outwardly trying to hurt people. So yeah, call me Team Rory.

So did any of these questions manage to surprise you?
I think so! That Alexis boyfriend question. I didn’t know Mara had said that.

This was four years ago—you can’t get mad at her!
[Laughs.] Holy shit, so that was right during the reboot?

Yes, so the statute of limitations on this has long since passed.