Riverdale's Lili Reinhart Reveals Her First Impression of Cole Sprouse—And It'll Surprise You

21-year-old actress says what she first thought of her co-stars

By Meg Swertlow Sep 27, 2017 10:03 PMTags

We heart #Bughead on and off screen—and so do you. Just admit it.

But just what did Riverdale star Lili Reinhard think of her future TV paramour and her eventual real-life boyfriend Cole Sprouse the first time she met the former Suite Life with Zack and Cody star?

In a new interview with W magazine, the actress, who essentially became an overnight TV sensation, dished on her first impression of Cole and the rest of her castmates, as well as what's it's been like for her on her meteoric rise to fame.

"I thought KJ [Apa] was so hot, so charming," she recalled. "I had seen Cole and Camila [Mendes] at the studio test, and thought Cami was so beautiful. It's funny, I don’t really remember having an opinion on Cole, to be honest. Of course, I had grown up watching [The Suite Life] but I wasn’t really starstruck. He just seemed like this really attractive, normal guy."

Of course, those indifferent first impressions have bloomed into something that looks and sounds a lot like love.

The romance between the pair, who play Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones on the Archie comic spin-off, first made news when the two got caught coupling up during the 2017 Comic-Con. Since then their new love appears to have been set aflame.

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Kissing Costars: TV

During Reinhart's interview, the also admitted admitted that the role of Betty has certainly been life changing, she wasn't familiar with the iconic Betty Cooper prior to the audition.

"It was a blank slate going into it," she said.

Riverdale premiered a year ago and the frenzy over the teen drama has been electric. The show's murderous characters, gorgeous cast, aching love stories and endless plot twists and turns have kept fans on a wild ride.

The same can be said of the virtually unknown actors' lives since they've been thrust into the limelight. 

"The show took off in such a way that fame followed very quickly after, and it wasn’t really a smooth transition,” Reinhart said. "It was just kind of like, 'Bam.' It wasn’t a bad thing, but all a sudden, I’m doing all these things and a year ago, I was just starting to film season one, and two years ago, I was living in North Carolina with my parents."

For the 21-year-old star, going from living with her mom and dad to being stopped by fans asking to take photos with her has been a big and sometimes not-so pretty adjustment.

Reinhart, who recently had an "inappropriate encounter" with an overzealous fan in Toronto, said, "When people come up and ask for pictures, it’s like, of course. And sometimes I am in a terrible mood, but I’ll still do it, and then I do feel like, 'What if that fan experience was a let down for them and I wasn’t as exciting in person?'"

But the actress was quick to explain, "I am not Betty Cooper."

She continued, "I'm always going to try to be as happy and grateful to fans, but I’m also just trying to live my life. I don’t have an on switch all of the time. It’s something that I am getting used to, or trying to. I don’t know how anyone can get used to that."

We don't either!

See Sprouse and Reinhart's chemistry when Riverdale season two kicks off on Wednesday, October 11, at 8/7c on The CW.

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