Joey King isn't here for any The Kissing Booth slander.
It's been a few years since the first installment of the Netflix trilogy aired, but the 23-year-old actress wants you to know she still holds the films close to her heart.
"I couldn't be prouder of those movies," Joey told The Independent in an Aug. 3 interview promoting her new action film Bullet Train. "I loved them so much and playing that character made me happy," she said, explaining that despite the negative reviews from critics, she will "never regret those movies."
Joey added, "I love them so much no matter what anyone says."
The Kissing Booth starred Joey and Euphoria actor Jacob Elordi, who played her love interest in the films. The franchise based on Beth Reekles' books follows Elle Evans, played by Joey, after she finds herself beginning a romance with her long-time crush—who is also her best friend's brother—when she decides to run a kissing booth at her school's carnival.
For Jacob and Joey, life began imitating the films as they began dating shortly after they met on the set of the first film in 2017. Ahead of the second film's release in 2019, news broke that the two reportedly had called it quits. The final movie The Kissing Booth 3 was released on Netflix in 2021.
For Joey, who is now engaged to Steven Piet, the films have meant a lot to her and she's previously spoken out against the negative reviews.
"I understand that critics weren't all over this movie, but that's the thing—it's not meant for critics to be like, ‘Wow, what a movie!' It's meant for people to watch and have a great time," she told Variety in 2020. "I'm thankful that I got to do The Act, where critics were like, ‘Oh, that's awesome.' But also not everything you do has to have critical acclaim. It doesn't mean it's not successful."
She added, "And it doesn't mean it's not one of my favorite projects I've worked on. The fan reaction to it is all the criticism I need as far as just the way it fills my heart."