Joey King and Jacob Elordi Reflect on 'Brutal' Pressure of Dating in the Public Eye (Exclusive)

Jacob Elordi and Joey King know that dating in the public eye can be a bit brutal when you're a Hollywood star. The two actors, who co-star and reunite in the upcoming movie The Kissing Booth 2, know from experience. The pair dated for more than a year after filming the first rom-com, before calling it quits in 2018.

"In this world, everyone wants to know your business and what you're doing," King told ET's Katie Krause while promoting the sequel. "And I think it's very interesting when you go through things and people kind of feel like they're owed an explanation, but I understand."

"For me, I've publicly gone through some things, privately gone through some things, it's all about finding your balance, finding what makes you comfortable," she continued. "And it can be brutal, but you know happy endings do come to those who are patient."

For Elordi, who since his split from King sparked romance rumors with Euphoria co-star Zendaya, it initially "bothered" him that people would pay so much attention to his dating life.

"Just even the fact that somebody you don't know knows your name could be quite disembodying. But then eventually, for me personally, it's got nothing to do with me, you know," he explained to ET. "Imagine the store around the corner from where you are now. Whatever people are talking about is not your business, it's kind of how it feels. Unfortunately, it just has my name involved in it but it literally has nothing to do with me. It just doesn't affect the trajectory of my life. So I just kind of ignore it."

The two experience people once again talking about their relationship in the Kissing Booth sequel. In the film, it appears King's Elle and Elordi's Noah are still going strong, but are having some struggles as they try to make their long-distance relationship work. On top of that, Elle sees her friendship with her BFF, Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney), changing and develops a crush on a new classmate named Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez), causing all sorts of chaos and confusion in her life.

So are Elle and Noah endgame? King has her reservations.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Just like Elle says in the trailer, she always thought they were but things change, things happen...I don't know where their story will take them, but I'm so excited that we get to see Elle and Noah in this movie. I think Noah and Elle are iconic and I think it's exciting for fans to be able to see them again."

As for Elordi, he seemed more confident in a happy ending between the two. "Yeah, why not? I think so," he replied, adding, "I reckon, I would say so."

TheKissing Booth 2 will be available to stream July 24 on Netflix.

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