Why Lucy Hale Waited Years to Reveal 'PLL' Co-Star Drew Van Acker Inspired 'Lie a Little Better' (Exclusive)

Lucy Hale is opening up about a pretty little crush!

Lucy Hale is opening up about a pretty little crush!

Last week, the Life Sentence star took to Twitter to reveal that the lyrics of her 2014 song, "Lie a Little Better," were secretly inspired by her former Pretty Little Liars co-star, Drew Van Acker. "Y'all deserve the truth," Hale posted to Twitter, along with a screenshot of her song. "This song was about Drew."

Hale later deleted the tweet from her Twitter page, but now the 28-year-old actress is opening up exclusively to ET about why she waited so long to confirm her "crush" on Van Acker.

"For years, people had asked me what that song was about or who it was about and I was like, 'I should just tell them,' and then I was like, 'No, I should just tease people for a little bit,'" the brunette beauty explains during an ET Live interview on Tuesday. "So for years, I didn’t tell anyone. Then finally the other week, it came on my shuffle, and I was l like, 'Yeah, this song is about Drew.'"

"I had a crush on Drew. It was years ago," Hale adds with a sweet smile.

When asked if Van Acker was ever aware of her on-set crush, Hale was quick to joke about the situation. "Well, he [knows] now!" she exclaims. "Yeah, he sure does now, but he's, like, happily with someone. It's all done with, but now the world knows. Drew Van Acker. He's a cutie."

But this isn't the first time Hale has had a crush on one of her PLL co-stars!

Hale also admits in our video above that she once had a real-life crush on her onscreen love interest, Ian Harding, when the two actors were filming the Pretty Little Liars pilot together.

"I was so nervous!" Hale says of shooting Aria and Ezra's bathroom makeout scene in PLL's first episode. "Because at that point I had a crush on Ian. We had just met and I was super young -- I was like 20 years old -- so I would’ve had a crush on any cute boy that was around."

The CW star confesses that it's "absolutely" normal for actors to develop crushes on their TV co-stars.

"That's why actors can't stay married," she spills. "I'm older now, so I can differentiate real life and work, but when you're younger -- especially when you're on location -- you're forced to bond with these people in a different way and there's a lot of head games going on."

"I've had lots of little shomances going on before," Hale continues, "and then we stop filming or working and I'm like, 'Oh wait, I don’t really like you, nevermind!'"

Press play on our interview with Hale below to find out what she thinks Aria and Ezra's married life has been like after the Pretty Little Liars finale!

Catch Lucy Hale on Life Sentence on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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