They play TV's most toxic couple. Grace Van Patten and Jackson White told us what fans get wrong.

If you haven't heard of the TV series Tell Me Lies before, this won't be the case for much longer.

Currently streaming its third season on Disney+, Tell Me Lies is an addictive drama that explores the intoxicating depths of the kind of all-encompassing (read: toxic) relationship that many of us have endured in our early-20s.

Created by Meaghan Oppenheimer and executive produced by Emma Roberts, the series is adapted from Carola Lovering's 2018 best-selling novel of the same name.

Make no mistake, there is no show out there that so masterfully captures how women can lose themselves and basically blow their whole life up because of one man. You know the one. The kind of guy who — in hindsight — was the goddamn worst, but at the time, you constantly craved his validation.

The story revolves around a group of college friends and spans eight years, switching between timelines — back to school in 2007 and present day in 2015 — as it charts the tumultuous entanglement between the naive Lucy Albright and the manipulative, enigmatic Stephen DeMarco, portrayed by Grace Van Patten and Jackson White.

Watch the trailer for season three. Post continues after video.

An added layer to the toxic dynamic that Van Patten and White portray on screen is that they're a real-life couple. Mamamia had the chance to speak to the couple together ahead of the first three episodes of season three premiering on Disney+.

The actors met at a Zoom audition and were already dating before White was cast as Stephen. In previous interviews, Grace has admitted she didn't like Jackson when they first met over Zoom. But what about Jackson's first impression of Grace?

"My first impressions of Grace. When was my first impression of Grace?"

"Bad start already!" heckled his partner, Grace.

"My first impression of Grace was that she's delightful and lovely and intimidating and all these things at once," he continued.

"What did I actually feel? That is the truth. I was like, 'Whoa, this is a really interesting, special person. I wanna work with this person.'"

Image: Instagram/@jacksonwhite.

Jackson then referenced Grace's past interviews, where she said she wasn't her partner's biggest fan at their first Zoom audition together, but he won her over at their second meeting.

"I know yours is like he was an asshole," Jackson told Grace, but she added "But then he got really nice."

"Well, nice guys finish last [laughs]. I'm kidding," said White. Is that you, Stephen??

The couple has now been dating for over four years, but fans still wonder whether their relationship is as toxic as the one they play on TV.

"They ask if we're like Lucy and Stephen," White said, when asked the question the couple are sick of answering.

"Which we're not," laughed Van Patten. "Even if we were, we'd probably still say no."

Ultimately, it's all part of what makes this show work. The actors know that fans can decipher between when Lucy and Stephen end and the real actors begin.

"People are smart. I think they just like to speculate," White said.

"Well, it's probably fun!" Van Patten interrupted. "They get so attached to these characters that there's some blurred lines or something. I think that's fun. I think it means they're invested in the show, hopefully."

Image: Disney+.

The passion that fans have for this show is like something we haven't seen since the hysteria that surrounded teen staples like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars.

The series is the perfect storm of relatable characters, high-stakes drama, zeitgeisty dialogue, TikTok-worthy commentary, 2010s nostalgia and above all, an unflinching representation of what a toxic and twisted relationship can do to a young woman at the start of her life.

For this reason, Tell Me Lies has resonated deeply with young women because it mirrors the visceral, often-shameful experience of their first heartbreak or toxic relationship.

Tell Me Lies stars, Sonia Mena (Pippa) and Alicia Crowder (Diana), understand why the show has struck such a powerful chord with its female viewership.

"All the fans that come up to us are all young women, so I always feel like I relate to them," Crowder said, who plays Stephen's ex-girlfriend Diana in the series.

"They're always really nice and lovely. I feel really lucky that's our demographic."

"It's really gratifying because there's so much happening every season," said Mena. "Every once in a while, someone will tell me — unprompted — that something I did, they saw it, and that is really cool because that's the best gift ever, that you connected to someone — they heard you and then by them hearing you, you made them feel seen."

Image: Disney+.

In particular, many viewers have seen themselves reflected in Lucy, who makes some truly questionable decisions at times, but is a largely sympathetic character for women who have been gaslit and manipulated by their partners. Stephen is an extreme example of a narcissist, but many fans have seen their most erratic actions mirrored in Lucy's responses to him.

By depicting this kind of subtle manipulation in a relationship, the series validates how complex it is to leave these kinds of addictive relationships — especially when you're still young and learning who you are.

The way women relate to this show has turned the series into more than a trashy drama — online, it has become a cultural touchstone for discussing emotional abuse and the lingering trauma of relationships in our 20s.

Tell Me Lies is essentially a college romance told through the harsh lens of a '00s psychological thriller. The viewer can never fully relax when watching Tell Me Lies, as around every corner is an utterly shocking revelation. Or worse, something you've probably done with an ex.

Across the show's first two seasons, characters have died, a teacher-student scandal unfolded, so many cheating storylines, and Lucy and Stephen have split up and made up over and over.

On season three, our toxic twosome is back together — once again, sending fans into a blaze of fury.

Thankfully, the new season also promises to show the love story of two fan favourites: Pippa and Diana. The women were dating in 2015, but viewers will finally find out how they got together in college.

"You'll see the beginnings of how they come together. Mena teased.

"It'll answer some questions and leave you with a lot."

The first three episodes of Tell Me Lies are streaming on Disney+ with new episodes dropping weekly.

Feature image: Disney+.