Grace
Van Patten’s
Rising Star

Like a natural diamond,
the Tell Me Lies
star’s talent
is rare and shines bright.

Photographed by: Daria Kobayashi Ritch
Styled by: Petra Flannery
Written by: Jane Asher

Grace Van Patten dives headfirst into her projects, from Hulu’s Tell Me Lies & her upcoming portrayal of Amanda Knox, to her diamond-studded shoot with Only Natural Diamonds— this time literally. Getting in the pool to create the gorgeous cover photo was Van Patten’s idea, and it certainly paid off, one of her favorite moments on set. 

“That was gorgeous,” she said of the “amazing diamonds” from Bulgari and Bucherer in the shot. “This blue [Patou] outfit that was very sixties, collared with a mini skirt,” she recalls of one of her more mod moments on set. On another outfit, “Petra [Flannery, stylist on set] put a necklace under the collar so it looked like a diamond bolo. And I really loved that.” 

THIRD LOOK: NECKLACE AND EARRING BUCHERER • BRACELET LUX BOND & GREEN • RING TABAYER • TOP BALMAIN • SKIRT MARC JACOBS

This isn’t the first time Van Patten has felt transformed by diamonds, recalling her look for the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar After Party. “I wore this incredible Cartier diamond choker. Guards came to the house and unveiled it,” she says, clearly still shocked that she was chosen to showcase such a beautiful piece. “I was like… ‘are you sure?’ It’s a crazy feeling once it’s on you,” she says of the natural diamond choker. “It’s really powerful.”

Although Hulu’s Tell Me Lies doesn’t deal in diamonds, the cult-favorite show certainly deals in pressure. Nerves were involved for Van Patten and her co-stars when they came back to set. “We were all like, ‘Oh gosh are we going to be able to act or is it going to get too twisted and we’re going to start acting like the relationship we have off-camera,’” she remembers of starting back up on season two. “But once we got in the routine of things, I think it all clicked back.”

For the actress, returning to the set of Tell Me Lies felt like a college reunion. “We are all so close and we continued to hang out after the first season,” she exclusively tells Only Natural Diamonds. “Genuinely, that’s the best part of the whole thing just being able to work with your friends and hang out.”

Season two picks right up where we left off, with Van Patten’s Lucy Albright and the gang heading back to Baird College following a traumatizing freshman year, one that viewers couldn’t look away from. “[A] total car crash” of a year says Van Patten with a laugh. Literally and figuratively. 

It’s a crazy feeling once it’s on you,” she says of the natural diamond choker. “It’s really powerful.”

“It was my first time experiencing that, going back to a character, doing the second season of something,” she shares. “So, it was simultaneously both very exciting and very nerve-wracking.” A rising star in Hollywood, you may also recognize Van Patten from her role in Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers alongside Hollywood icons like Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy. 

Although a bit anxious at first about being able to summon Lucy’s thoughts, feelings, and personality again, Van Patten realized, “People change, even if it’s not exactly who she was first season, especially at that age that Lucy is, you’re constantly trying on different hats and going through different phases,” she says. “That was really comforting to me, knowing that whatever I went into, whatever approach I had, it hopefully would come across as realistic because that’s kind of the trajectory of life at that stage.”

Nerves also came in when it was time to hate her on-screen ex-boyfriend, Stephen DeMarco, played by real-life boyfriend Jackson White. “My nervousness came from… ‘he’s going to know when I’m acting. He’s going to know when I’m being bad and he’s going to be like, ‘nope, nope that’s not how you do it,’” she laughs. “He knows me better than anyone and I know him pretty well.” 

But it wasn’t all apprehension getting to work with the person who knows you best. “I have never felt so safe and comfortable, like being able to try things,” Van Patten reveals. “We work so well together, and I love working with him—not just because he’s my boyfriend but because he’s so talented and giving and present.” While the first season saw their relationship blossom—toxic as it was—season two is “a totally different arc,” says Van Patten. “So that was really interesting… only being [able] to show negative emotions towards him.” 

Fans too have had an interesting reaction to seeing Van Patten and White out and about together. “People were invested in this way that they believed it, which is so crazy and funny to us,” she marvels. “But I do get it because it has that juiciness and absurdity as when you’re watching Vanderpump Rules or something, which I did watch for prep.” If you need inspiration for how to treat friends poorly, VPR is the right way to go!

“Especially after the first season, we were all so terrible to each other on-screen that I think we really tried to make it a safe space off-set so that we felt comfortable doing those things on camera.” The chemistry between Lucy, Pippa (Sonia Mena), and Bree (Catherine Missal) feels effortless, thanks to their real-life friendship. Van Patten felt a shift in Lucy this year as she tries her best to be a good friend and “to value those friendships in a way that she didn’t in the first season because she was so tunnel-visioned for Stephen,” she shares.

We work so well together, and I love working with him—not just because he’s my boyfriend but because he’s so talented and giving and present.

Like any good coming-of-age story, Lucy’s attempt to figure out who she is and what her values are is at the core of every conflict. Van Patten has some good advice for her character: “I’d tell her to get the f— away from Stephen, but everyone has told her that and she doesn’t listen,” she says. “And that’s the whole thing, somebody in that position, you have to let them figure it out for themselves.” 

“I would definitely tell her to focus more on the solid friendships she has and to try and be as honest with herself as possible,” she continues, sharing that she “really like[s] the bond that the girls have in the second season because we didn’t see a lot of that in the last one.” 

Van Patten comes from a close family of all women, so a love of jewelry comes naturally to her. “The most valuable things to me are items or pieces that would be passed down from my mom or my grandma.” But one of her most treasured pieces was a ring her dad bought for the women of her family—Van Patten, her mom, and her two sisters—while they were living in Rome for a few months.

“This is such a random memory that I’m speaking about for the first time ever,” she reminisces. “It’s funny how it came to my mind.” Proof that jewelry has the power to transport and even small pieces can reveal powerful memories. “There was this little jewelry shop [nearby],” she thinks back. “My dad got us all little rings… I still have it and it fits barely on my pinky because I had tiny little eight-year-old fingers,” she says fondly. 

The most valuable things to me are items or pieces that would be passed down from my mom or my grandma.

Family comes through in many aspects of Van Patten’s life, including the causes she’s passionate about, like volunteer work at Camp Boggy Creek in Florida, a summer camp for terminally ill children. “My grandpa was actually one of the founders of it along with the Hole in the Wall Gang ,” she tells OND. “[He] also owned Harley Davidson dealerships all around the country and we would do a Harley Davidson charity ride for Camp Boggy Creek every year since I was a kid.”

Not only did she attend the charity ride, but she would go to the camp every summer to help out. “I’ve been doing some work with them these past few years,” she says. “It’s the most gorgeous camp, it’s free for these kids, [and] it’s a chance for these kids to feel normal and like they can have a summer. It’s really, really beautiful.”

While Tell Me Lies may have been Van Patten’s breakout role, it’s just the start for the young actress. Later this year, she will start filming Hulu’s Amanda: A Coming of Age Horror, in Italy where she stars as Amanda Knox, wrongfully accused of murdering her roommate while studying abroad in Italy. “It’s still very early and I’m nothing but excited and terrified,” she says of the project. “I feel like every character I have played has been either extensions of myself or something that’s in the realm of things I could connect to, whether I have experienced that or someone close to me has experienced that, just kind of within reach,” she muses. “And this is definitely a challenge in that way for so many reasons. But I’m really looking forward to getting into that and just doing the research.”

Grace Van Patten kept up with the news coverage at the time and watched the documentary that came out in 2016. “I remember calling my agents at the time being like, ‘Is there is a movie about this?’” How fortuitous then when she got the call about the role. “I can’t believe how that ended up being – I really can’t believe it.”

Knox herself is a producer, giving the show a more direct point of view compared to the documentary. Van Patten is excited for viewers to see the story through Amanda’s eyes for the first time.  “For something that was so televised and so heavily in the media, I think it’s going to be a different perspective and some new things that people can really think about,” she says.

While we wait for this new show to come out, we’ll be bingeing season two of Tell Me Lies, streaming on Hulu September 4.