Minka Kelly is reflecting on her “toxic” relationship with “Friday Night Lights” co-star Taylor Kitsch.
In excerpts obtained by The Daily Beast from her upcoming memoir “Tell Me Everything,” the actor portrayed a rather difficult work environment on set after the couple — whose failed relationship onscreen appeared to mirror their own — broke up.
“All the effort I might have invested in connecting consistently with the girls on the show went to Taylor,” wrote Kelly in a chapter titled “Cancer,” per the outlet. “So when my relationship with Taylor became toxic, I had no one to turn to.”
The NBC show centered around a high school football team in Texas, their involved families, tireless coaches and teachers. In her memoir, Kelly said she and Kitsch, who respectively played cheerleader Lyla Garrity and fullback Tim Riggins, “shacked up” quickly.
Kelly added that while she was warned not to go out with her co-star by executive producer Peter Berg, she dated and dropped Kitsch “more times” than expected — and that “life became very difficult both on and off set whenever we broke up” during production.
“We were young and had very few tools to handle our emotions and personal grievances,” wrote Kelly. “On the days we had to work together and were broken up, he didn’t want to be in the hair and makeup trailer at the same time I was.”
Left: Chris Pizzello/Invision/Associated Press; Right: Scott Gries/Invision/Associated Press
Kelly added they couldn’t even “ride in the van together” to set, where “everyone felt the awkwardness.” She claimed Kitsch was far more comfortable “sharing his feelings” with the rest of the cast whenever they broke up, which left Kelly isolated from the group.
The cast has since endearingly reunited over the years.
“I’d show up to work with a smile on my face thinking I was being professional while everyone else felt sorry for the guy whose heart had just been broken,” she wrote. “My co-workers weren’t taking me out for drinks after work to mend my broken heart; they were taking him out.”
Kelly reportedly added that even her female colleagues distanced themselves after her fallout with Kitsch, which essentially mirrored her character arc on the show — as Garrity was often rejected by her female high school peers throughout her four-season run.
The former couple’s relationship was only confirmed in 2018 when Kitsch told Andy Cohen that they “were both so raw” at the time and that “the stakes were crazy.” Meanwhile, Kelly admitted in her memoir that the fallout taught her an important life lesson.
“Vulnerability begets connection, as evidenced by the outcome of both our coin mechanisms,” she wrote. “My tough-guy approach only left me alone. If you behave as if you need no one, if no one around you knows any better, most certainly, no one will, in fact, be there.”
“Tell Me Everything” hits stores on May 2.