Photo: Diana Ragland
Meeting on the set of her hit ABC showThe Goldbergsin October 2015, when Pelletier was part of a veteran tour group, “I found him very charming,” the actress-singer, 25, tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s issue. “He was handsome and charismatic and able to draw the attention of the room.”
After starting a long-distance relationship with Pelletier, 32, who was also from Texas, the actress fell deeply in love — only to discover a year and a half later that he was betraying her and, she says, stole almost $9,000 through fraudulent credit card charges and bank withdrawals.
“It was heartbreaking,” she adds. “I thought we were going to get married one day.”
Matthew Berinato
To help herself heal, Orrantia began writing music. Her latest EP,The Way Out, which will be released on May 24, reflects her grieving process.
“To be honest, the more I talked about it, the less it became mine,” she says. “And I was always hoping that there would be somebody that would hear about it and go, ‘Oh, that happened to me.’ ”
Hayley Orrantia and Brandon Pelletier.
“He didn’t spend any time in jail, but he has to pay me restitution,” Orrantia says. “So I got that. I kept asking myself, ‘Why do I need to do this?’ And really it’s for myself. It’s the fact that I’ve always been a truth teller.”
Mike Coppola/Getty
Despite her loss, the actress still has faith in finding her happily ever after. “It’s taken a lot of therapy and a lot of time to reevaluate how to trust people, how to trust myself to know the difference between a person with good intentions and a person with bad intentions,” says Orrantia, whosefirst single “If I Don’t” comes out May 10.
She also wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. “These songs are my way of going, ‘Here’s what I know,’ ” she adds. ” ‘And this is where it stops.’ “
source: people.com
