Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
person holding fire cracker shallow focus photography
person holding fire cracker shallow focus photography
Ian Schneider/Unsplash
Culture > Entertainment

Lucy Hale On the Lessons She Learned in Her 20s, How She’s Helping Support the ASPCA & The Secret to Her Great Brows (Exclusive)

Erica Kam

Things may have wrapped up in Rosewood for Lucy Hale, but that doesn’t mean the 29-year-old doesn’t have big things on the horizon. Her Campus had a chance to chat with the former Pretty Little Liars star about her new partnership with Honey Nut Cheerios, what she learned in her 20s (plus, what she’s looking forward to in this upcoming third decade of life), her secret tip to becoming everyone’s source of brow envy and more.

Hale recently partnered with Honey Nut Cheerios through the Good Rewards program, along with Michael B. Jordan and Rob Gronkowski. Each celeb chose a charity that resonates with them—the ASPCA for Hale, Feeding America for Jordan and the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation for Gronkowski—and through April, any time you buy a box of Honey Nut Cheerios and scan the “Buzzcoin” on the box, you can vote for your favorite at Beegoodrewards.com.

“I have partnered with Honey Nut Cheerios, and I chose ASPCA,” Hale says, “which is the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. And this is really important to me because I’m obviously a huge animal lover, and animals don’t always get a voice in something. So, the ASPCA’s job is to protect, rescue, and support these sweet little babies.” The ASPCA is the first animal welfare organization in North America who serves as the nation’s leading voice for animals, so we can see why she was drawn to it.

The winner of the Good Rewards program will receive a donation of $100,000 to their chosen charity, but even if Hale doesn’t win, she’s still doing some massive good—the second-place winner’s charity receives a $50,000 donation and whoever comes in third place will still get $25,000. Hale mentioned that even though she’s involved in a super-busy lifestyle (like many of us college women!), Honey Nut Cheerios gave her a fun and easy way to give back.

“For me, it’s always about finding something that resonates,” she says of finding causes to support. “You don’t have to do everything. I used to think that I had to do everything, but now I’ve just found programs, or charities, that really speak to me and that’s why partnering with Honey Nut Cheerios really made sense because it makes giving back really fun and easy for people that have really busy schedules, or don’t know how to give back. This made sense to me—ASPCA really spoke to me. But I think it’s more about just finding what works for you, and then it doesn’t feel like a job, it just comes naturally.”

Beyond her philanthropic involvement, however, Hale has more excitement coming up in the form of a milestone birthday: the star will turn 30 years old in June. Her 20s saw her get her big break as Aria Montgomery on PLL, so she definitely learned a lot and came into her own over the last decade.

“I think your 20s are all about trial and error, whether it be who you date, how you talk to yourself, the everyday decisions that you make, and you live and you learn,” she says. “I don’t have any specific advice, but I would say that 20s are about discovering who you are.”

And what is Hale looking forward to in her 30s? “I’m just gonna own it and love it,” she declares. “I think that you always hear people say, ‘Your 30s are you best years of your life.’ And so I’m looking forward to not worrying as much about the things that I used to worry about.”

Moving on to her 30s also means moving on from the roles of her 20s, however, so if you’re hoping to see Aria return to Rosewood, you may be stuck waiting a while. Even though anticipation is high for the PLL spinoff Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, Hale admits, “As of now, I’m not a part of the spinoff, but I know that a couple of the girls are going to direct, which is very cool.”

Never say never, though: Hale continues, “I have a feeling the show will go for a little bit, so I’m sure you’ll see, whether it’s me or someone … You’ll see them pop up in the show somewhere.”

Finally, we couldn’t not ask Hale about her amazing eyebrows and see if she has any beauty tips for getting those thick, strong brows she’s known to rock. Her biggest piece of brow advice? “Don’t do anything to them. I will occasionally go get them trimmed, but the wilder the better, in my opinion. I don’t really tweeze them. I kinda let them grow wild, and always brush them up. Fluffier the better.”

We can’t wait to see what Hale does next—and, based on her upcoming projects, it seems like she has a lot in store: beyond the Good Rewards program, she has at least two movies—A Nice Girl Like You and Unicorn—coming out in 2019, and will soon start filming on Fantasy Island. She’s also keeping her options open, though: “The year is young, so maybe more wonderful things” will happen, she says.

It looks like 2019 is going to be a great year for Lucy Hale.

Erica Kam is the Life Editor at Her Campus. She oversees the life, career, and news verticals on the site, including academics, experience, high school, money, work, and Her20s coverage. Over her six years at Her Campus, Erica has served in various editorial roles on the national team, including as the previous Culture Editor and as an editorial intern. She has also interned at Bustle Digital Group, where she covered entertainment news for Bustle and Elite Daily. She graduated in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from Barnard College, where she was the senior editor of Columbia and Barnard’s Her Campus chapter and a deputy copy editor for The Columbia Spectator. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her dissecting K-pop music videos for easter eggs and rereading Jane Austen novels. She also loves exploring her home, the best city in the world — and if you think that's not NYC, she's willing to fight you on it.