"It was...at the right time and place, so I said yes, and honestly, I couldn't imagine anything better," Dhruva Patel tells Brit + Co's Chloe Williams. "I just knew I was gonna enjoy that time meeting girlfriends and just having such an uplifting experience...I can't rave [enough] about how much of a great experience it was."
"I love Italy — I love Italy more than maybe anyone," Christa B. Allen (who goes by Christa Belle now) says. "The first time we saw the Coliseum, we were like, 'Oh my God,' even just seeing these things with your own eyes — I sobbed when I saw the pantheon, like you just cannot believe how beautiful it is."
"I was open to trying out a new experience," Lauren Simmons says. "When production reached out to me and I understood more what the project was, I decided, why not? What did I have to lose? I also believed it was important to be a Black woman and to have [my] love story documented. Unfortunately when you think of classic rom-com movies (which I love them all), [the movies] that highlight Women of Color [are few and far in between]."
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The reality rom-com had a simple premise: the women would spend ten days in Rome in search of love, and would wake up each morning to new scripts that explained how the day would go.
"Pretty much 99 percent of this experience was spontaneous," Lauren Simmons says. "I wasn’t prepped on the men or women in this project, or even when we got to film at the different incredible locations — we were seeing everything for the first time...I kind of just allowed myself to be fully immersed."
"My life is the definition of spontaneous, even before doing this project," Lauren continues. "Moving from Georgia to New York hours after I graduated wasn’t a planned thing. Nor was taking a job at the NYSE or making history. I’m grateful that I am so open and that my life gets to unfold in such a way."
"I went into this process really being open," Dhruva says. "There was just random banter and just having fun, even if they were strangers. And then from there, obviously, there's a process to creating a story. So through our interactions, [the show was] able to grab a lot of content. And, to be honest, when we look back, we're just like, this is just naturally us...The script kind of wrote itself."
"They're dealing with real people in real situations...emotions were high at, you know, some points. People were confused, we didn't know what to do," Christa Belle says. "You know, there's fears that come into play and our producers protected us so well from the beginning all the way through the edit. And I'm really, really grateful for that. They're extraordinary."
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The process of filming the show also led the women to think about dating in a new way. "We had kind of a princess situation," Christa Belle says. "The three of us girls were locked in this villa — we were not allowed to go anywhere or see anyone outside of what the producers allowed us to do. What that created in the boys was [they made] a strong effort to see us, to impress us when they did see us."
"I think we were all in that place in our life where we just need something different because what's currently our standard isn't working," Dhruva continues. ("It's not working!" Christa Belle agrees.)
"I think *we* all came in putting our best foot forward," Dhruva continues. "Like I have never been in this element and I hadn't dated in seven years. I had a boyfriend and I kind of was limiting myself and to see myself thrive."
A huge part of Dhruva's journey was discovering what it meant to look for love on her own terms rather than listening to what other people expected of her love life. "For me, there just have been so many societal pressures in the Indian community and I think that falls onto my parents and the culture they came from of marrying young, and when you're a girl that's like what you do, you get married," Drhuva says. "And I felt like my dating life [became] dating for other people. So I think I resented the idea of dating."
"You should find love all the time and in so many different things, whether it's in yourself, in a relationship, in your family," Dhruva continues. "Appreciate it all. And I think sometimes we bubble into like, 'Oh my God, the perfect relationship or being in a relationship or being engaged or married,' and you see these milestones your friends and families have, and it kind of creates a pressure on you...And I think it loses that passion of you doing it on your own in your own terms if you're there at the right time in your journey."
"Ultimately my confidence has come down to knowing who I am," Lauren adds. "And that would be the advice I’d give anyone else. When you know and love who you are, the right person and people will always show up. I just take each experience as a beautiful opportunity to explore and worry less about the outcome."
"It was just something completely different and whether or not we found the love of our lives on this set, I think it still felt like a win," Christa Belle says. "I think it is going to help me move towards the partnership that I'm looking for long term because it felt like a small win. And it feels easier to get a bigger win once you get one small one."
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Considering Meet Me In Rome is a "reality rom-com," we couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask about the women's favorite romantic movies. Christa Belle names Pretty Woman and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, while Dhruva lists He's Just Not That Into You and, of course, 13 Going On 30. (Billed as Christa B. Allen, Christa Belle plays the younger version of Jennifer Garner's Jenna in the movie!).
"I think there's something so poetic about 13 Going On 30 and the timing of where we are as a society now," Christa Belle says. "What Jenna loved more than anything when she was a kid, when myself and all my peers were that age too, was magazines. She wanted to be in media [and] now everyone wants to be an influencer...which is kind of like the new magazine. It's the new publication. It's media. So what Jenna was wishing for her life, what she was imagining for her future, we all kind of ended up there together."
Christa B. Allen's Meet Me In Rome is available to stream on Roku now. Let us know what you think about the movie on Facebook, and check out our full interview on YouTube.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Lead image via Roku
