Who Is Kayleigh On ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’? Why Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over Emma Ishta

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3, Episode 4 was full of exciting Easter eggs, intriguing details, and captivating moments that inspired viewers to smash the rewind button. But one TikTok from an especially Eagle-eyed viewer has fans in an absolute tizzy.

“Last Stand” picked up on Belly’s (Lola Tung) birthday, two weeks after she and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) told their families about their engagement. In addition to showing us how Laurel (Jackie Chung), Adam (Tom Everett Scott), John (Colin Ferguson), and Conrad (Christopher Briney) were processing the news, the episode featured the long-awaited return to Cousins and saw Jeremiah start an internship alongside Steven (Sean Kaufman) at his dad’s company, Breaker Capital, to make extra money to put towards the wedding and his debt.

Between his dad’s attitude, the coworkers leaving a pacifier on his desk and calling him “nepo baby,” and his inability to connect to the office wi-fi, let’s just say Jere’s internship wasn’t going great. But just when it seemed like Steven was his only ally, The Summer I Turned Pretty made a subtle character introduction that has fans screaming.

At around 7:20 a brunette woman in a black skirt and maroon blouse gives Jere, Stephen, and the Breaker team a rundown of the day, saying, “Today is a big day, so please be sharp. Be on it. Pay attention.” She delegates a few tasks, then walks away, but as she leaves, she passes Jere and warmly says, “Jeremiah! You look so handsome in your suit today.” Jere smiles and replies, “Thanks, Kayleigh.” When Denise mocks him after the comment, Kayleigh doubles back and gives her snack tray duty as punishment, proving that her loyalty lies with the Fishers and giving us the sense that she’s known Jeremiah for quite some time.

So who is Kayleigh on The Summer I Turned Pretty? What is Kayleigh’s position at the company and relationship to Adam and the Fisher fam? And what do we know about Emma Ishta, the actor who plays Kayleigh on TSITP? We’ve got answers.

Who Is Kayleigh On The Summer I Turned Pretty?

If you casually watched TSITP Season 3, Episode 4, you may not have thought too hard about Kayleigh’s role at Adam’s company or her quick interaction with Jeremiah. But TikTok users like @mxcced1ts immediately clocked the name and remembered a heartbreaking Season 2 scene in which Conrad told Belly about his dad’s affair.

“Did you know my dad cheated? The first time my mom was sick he had an affair with his secretary. Kayleigh,” Conrad said. *SCREAMS!!!!!!*

While The Summer I Turned Pretty doesn’t explicitly reveal Kayleigh as Adam’s secretary in Episode 304, considering Jenny Han’s close attention to detail, I doubt she would have named another character at the company that. So fans are assuming the woman in “Last Stand” was the same one Adam cheated on Susannah with. If so, it speaks volumes about Adam’s character that he still works with her. It’s weird she feels so comfortable talking to his kid. And considering Jere’s kind response, we’re getting the sense that he definitely doesn’t know the full story.

Emma Ishta, who plays Kayleigh, posted on Instagram following her appearance and said Episode 304 was “the first one you get a glimpse of me in,” so it sounds like we’ll be seeing more of Kayleigh this season. Only time will tell if Jenny Han plans to bring Adam’s affair up again before the series ends. Until then, let’s learn more about Ishta, shall we?

Who Is Emma Ishta? Meet The Actor Who Plays Kayleigh On The Summer I Turned Pretty:

As noted, Kayleigh on The Summer I Turned Pretty is played by Emma Ishta, a 34-year-old Australian model and actor who’s married to playwright Daniel McCabe. Prior to her role on TSITP, Ishta appeared in a number of TV shows and movies, including Black Box, Power, Manhattan Love Story, The Good Cop, I Smile Back, Blue Bloods, FBI, Gimme a Break, Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, Chigaco Med, and more. She’s well known for her 31-episode stint on Stitchers, and per her IMDb bio, she also “studied as a vocalist at the Queensland Conservatory of Music until her modeling career brought her to Sydney, Paris, London, and eventually New York.”

Want to stay up-to-date with Ishta outside of The Summer I Turned Pretty? You can follow her on Instagram at @emmaishta, where she had 65,200 followers at the time of writing this piece.

In her Episode 304 post, which features several photos from her time filming (including one with Tom Everett Scott), Ishta wrote, “I can’t begin to describe the gift this show was to me. As it is for so many fans, Cousins was a place of respite in my life at a time I really needed it. It was a place of beach going, late night ice cream eating, band seeing, big dinnering, volleyball observing, fun at working, much laughing, soul healing. This cast and crew work so hard and are such good people, they really deserve all the love and support.”

New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty premiere Wednesdays on Prime Video.