America Ferrera Says There’s a “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” Text Chain ‘That’s Been Going for 20 Years Now’ (Exclusive)

"We've been through a lot of life together,” Ferrera tells PEOPLE of her close-knit crew who met on the 2005 film

America Ferrera just has to go to her phone for a reminder of the unshakable bond between the stars of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

“We have a Sisterhood text that's been going for 20 years now,” Ferrera tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I just turned 20 when we shot Sisterhood, and I'm going to be 40 next year.”

In the 2005 film starring Ferrera, 39, Blake Lively, 36, Alexis Bledel, 42, and Amber Tamblyn, 40, their teenage characters are bound by a secondhand pair of magical, perfect-fitting jeans. These days, the topics have morphed as life has changed for the foursome over two decades.

“We've all had kids. We've all gotten married. We were at each other's weddings. We've been through a lot of life together,” says Ferrera.

Related: America Ferrera Recalls Struggling to 'Fit In' Growing Up: 'That Meant Leaving My Heritage Behind'

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Now, prognosticators say the former Ugly Betty star could land an Oscar nomination later this month for her searing Barbie turn, including a now-viral monologue on the “impossible” task of being a woman today.

The Sisterhood came out in full force for Ferrera recently, as her longtime friends donned pink to support her at a Dec. 16 SAG-AFTRA-hosted Barbie screening and Q&A in New York City.

“I was so happy to support my denim sister,” Lively wrote on Instagram after the event, tagging Ferrera and sharing a carousel of photos of the friends. “She’s the heart and soul of [Barbie] because she’s the heart and soul of everything she’s a part of. I’ve known her for 20 years. Since I was 16… that speech she gives as Gloria felt as real as anything I’ve ever seen onscreen.”

Tamblyn shared on her Instagram that the four even spent quality time together ahead of the event.

“We got ready together, picked out outfits and jewelry and handbags together (aka raided Blake’s closet), at dinners together and drove together to celebrate our favorite sister @americaferrera and her brillant performance in Barbie,” Tamblyn wrote. “When I tell you some things are forever, this right here is it.”

Related: America Ferrera Reveals She Performed Her Epic 'Barbie' Speech '30 to 50 Times' on Set

The four are so close that when they meet up in New York City for meals, Ferrera tells PEOPLE, it’s a surprise when fans takes note.

“There are times where I forget we were in a movie because we've been friends longer than we made movies together. And sometimes we'll be sitting at a restaurant and I'm like, 'Why are people looking at us?' I was like, 'Oh, because we are the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.'"

She adds: “I genuinely sometimes forget that that's a part of our story because we've been friends for so long.”

With Barbie now on Max finding new fans, and awards season in full swing, Ferrera is reflective of all the recent acclaim. "It's very, very, nice when something you love is loved by other people," she tells PEOPLE. "And when that treat comes, like Barbie, where I loved it the moment I read it, it felt special and resonant and important."

She continues: "And so to see it land that way and to see it make waves in the culture and start so many conversations, I feel like I'm in a place to appreciate it even more and to stay as present with it as possible and to not miss out on the joy of it."

For more on America Ferrera, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, out now.

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