Ashley Greene Had Crush on Twilight Costar Jackson Rathbone: 'If He Did Know, He Just Wasn't Into Me'

Jesse Grant/Getty Images; David Livingston/Getty Images

Ashley Greene says her feelings for Jackson Rathbone extended beyond their Twilight roles as vampire couple Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale.

Greene, 35, admitted she had a crush on her costar, whom she appeared with in all five Twilight Saga films, which started with the 2008 original and ended with 2012's finale, Breaking Dawn: Part 2.

The actress said on the Tuesday episode of her podcast The Twilight Effect, "I had a big old crush on Jackson Rathbone while we were filming."

"Within our first encounter, I was like, 'This dude's super cute and a Southern gentleman. … I was like, 'Okay, I'm into it,'" she said of Rathbone, now 37. "He sings, he taught me how to swing dance."

RELATED: Kellan Lutz Was 'Surprised' He and Twilight Costar Nikki Reed Didn't Date: I Felt 'Connected' to Her

Summitt

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Referring to their roles as a couple in the Twilight films, Greene said, "And he's supposed to be my lifetime love onscreen and I was like, 'This is gonna be easy.' "

While she said Rathbone "had to have known" about her crush, Greene added, "if he did know, he just wasn't into me."

Greene explained that, at the time, she "hadn't developed the skillset of creating onscreen chemistry and separating that," adding, "So I was like, 'We have chemistry, great!' "

RELATED: Twilight Director Says Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson Kissed on Her Bed During Audition

Now, she looks back on her feelings as "a harmless crush" that was "super fun."

Greene — who married Paul Khoury in 2018 and is expecting her first child with him — said she dated other people while crushing on Rathbone. "I wasn't just like, chilling, hopelessly waiting for him," she said.

On an earlier episode of her podcast, Greene opened up about her character and the special significance Alice holds for some Twilight fans as their "gay awakening."

"The first time someone told me, I cried," Greene said. "I was like, 'That's so incredible!' You know the impact that Twilight had on people, but to kind of go that extra step and be able to allow people to be their true selves is really special."