Nina talks about dating co-star

Nina Dobrev graces the cover for the October 2012 issue of Seventeen magazine, here’s what the 23-year-old “Vampire Diaries” actress had to share with the readers: On her character’s abusive relationship in The Perks of Being a Wallflower: “It is a really heavy topic, and I hope my character gives girls some perspective. I think more than anything, girls allow abuse to happen because they’re embarrassed it happened. I know it’s not right. Let’s say a girl gets into an argument with her boyfriend, and he hits her. In the heat of the moment, she’s shocked, but when she has time to cool down, she thinks, ‘Well, I egged him on. It’s kind of my fault.’ She starts justifying why it happened and then making excuses for it. But there is no excuse for it. That’s why it’s so important to show girls that they can admit that it’s not their fault.” On her relationship with Ian Somerhalder: “The first time I was on the cover of Seventeen, the cover line said ‘Nina: Why she wouldn’t date any of her co-stars.’ And then cut to two years later. It’s funny that I said that, but you know what - it was honestly what I believed at the time. I didn’t want to be dating one of my co-stars; my goal on the show was to be professional. But sometimes you can’t help who you have a connection with, and you can only fight it for so long, which I did for a really, really long time.”