Is 'Forever' on Netflix based on a true story? (2025)

Forever on Netflix is the new show everyone is talking about — and for good reason.

Created by Mara Brock Akil, best known for being the driving creative force behind Girlfriends and The Game, Forever has quickly become a lightning rod for conversation about young love, sex, and what healthy relationships look like from an early age. And since so many people have walked away from the show recreating Maddy’s iconic “wait, is this f***ing play about us” line from Euphoria, it’s no surprise that people are interested in how the show came together.

While most people know by now that the series is a loose adaptation of a decades-old book, not many know what the real-life inspiration for the story is. Keep reading to find out everything about the real story behind Forever the book and the new Netflix series.

Is Forever Based On A True Story?

In the traditional sense, no. There is no real-life inspiration for the Netflix show, Forever, aside from the Judy Blume book that the series is adapted from. That said, it is — and always has been for fans of the 50-year-old story — been meant to emulate a healthy sexual relationship between teenagers. In fact, the novel the show is based on came from a conversation between the iconic author and her daughter.

“My daughter Randy asked for a story about two nice kids who have sex without either of them having to die. She had read several novels about teenagers in love,” Blume wrote in an article about censorship years ago. “If they had sex the girl was always punished—an unplanned pregnancy, a hasty trip to a relative in another state, a grisly abortion (illegal in the U.S. until the 1970s), sometimes even death. Lies. Secrets. At least one life ruined.”

For Blume — who is also mom to a son, Lawrence — the concept behind the controversial tale was never to stir controversy at all. The entire story was meant to serve as an example and proof that there could be healthy sexual encounters between teenagers where the only major damage would be a breakup. In writing Forever, she hoped to change the narrative and show that there can be experiences that don’t end in horror.

“Girls in these books had no sexual feelings and boys had no feelings other than sexual. Neither took responsibility for their actions. I wanted to present another kind of story—one in which two seniors in high school fall in love, decide together to have sex, and act responsibly,” the Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret writer stated at the time.

Similarly, Brock Akil has said that she too wanted to bring that to life in the visual medium by turning the book she felt so deeply about as a teen into a show. Talking with DECIDER about her adaptation, she said she wanted to address the physical, mental, and emotional challenges of young adults today “as honestly as Judy did for us 50 years ago.”

“If we’re talking about the sexual expression of things, we were clear that we were telling a human story and not talking about sex to talk about sex,” Akil said of talking with Netflix and her producing partners about how NSFW they could make the show.

She added, “The trust was there throughout and conversation was there throughout. I think even the healthiest relationships and the health of sex are conversations and communication.”

Forever is currently streaming on Netflix.