How this Mean Girls star transformed the straightest of characters into a Queer Icon

Her radiant confidence, powerful vocals and totally fetch fashion sense add up to make this queen bee the perfect fit for everyone’s favourite antagonist, Regina George in the 2024 adaptation of Mean Girls, the musical.  

Renee Rapp has captured the attention and the hearts of most of the online world with her witty interviews, seemingly effortless comedy and openness to talk about her queer identity. In an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert she told the host that she had always wanted to be a popstar but had never actually thought of herself as an actor, 

“I didn’t think I was good at it to be honest, two things I was most insecure about when I was younger were my song writing and my acting; I was like, those will never do well for me.”

 The ‘Sex Lives of College Girls’ star added with a laugh, 

“I’m kinda chilling now.” 

Which with the Economic Times saying Mean Girls pulled in a whopping £28 million in the first weekend we can kinda believe that. 

Having starred in the Broadway show as Regina ‘Queen of the Plastics’ at only 19 and playing lesbian character Leighton Murray in the Sex Lives of College Girls, choosing Rapp to revive her role in the New Mean Girls movie seemed like it would be a no-brainer for the rest of us with one of her 2.2 million TikTok followers commenting, 

“I swear she seems like my cool big cousin with these videos”.

The artist is known for being passionate about connecting with her fans and making a positive impact on their lives. With a super active social media presence (a hugely impressive 1.8 million followers on Instagram) it’s easy to see her down to earth personality and infectious energy as she shares glimpses of her life behind the scenes with a mixture of thirst traps, skits, deep chats (which make you feel like you’re Facetiming your best friend) and insane renditions of her own original songs. Rapp seems to have found the balance between posts that show off her personality and feel relatable but also keep us staring at her, wide mouthed, as if she’s some ethereal god like creature. You can almost be sure she doesn’t notice it herself, but we all know there is just something about her that we could never compete with, keeping in line with some of the characters she plays. 

To the Joy of Mean Girls fanatics all over social media Rapp took to Instagram with a carousel of pictures and videos from her time on the set of the new movie captioned “Regina George was a Lesbian”. This theory, shared by thousands of fans across the world stems from careful analysis of the original film with Rachel McAdams. To most, Regina George is as straight as you can get. She is the epitome of western beauty standards and the focus of male attention throughout the film. However, surely being a closeted queer girl in an American high school in the early 2000s is most likely going to come with some emotional baggage and a dash of internalised homophobia which would be easy to take out on fellow classmates to feel a sense of control. Renee isn’t the only one to hint towards the character’s sexuality, although it isn’t explicitly said in the film there are a few hints throughout including the lyric, “Can a Gay Girl Get an Amen” from the song “Not My fault” sung by Meghan Thee Stallion and Renee Rapp herself which played with the end credits. Along with a gay pride pin which makes a very brief cameo when another main character, Gretchen, opens Regina’s music box while going through her closet. The other actors and writers didn’t shy away from this either with Tina Fey, Director, saying, 

“It might be the gayest movie ever made.”

 It’s arguably one of the most inclusive and representative casts we've seen in a film altogether. 

Renee Rapp taking the artistic choice to play Regina George as a gay Icon is a great opportunity to showcase how the typical butch lesbian stereotype doesn’t always apply. Regina George is a poster girl for hyper-femininity; rarely seen without something pink on her person, loves shopping, gossip and sleepovers. Although in the somewhat feminine phobic era of 2004 this may have been a purposeful choice to make her even more unlikeable, with a 2024 spin (where we’re finally embracing all things feminine), this creates so much more depth for her character. 

Renee, who had previously come out as bisexual, appeared in a skit on SNL where she was introduced as a lesbian by another host. Fans were excited for her and took to X to share their support for the popstar and how she has become such amazing representation for the lesbian community and someone for many young queer people to look up to.

Now 24, Rapp is doing well with her new single Snow Angels and some major acting roles under her belt, but she is keen to pursue music rather than acting. She says this is somewhat down to her anxiety. “I go back and forth because I get so anxious on sets and I feel shit about myself, so I feel like I shouldn’t put myself back in that environment.” she told Amy Kaufman in her For Real column featuring in The Times. She has also spoken openly about her struggle with an eating disorder when she was younger which was refuelled by body shaming during her time with the stage production of Mean Girls, the Musical. She opened up in an interview with the Guardian: 

“Eating disorders don’t just go away and like, you’re healed, like: ‘Sorry, I can eat again, ha ha!’ It’s a lifelong thing,”

she said.

“There are battles with addiction and whatever everywhere. I still struggle with it, but at least my parents know that I’ve been taken out of environments that were really harmful to my sickness, which is awesome and a huge win. They worry like hell, but they’re chilling, I guess.” 

 Sources

Colbert, S. (2024). ‘Mean Girls’ Star Reneé Rapp Never Thought She’d Be A Successful Actor. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5ekz15RUZE&t=286s [Accessed 10 Jan. 2024].

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Shaad D'Souza (2023). ‘Trust me, I have not been out-girlbossed’: pop star Reneé Rapp on Mean Girls, mean girls and mental health. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/23/everything-stresses-me-out-renee-rapp-eating-disorder-criticism [Accessed 10 Jan. 2024].

TIMES, G. (2024). Mean Girls cast on the ‘very gay’ film and who’s in their Burn Book. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS-s3ZoJUVQ&t=11s [Accessed 10 Jan. 2024].

The Feed (2024). Mean Girls box office collection: Movie witnesses drastic fall. [online] The Economic Times. Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/mean-girls-box-office-collection-movie-witnesses-drastic-fall/articleshow/107035527.cms?from=mdr [Accessed 10 Jan. 2024].

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