Are you ready to learn more about this queer icon?
BY NIC CROSARA, PHOTOGRAPHY VIA DREAMSTIME
It’s without a doubt that Reneé Rapp is the moment. She’s had a successful career as an actor onstage and onscreen. She wowed audiences as Regina George in the Broadway musical Mean Girls. And sapphics around the world fell in love with her as preppy lesbian, Leighton, in The Sex Lives Of College Girls. She broke queer hearts around the world when she announced that she’d be leaving the show.
However, we are licking our wounds by listening to her album, Snow Angel, on repeat. And yes, of course, we’re rewatching her Cara Delevingne-directed music video, Pretty Girls, which was queer AF.
We can’t wait to see what this talented artist gets up to next. We’re sure to see a lot more from her soon. Suffice it to say we are *obsessed*. So here are five things we love about Reneé that fans might not know.
She experienced her first girl crush when she was 14
On an episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Reneé got candid with host Alex Cooper about her career and coming out journey. At one point she reflects on experiencing her first girl crush. She tells Alex that when she was 14 and doing a musical – because yes, of course, this total theatre kid would have a queer awakening during a musical – she started crushing on the red-headed lead who “never wore a bra” and she couldn’t stop looking at her boobs.
At the time, Reneé’s family believed you could only be gay or straight, so feeling as if she had to “pick a side” she called her friend up to tell her she was gay. Her friend asked if she was no longer attracted to men, and when Reneé admitted that she was, her friend told her she might be bisexual. And now Reneé is out and proud about her bisexuality.
She’s excellent at hard launching relationships
From Hayley Kiyoko to Jasmin Savoy Brown, queer celebs mastered the art of soft and hard launching their relationships time and time again. And Reneé certainly shares the same skillset. Last month, she appeared to confirm her relationship (again) with social media personality Alissa Carrington (aka Alissa Butt) and her followers on TikTok LOVED it.
@reneerapp ♬ original sound – youngexwives
Her ADHD diagnosis changed her life
In one interview with TERRELL, the producer, singer-songwriter and YouTuber comments that “the way [Reneé’s] mind works is fascinating” to which she grins and replies “ADHD. ADHD!”. The clip has since gone viral on social media and helped people who have ADHD to feel seen by the musician.
Throughout her career, she has been open with her struggles with mental health and body image. And in an interview with Official Charts, she spoke about how her ADHD diagnosis impacts her creative process. “I didn’t know I had ADHD as a kid, I just thought I was really dramatic! I am, but that’s a separate thing. I didn’t know or understand what it was, but now I do and I really love it. I think it helps me a lot,” she said. “It’s exhausting, don’t get me wrong, but it’s really fun. If it’s somebody else’s story and a different creative process, I don’t do as well and I might panic. When it’s my thing, though, I’m like ‘wow, I have so many ideas!'”
@thepsychdoctormd #duet with @youngexwives #reneerappedit like i needed another reason to love her. Also, the more i get into exploring creative professionals…so many of them have ADHD. Coincidence?? #drsasha #adhd #adhdtiktok ♬ original sound – youngexwives
She proves that Capricorns are truly great
With one of the hit songs from her latest album being titled, Gemini Moon, it’s surely not a surprise that Reneé has an interest in astrology. Her sun sign is Capricorn and people with this sign are known for their hard-working nature, persistence and ambition as well as both their practical and sensitive side. Oh, and they make all their success look effortless. I can definitely see these traits through what we’ve seen so far in the star’s career.
In an interview with TODAY, she addresses her “big three”. As well as being a Capricorn sun, a Gemini rising and Pisces moon. She feels they are “incredibly accurate”, and she suggests that “if you’ve heard any of my songs you would probably know that [she is a Pisces moon]”. And while she didn’t always think her rising sign was accurate, but her friendship with her The Sex Lives Of College Girls co-star, Alyah Chanelle Scott, helped her release it that it was.
She signed up to Mean Girls to help her music career
Starring in the Broadway musical helped to catapult her success as an actor, but Reneé has been open about how she knew it would also help her become a musician. She told producers Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels that she would play Regina if they promised to help her advance with her music. In an interview with The Cut she told the publication: “I was like, I know you motherfuckers do SNL. So I will do it if you always agree to help my music career for the rest of my life. And they have. It was always as a means to make this happen. It took a minute.”
And it may have taken her some time to get here, but we’re so glad Reneé is now in a place where she can embrace her full self and express herself through the songs we love so much.
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