Renee Rapp, who starred as high school bully Regina George in the musical reboot of Mean Girls, sizzled up a storm on her latest magazine cover.
She first played Regina in the Broadway adaptation of the 2004 original movie, then reprised the role in the 2024 film of the stage show.
Now the 25-year-old has embarked on a career as a pop act, and has spoken frankly about singing about her sexuality in an interview with Cosmopolitan UK.
Although she once called herself ‘the bisexual Justin Bieber,’ she has since come out as a lesbian and has been dating British rocker Victoria ‘Towa’ Bird since last year.
In her latest interview – accompanied by steamy photos of her flashing the flesh in designer underwear – she held forth on being clear about her sexual orientation in the songs featured on her new album Bite Me.
Renee opined that her forthrightness ‘makes a difference culturally,’ while adding that ‘its important to me in a way that I’m not even thinking about most of the time’ in the sense that ‘when I write about my lesbian sexuality, I’m just writing about my sex life.’
Renee Rapp, who starred as high school bully Regina George in the musical reboot of Mean Girls, sizzled up a storm in a Cosmopolitan shoot
‘It’s incredibly important, because it translates everywhere. It doesn’t just make a difference in music, it makes a difference culturally. But it’s important to me in a way that I’m not even thinking about most of the time, because it’s just my life,’ she said.
‘So when I write about my lesbian sexuality, I’m just writing about my sex life. Everything I touch, everything I look at and am around, every space that I go into, is inherently queer, because I’m there and my friends are there, so I’m not even making an effort to do it anymore,’ added the North Carolina-born singer.
‘I used to make a really concerted effort. But now, I’ve built this life for myself, and I’m lucky to have people around me that do the same. That is just so queer; that’s just how I live,’ added the Broadway hoofer.
In her interview, Renee also took offense to comments made by Australian singer Betty Who, who identifies as bisexual and nonbinary.
When asked about JoJo Siwa and Fletcher – female celebrities who identify as ‘queer’ and are now dating men – Betty offered a nuanced response.
‘I think it’s hard when you become representative of something to other people, and then you change or you are just following your heart, and then that means other people feel that they are not represented anymore. The pressure of that is so immense,’ she said on her Made It Out podcast.
‘A huge part of queerness is identifying yourself and putting yourself under, you know, the alphabet mafia. It’s like: “Which one are you?”‘
Betty then said: ‘Renee Rapp is like: “You’ll never catch me dating a man.” Like: “Go off, queen, I love that for you!” But I also hold space for her in 10 years if she goes: “Oops, I met the love of my life and it’s this man, I didn’t mean to.” It’s like, that’s okay!’
In her latest interview – accompanied by steamy photos of her flashing the flesh in designer underwear – she held forth on being clear about her sexual orientation
Now the 25-year-old has embarked on a career as a pop act, and has spoken frankly about singing about her sexuality in an interview with Cosmopolitan UK
Although she once called herself ‘the bisexual Justin Bieber,’ she has since come out as a lesbian and is happily dating British songstress Victoria ‘Towa’ Bird
Renee opined that her forthrightness ‘makes a difference culturally,’ while adding that ‘its important to me in a way that I’m not even thinking about most of the time’
She explained that ‘when I write about my lesbian sexuality, I’m just writing about my sex life.’
Renee said that ‘every space that I go into, is inherently queer, because I’m there and my friends are there, so I’m not even making an effort to do it anymore’
‘I used to make a really concerted effort,’ said Renee: ‘But now, I’ve built this life for myself, and I’m lucky to have people around me that do the same’
In her interview, Renee also took offense to comments made by Australian singer Betty Who, who identifies as bisexual and nonbinary
In her interview, Renee also took offense to comments made by Australian singer Betty Who, who identifies as bisexual and nonbinary
‘There is so much pressure when it comes to labelling yourself, but I think that pressure often comes from you,’ Renee reasoned
Renee, pictured with Towa in May 2024, said: ‘Also, how about don’t talk about me when it comes to a man? I’m very publicly in a very loving relationship with a woman’
After facing a fierce online backlash, Betty issued a public apology, and Renee has now given her own response to the comments.
‘I mean, it’s just very similar to the whole: “She hasn’t found the right man.” It’s incredibly similar, let’s be so clear. I’m just like, “What the f***? What makes you think I’m gonna end up with a man?”‘ said Renee.
‘Also, how about don’t talk about me when it comes to a man? I’m very publicly in a very loving relationship with a woman. So I’m not really sure what about that is so blurry,’ argued the friend of Chappell Roan.
‘I mean, I completely understand that identifying yourself can be really difficult. There is so much pressure when it comes to labelling yourself, but I think that pressure often comes from you,’ Renee reasoned.
‘Like, no-one ever had a gun to my head and was like: “tell me what you are, right the f*** now”. I had a gun to my own head and I was like: “tell me what you are, right the f*** now,” because I was trying to figure it out, because I didn’t know who I was.’
Renee added: ‘So I’m always confused whenever people try to do that to other people. Just focus on yourself. Just literally focus on yourself. Don’t bring my big f***ing lesbian name into your mouth and into this drama.’
The full digital cover interview can be read on Cosmopolitan UK.
