Reneé Rapp says acting in “Sex Lives of College Girls” and “Mean Girls” was always a stepping stone into pop music
Reneé Rapp starred in Mindy Kaling’s HBO series The Sex Lives of College Girls for two seasons. The show is credited with really kickstarting her career, although the announcement of her planned 30-date tour of North America following the release of her album Snow Angel in August was coupled with a second announcement: she was leaving the show.
In a profile about the actress and singer, Rapp’s manager Adam Mersel told the Los Angeles Times that despite rumors, she left the show on a positive note. “Renéé was always very vocal with anyone who had music as their focus,” he said. “We were able to come together and find a way that I think will work narratively.”
Rapp herself was less positive about the situation, although she will play a role in several episodes of the third season. She said that during the time she was filming the series, she was on sets where she “felt down having sex and allowing things to hurt my feelings” and that her sexuality was questioned by colleagues , because she was with a man. (She recently began dating TikTok creator Alissa Carrington.) Rapp, who has been openly bisexual and queer since the beginning of her career, was visibly frustrated by the situation.
“Someone asked, ‘Well, you’re only gay here, right?’ You’re not really gay in real life?'” she said. “I told them I was bisexual and they said, ‘But you have a boyfriend?’ And it was like, ‘G–it.'”
She cited the SAG-AFTRA strike as the reason she couldn’t elaborate on her time on that series, but went on to explain why she decided to move on from television and film.
“I go back and forth because I’m so nervous on set and worried about myself, so I think I shouldn’t put myself in that environment again,” Rapp said.
Whatever happened on the show’s set, it’s clear that her fans are ready to embrace pop star Reneé Rapp. The promotional stops for her album were filled with fans who were so enthusiastic about Rapp that they put up signs asking them to perform on them, and her upcoming tour will see her playing venues that attract thousands of fans for the first time can accommodate. Her album “Snow Angel” was released last month.
Watch her recent MTV Video Music Awards performance of “Pretty Girls” here:
She explained that music has always been her goal, ever since she made YouTube video covers of popular songs that resulted in other girls at her school trolling her. It was even part of her casting by Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels in Mean Girls on Broadway, to whom she promised to further her singing career if she took the role.
Rapp opened up about the eating disorder she developed while starring in “Mean Girls” on Broadway — and the interviewers who asked her about someone with her body type playing bad girl queen Regina George.
“I really don’t think you should have asked me something like that when I was a teenager,” Rapp said. “I would like to maybe never talk about my body and maybe no one else would ever talk about my body either.”
Rapp also spoke to the LA Times about being able to be cast in preppy roles thanks to her traditionally feminine looks.
“I’m the most likeable queer there is,” Rapp said. “So when I’m touted as a ‘queer icon,’ that’s very sweet.” But I feel incredibly uncomfortable when someone says I’m the epitome of queerness. That’s kind of stupid to say.”
