Actress and singer Reneé Rapp recently spoke about the joy she has experienced since publicly coming out as a lesbian.
During an appearance on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast, the Mean Girls star explained that she had been out as bisexual for a long time before realizing she identified as a lesbian.
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She decided to come out while appearing in a Saturday Night Live sketch, explaining to Poehler that the writers had wanted to call her a “little bisexual intern” and she asked them to change it to lesbian.
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Rapp said embracing the word “feels very euphoric.”
“Labelling yourself publicly is really, really, really empowering,” she told Poehler, “and also I think can be kind of intimidating… This feels so good for me right now, and I don’t want to go by something that doesn’t feel correct.” She also said she will always remain open to change as she can’t predict how she will feel about her identity down the line.
@hercampus she isn’t putting herself into a box and I’m so here for it @Good Hang with Amy Poehler on YT #reneerapp #amypoehler #sexuality ♬ original sound – hercampus
It felt “amazing” afterward, she said, but she also spoke about the frustration she feels with people from her rural hometown, which she described as “MAGA town.” She said people there have scrambled to proclaim their connections to her now that she is famous and they many seem willing to push bigotry to the side when doing so gets them closer to fame and wealth.
“You just like the idea of the closeness to something that is very shallow,” she said, “so much so that you’re willing to put your bigotry to the side for a second to be like, ‘Oh, I babysat her.’ No, you’re a f**king homophobe. And I don’t like you.”
But she emphasized that there is also so much good that has come out of her embracing her identity.
“I love being a lesbian and I love the lesbian community so much… There’s really bad, and there’s really, really good.”
Rapp also described being “so beyond in love” with her girlfriend, singer-songwriter Towa Bird. “I worship her, I think she’s perfect.” She then told the story of Bird saying “I love you,” while the pair was high.
@hercampus this whole moment had me CACKLING — she is so chronically online and I love it 
Rapp’s fame has skyrocketed since she portrayed Leighton Murray in the now-cancelled show, The Sex Lives of College Girls. She also starred as Regina George in the 2024 Mean Girls musical film, an adaptation from the Broadway show in which Rapp also starred.
As her music career also takes off, she has made waves for unapologetically singing about sapphic love.
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