Rachel Zegler has spoken out about fame and defended stars like Chappell Roan, who have received online abuse.
Roan’s feelings about fame have consistently made headlines this year, with her recently comparing it to “an abusive ex-husband”, and revealing that she’d been diagnosed with “severe depression” that she attributed to her rapid rise.
Prior to that, she had taken to TikTok to share her thoughts on “weird” and “creepy” followers, calling out the “predatory behaviour” of so-called “superfans” that includes “nonconsensual physical and social interactions”.
Now Zegler, who also recently received backlash over Disney‘s forthcoming live-action Snow White movie, has backed Roan.
She told Teen Vogue: “The second one loses their anonymity, they lose everything that comes with it, and that is comfort. I made a vow to myself after last summer where everything was really horrible for me online, that I would not spend a single second being uncomfortable that I didn’t have to.
“I wish I had the wherewithal to say it the way Chappell did. I think she’s brilliant. I think the people who are mad at her are idiots who simply don’t know what it’s like to not have an ounce of privacy anymore.”
Zegler also spoke about the abuse stars receive on X/Twitter, adding: “I’m off Twitter. Fuck Twitter. It can be a nasty place. I saw what it did to [Kit Connor].”
In 2023, Connor said he felt “forced” to come out as bisexual following online speculation.
Zegler continued: “I know what it did to me. I’ve seen women in particular be torn down my entire life. Jameela Jamil, why? Taylor Swift, why? Jennifer Lawrence, why? Anne Hathaway, why? Halle Bailey, why?
“And I know why, but the general public will never learn… now they’ve moved on to Chappell. Fuck them.”
She also spoke further about how people scrutinise Swift.
“‘Why is Taylor Swift XYZ?‘ You don’t know her,” she said. “It’s so [wild] that you’re talking like that, because you don’t know her. I don’t know her, and that’s why I’m not on the internet going, ‘But actually, I think that she’s actually conniving in this and her relationship isn’t real’.
“You don’t know this person. Spend your time learning a craft. Touch some grass. Kiss a girl, do something.”
Elsewhere, Zegler recently voiced her concerns about AI following an incident that happened when she was 18.