The Untold Truth Of Renée Rapp
Renée Rapp entered the world on January 10, 2000, born in Huntersville, North Carolina. Blessed with a powerful voice, she began singing at an early age, eventually gravitating toward musical theater. Her talent took her to Broadway, where she was cast as Regina George in Tina Fey's "Mean Girls" musical.
She then segued from stage to screen, landing a starring role in "The Sex Lives of College Girls," portraying spoiled rich girl (and closeted lesbian) Leighton Murray on the TV comedy series. Despite her success as an actor, however, Rapp's true ambition had always been in music. That ultimately came to fruition in 2022 when she released her first single, "Tattoos." That was followed later that year by her debut EP, "Everything to Everyone." In mid-2023, Rapp took her next step with the release of her first album, "Snow Angel."
She's made no bones about declaring that while Broadway and television were instrumental in her rise to fame, music is and always has been her ultimate ambition. "I've made it abundantly clear to everyone I work with that this is my endgame," Rapp told Billboard. "And I want to do this to the best of my ability." With her popularity soaring along with the success of "Snow Angel" and its singles, fans are understandably curious about this multitalented star. To find out more, read on for a look at the untold truth of Renée Rapp.
She was a varsity athlete with a passion for golf
Renée Rapp began playing golf at an early age. After being steered toward the sport, she demonstrated enough aptitude that her parents hoped it would secure her an education. "I only played golf 'cause my parents wanted me to get a golf scholarship," she told Harper's Bazaar. "That did not work out for them, but I had fun."
In middle school, she played on the boy's golf team — but only because there was no girls' team. Participating with her male counterparts at that age was not a pleasant experience, thanks to relentless bullying from the boys. "And they were all super rude to me, for the most part," she revealed during an interview with Billboard, recalling the misogyny she faced from her male teammates. "And I have a distinct memory of someone hitting me in the back of the head with a golf ball."
According to Rapp, she approached the game with a level of intensity that went beyond what one would typically expect from someone of her age. That, she admitted, was due to a personality trait that revealed itself on the golf course. "I also had no chill as a kid," she told W Magazine. "So if I would play golf and I would get angry, it wasn't like a throw-the-club situation, it was like a throw the whole f***ing golf bag down the hill — and that's why my mom stopped coming to my matches."
Renée Rapp was a high school musical superstar
At the same time Renée Rapp was having temper tantrums on the golf course, she was also heavily into musical theater. According to Rapp, she saw musical theater as a means to an end. "I didn't really think of pursuing musical theater, like, I was thinking of pursuing music and becoming Beyoncé," she told Harper's Bazaar. "Until I saw that musical theater was something that could take me to this."
She pursued that goal with even greater determination than she did golf, and wound up winning a Blumey Award in Charlotte, North Carolina, presented to a high school student demonstrating excellence in musical theater. Winning the local Blumey brought her to New York City for the Jimmy Awards, celebrating high school musical theater performers on a national level. She wound up winning the award, which proved to be a life-altering experience for Rapp by putting her on the radar of Broadway agents. "I didn't necessarily have expectations going in [to the Jimmy Awards], but it ended up being something that changed the trajectory of my life," she told Broadway.com.
As Rapp recalled, she approached the Jimmys with a fierce intensity. "I knew those f***ers were watching us every day in rehearsals, so there are videos of me on the internet with dagger eyes," she told NME. "I had to win so I could be seen by agents."
She got her start on Broadway
In May 2019, Renée Rapp was cast as Regina George in Broadway's "Mean Girls" musical. Less than a year after winning the Jimmy, she made her Broadway debut. Interestingly, Rapp initially turned down the role — or at least that's the recollection of Tina Fey, who wrote both the book for the musical and the movie upon which it's based. "My recollection of it is we offered her Broadway ... I believe she sort of said like, 'I don't know, I want to work on my music,'" Fey told Broadway Direct. "Lorne [Michaels] and I were like, just come and have a meeting with us. I just gave her the hard sell: 'You'll have plenty of time to work on your music and you could be doing this and [the show at] night.'" The combination of Fey and Michaels convinced her to sign on and perform on Broadway. "I am forever grateful," Fey said of Rapp performing in the show. "Her run on Broadway was amazing."
While Rapp clearly shone in the role, she subsequently revealed that she needed to leave the stage. "To be super-transparent, I loved doing 'Mean Girls' on Broadway, but I was also very sick," she says. "I've struggled with an eating disorder my whole life and I had a lot of s*** happen during that time," she told NME.
Rapp subsequently reprised her Broadway role in the 2024 film version of the "Mean Girls" musical.
She came out as bisexual, and then as a lesbian
Renée Rapp has long been open about her sexuality. "I'm a bisexual white woman so I don't think I'm the pinnacle of queerness," she told the Independent. Despite the openness she evinces today, she was initially tentative about coming out. "I remember being so scared about it ..." she recalled.
While Rapp has identified as bisexual for years, in early 2024, she seemed to have shifted that identification to lesbian. Or at least that's what many people thought when she shared a photo on Instagram Stories (via People), in which she and Cara Delevingne flanked Megan Thee Stallion, accompanied by the caption: "lesbian bodyguards (they can't do anything but they'll talk s***)." She offered even more insight during an interview with Andy Cohen in January 2024. "I don't think I like boys," she said, "so I think we've come to a head ..." Cohen characteristically pushed for more details. "So when did you finally make the full jump into Ladyland?" he asked. "Honestly, like, quite recently," she replied. "It's been more of a thing in my brain recently."
Further evidence accompanied her January appearance on "Saturday Night Live" as a musical guest when she was introduced in a sketch as "our little lesbian intern Reneé." In addition, Rapp gave a brief interview in which she revealed her last Internet search was for the Lesbian Masterdoc, an online document purporting to help people determine whether they're lesbian.
She saw The Sex Lives of College Girls as a stepping stone to a music career
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down Broadway in the early part of 2020, forcing Renée Rapp to push the pause button on her career. In the fall of that same year, Rapp made the leap to a whole other medium when she became part of the ensemble cast of "The Sex Lives of College Girls." In the series — co-created by Mindy Kaling for the Max streaming service — she played one of four female freshmen attending a prestigious college in New England.
For most actors, performing in an acclaimed Broadway play followed by a starring role in a TV series would be considered a fast fulfillment of career goals. For Rapp, however, acting was more like a hobby than an end unto itself, while her ultimate ambitions had always been in music. "I started acting so that I could do music because my parents wanted me to go to college and I didn't want to go," she told Equate Magazine, figuring that if she focused on musical theater, she'd ultimately make it to Broadway. "And I ended up doing that, and then acting just became a thing!" she explained.
In an interview with Variety, she elaborated on how her acting career was something of a bait-and-switch operation intended to further her musical ambitions. "Acting was my way into tricking everyone that I warranted attention ..." she said.
Her acting experiences inspired the raw songs on her debut album
In numerous interviews, Renée Rapp has made it crystal clear that her ultimate goal had always been to establish herself as a musical artist. That came to fruition in late 2023 with the release of her debut album, "Snow Angel." Releasing her first album was a defining moment in her life. "I've been saying that [music] is my thing my whole life, without having really done it," Rapp told People. "I was like, 'This is it.'"
When she began writing the songs that would comprise "Snow Angel," she delved into her experiences as an actor on Broadway and television for inspiration. "I wasn't as authentically me at 18 as I am now at 22, and I think those jobs definitely prepared me for a lot," she said. "Now I have expectations, which has been amazing, because now, going into my music career, I just know so much more about myself, because I've been through some s***."
Clearly, the album is a reflection of the experiences that Rapp had accumulated up to that point. Reflecting upon that musically, she told People, allowed her a way to process what she had gone through and then make sense of it all. "[Music] has always been the only way that I know how to cope," she explained, "the only thing that I really know how to do, and it makes me a full version of myself."
Renée Rapp does not see herself returning to acting
While Renée Rapp began earning accolades for her debut album, most people still think of her primarily as an actor. That's an association that, while certainly understandable, she is keen to change — which she hoped to achieve by backing away from acting. When "The Sex Lives of College Girls" was renewed for a third season, Rapp announced that she was exiting the show.
As Rapp told Elite Daily, she auditioned for "The Sex Lives of College Girls" during the pandemic based on the encouragement of her agents, who told her that starring in a television show would raise her profile. "I thought that any job that I do will get me some sort of a platform so that I can hopefully do music," she explained.
Her manager, Adam Mersel, shut down rumors that Rapp's departure from the show was anything other than amicable. "Reneé was always really vocal with everyone about music being the focus," he told the Los Angeles Times. Interviewed by the Charlotte Observer, Rapp admitted that while she'd come to hold a certain degree of love for acting, there was no question where her allegiance lies. "And it's nothing close to the love that I have for music," she said. Rapp also didn't anticipate resuming her acting career, at least not in the immediate future. "[Acting] was really a means to exactly what I'm doing right now," she explained.
Being diagnosed with ADHD changed everything
Renée Rapp's entire view of herself was rocked when she received a diagnosis of ADHD as an adult, something that filled in a lot of puzzle pieces for her. "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," she told Official Charts.
As she's come to become more cognizant of her ADHD, Rapp has come to think of it as a kind of secret weapon in her arsenal of talent. "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. As Rapp explained, that was particularly true when it comes to songwriting; when her mind veered in several different directions simultaneously, she said, it actually proved to be beneficial to her creative process. "It's exhausting, don't get me wrong, but it's really fun," she added.
While she's come to harness her ADHD, that hadn't always been the case. As she told MTV, she'd always had difficulty seeing a project through to the end, particularly when trying to write songs, something that she later attributed to her ADHD. "I was like, "Why can't I get through a song? I must be a terrible songwriter," she said. "Getting diagnosed made me feel ... like I wasn't just stupid, like I felt for so long," she told The Guardian.
Her 'kitchen sink' style is all over the place
Anyone who's seen Renée Rapp performing onstage or walking a red carpet will agree that her fashion sense is as eclectic as it gets. Asked to sum up her personal style during an appearance on "Today," she described it as "the kitchen sink." Interviewed by InStyle, Rapp discussed how fashion has served various purposes throughout her life but had always been of paramount importance. "I've struggled with eating disorders my whole life and I feel very comfortable talking about it, and clothes have always either been a protective mechanism or something that makes me feel like myself because obviously they're a way of expression and the way that you're physically perceived head-to-toe," she explained.
As fans may have noticed, the clothing she wore while playing wealthy Leighton Murray on "The Sex Lives of College Girls" was worlds apart from her own personal style, demonstrated on red carpets or onstage while performing her music. This, she told InStyle, wasn't always easy for her. "There could be not more stark of a f***ing difference between Leighton and myself," she said. "There is no single piece of clothing or anything that I would want from Leighton's closet ... Literally, burn it."
As she told Highsnobiety, the fluidity of her style isn't random. "It's such a joke, and probably such a bad joke, but I always say my style changes depending on how gay I want to feel that day," she said.
She's not a vegan but she pretends to be
Asked by Billboard to identify five things about her that most people may not know, Renée Rapp honed in on her status as a vegan — and its dubious veracity. "I'm a fake vegan," she declared. "I was vegan, actually, in real life for two years. And now I just tell people, I'll be like, 'Yeah, sorry, I'm a vegan,' and then they'll be like, 'Oh my God.' And I'll be like, 'Yeah,' and then like, one of my friends will usually be like, 'She's not a vegan. I don't know why she's lying to you.'"
While Rapp's flirtation with veganism may have only lasted for a couple of years, she's still a big fan of plant-based meals. Chief among these is her very own bowl from Sweetgreen, the chain restaurant specializing in salads, which Rapp discovered back in 2018 after moving to New York City.
Available September 13 through to October 23, 2023, the Rapp-branded bowl featured a mix of ingredients, including roasted tofu, cucumbers, tomatoes, spring mix, broccoli, red onions, and shredded cabbage, all topped with Rapp's dressing of choice. "The spicy cashew dressing is amazing, and it's been a new addition to my life in the last year," she told People, revealing that the spicy cashew dressing supplanted her previous favorite at Sweetgreen. "I switched from lime cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette with hot sauce to the spicy cashew, which was a big deal in my household," she explained.
She has a fake middle name inspired by her grandmother and Spider-Man
Superfans of Renée Rapp should know that her full name is Renée Mary Jane Rapp. Even more hardcore fans, however, will know that her middle name is actually fabricated. "My legal middle name is not Mary Jane." she confessed in an interview with Billboard. "It's actually just Jane, but my grandmother's name, who my middle name is after, is Mary Jane and I loved 'Spider-Man.' And MJ was really hot," she continued. Admitting she felt ripped off that her middle name wasn't Mary Jane, she decided to remedy that. "I got really pissed that nobody put Mary Jane as my legal name and I started just calling myself Reneé Mary Jane Rapp, and now it's stuck," she explained.
While her self-appointed middle name honors both her grandmother and the love interest of Spider-Man's alter-ego, Peter Parker, she's also paid tribute to the web-slinging superhero in another way. While preparing for her "Saturday Night Live" debut as a musical guest, she, Megan Thee Stallion, and Rachel McAdams appeared together in a photo that Megan posted on Instagram. In the pic, McAdams (who played Regina George in the original "Mean Girls" movie before Rapp took over the role in the Broadway musical and subsequent film adaptation) joins the other two women in pointing at each other, mimicking the iconic Spider-Man meme, in which duplicate animated iterations of the superhero point at each other.
She's embarrassed by her internet history
Before Renée Rapp won the Jimmy Award that put her on a path to Broadway, she carved out a whole other degree of fame for herself online as a teenager. In those videos, the young singer can be seen performing a variety of songs, ranging from an onstage performance of Andra Day's "Rise Up" to an a cappella take on the Nina Simone classic "Feeling Good."
Speaking with Time, Rapp looked back on those videos with a certain degree of embarrassment. "It's horrifying," she joked. "You will find the most insane videos of me as a child — it's a dangerous game."
That said, Rapp has maintained a long and steady presence on social media. Lately, that has been particularly true on TikTok, where Rapp has amassed 2.6 million followers and a beyond-impressive 80 million likes. She's also made a big impression on Instagram, where her followers number 2.1 million. As she told Time, she's crystal clear about the purpose of social media as it relates to her music career. "Sometimes it is just me f***ing around or whatever, but at the end of the day, it's to promote my motherf***ing songs," Rapp said. "I'm absolutely doing everything to service the longevity of my career."
Her life is going exactly according to the intricate plan she'd laid out
Renée Rapp's road to stardom was paved by the meticulous plan that she'd set in place — and which she miraculously ended up executing to the letter. "Ever since I was born or, like, had a thought, I kind of always knew that being an artist and being a musician and a songwriter was exactly what I wanted to do," she told NPR. "And I was very determined to do whatever I had to do to get to this point."
As she explained, her plan began by making a name for herself in regional musical theater in North Carolina. She pictured that as a stepping stone to competing at the Jimmy Awards in order to get herself on Broadway. Then, she planned to use that exposure to launch herself as a solo musical artist — which is precisely how it happened.
As for what comes next, Rapp has laid out how she envisions her future. "My plan is to burn out by 30. In the sense that I want to go through some eras ... in a hot way," she explained. "I want a little bit of a rockstar life, and then I want to, like, move to Colorado for a second, have babies, come back, and then dominate and start directing and producing, but also doing my music." To put it even more bluntly, she added, "I just really want to be Beyoncé."