Rachel Zegler slams ‘Snow White’ role backlash

American actress Rachel Zegler has said that if she had known about the backlash that would follow her casting as Snow White, she would have thrown her phone away.

It was first announced that Zegler had been cast as the titular Disney princess in the live-action Snow White remake in 2022.

The young actress, who has Colombian and Polish roots, faced backlash from fans after the casting announcement.

“I was told I wasn’t enough of one thing for West Side Story and too much of another for Snow White,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.

“It was a really confusing time to be in my early twenties and hearing that.

“I grew up proud of being Colombian – eating the food, wearing the dresses, drinking the coffee, doing all the things that were so intrinsic to who I was as a kid and who I am as an adult – but I do think there’s an argument to be made that, in the public eye at least, when you’re two things, you’re simultaneously nothing.

“But I refuse to assimilate for anybody else’s comfort.”

Last year, Zegler revealed that therapy and anxiety medication helped her overcome the monumental backlash she received while starring in the Disney live-action remake.

“My f–king psychiatrist has seen me through all of it,” Zegler explained in an interview to I-D, noting that her medical doctor constantly reminded her that “what you’re going through isn’t normal.”

“That sentence did such wonders for me in multiple situations in my life,” she said.

The actress also revealed that she started taking anxiety medication.

Zegler said the decision was “truly a game changer” because “I just wasn’t functioning” and “I wanted to function in a way that made me feel confident in the way I was moving through the world.”

Besides her psychiatrist and anxiety meds, the West Side Story star also cited her “mindset” as one of the things that helped her overcome the backlash she received.

“I think a victim mindset is a choice, and I don’t choose it,” she explained. “I also don’t choose nastiness in the face of it. I don’t choose negativity in the face of it.”

“I choose positivity and light and happiness,” Zegler continued. “And I do believe at times, happiness is absolutely a choice, and every day I wake up and I think I’m very lucky to live the life I live.”