Saying goodbye! Reneé Rapp is seemingly leaving her role as Leighton ahead of the Sex Lives of College Girls third season. While the “Snow Angel” songstress will still appear in the Max series, it’s been reported that her role will be significantly decreased in comparison to co-stars Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur and Alyah Chanelle Scott.
Deadline was first to report the news of Reneé’s departure. In July 2023, the publication reported that she “will appear in a handful of episodes of season 3 of the show.” However, she “will not be a series regular and will depart the show after those episodes,” the outlet shared.
Keep reading for everything we know so far.
Is Reneé Rapp Leaving ‘Sex Lives of College Girls’?
It appears that the actress will only have a small role in the show’s forthcoming batch of episodes. Sex Lives of College Girls season 3 was renewed in December 2022.
Why Is Reneé Rapp Leaving ‘Sex Lives of College Girls’?
It’s unclear exactly why she’s departed from the show. That being said, Reneé did share a social media statement responding to the news.
“College Girls moved me out to L.A. and introduced me to some of my favorite people. Two and a half years later — it’s given me y’all and this community,” the star shared via Instagram Stories in July 2023. “Thank u Mindy [Kaling], Justin [Noble] and everyone at Max for believing in me. A lot of queer work gets belittled — but playing Leighton has changed my life. I love who I am 10x more than I did before knowing her. I hope she gave y’all a little bit of that too.”
Reneé’s post continued, “She’s such a tiny part of representation but even the tiny parts count. I wouldn’t be half the person I am without her and y’all. I love that bitch more than you know. I’m so excited for this season and I can’t wait for you to see what we have coming for her and the girls.”
Perhaps her departure from the series can be better explained by looking back just a few months prior to her exit. During her visit on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, the singer opened up about her troubling experience while on set. She explained feeling a constant state of dread and lack of assurance in her sexuality.
The Broadway alum revealed, “I was just in a panic constantly. And I wasn’t [straight], but I was so freaked out by the idea of my sexuality, not being finite or people laughing at me or me laughing at myself that I hated first year of filming.”
Self-doubt wasn’t the only thing plaguing Reneé’s experience — the actress also explained the pressure she felt while filming intimate scenes.
“There are a lot of straight men around. There are a lot of older men around me on set. So I’m going through set, doing these scenes, and I’m also having gay men come up to me and be like, ‘So are you, like, really gay?’ I was like, ‘Ugh!’… It really f–king pissed me off and it made me second guess everything about myself.”
Luckily, it seems Reneé is in a much better space today. While at the premiere for her movie Mean Girls in January 2024, the actress spoke to Vanity Fair about the state of her career following her Sex Lives departure.
“The people in my life that I work with now care about me as a person,” she explained. “And I think that is a difference from things I’ve experienced in the past.”
What Did Reneé Rapp Say About Playing Leighton?
Since Sex Lives of College Girls premiered in November 2021, Reneé has been candid about her character. Initially, she noted it was “scary as f–k” playing a character that was so similar to herself at the time, the singer recalled to Glamour in November 2022. However, Reneé said that playing Leighton has since helped her “embrace and embody my queerness.”
Scroll through our gallery to read Reneé’s quotes about leaving Sex Lives of College Girls.
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