Yahoo Lifestyle Rachel Zegler Reveals Why the Origin of Snow White’s Name Has Been Updated
Rachel Zegler is booked 👏 and 👏 busy 👏. She just smashed a performance of Thoroughly Modern Millie's "Gimme Gimme" at Elsie Fest in New York City, her A24 movie Y2K hits theaters December 6, and she just made her Broadway debut in Sam Gold's Romeo + Juliet alongside Kit Connor. Oh, and she's stepping into the lead role of Princess Snow White for Disney's latest live adaptation. Say it with me: she's an icon, she's a legend, and she *is* the moment!
The singer and actor recently graced the cover of Variety's New York issue, where she got candid about her upcoming projects—including Snow White. As for the origin of the beloved fairytale character's name, Rachel revealed a new one as the original line about "skin as white as snow" is no longer relevant to the story.
"It fell back to another version of Snow White that was told in history, where she survived a snowstorm that occurred when she was a baby," she explained. "And so the king and queen decided to name her Snow White to remind her of her resilience. One of the core points in our film for any young woman or young person is remembering how strong you actually are."
In August, Rachel shared the official teaser trailer for the film, which is due in theaters next spring. "So unbelievably honored, so unbelievably proud. see you in theaters March 2025. ❤️✨🍎," she wrote alongside the clip.
When her involvement in the film was initially announced, Rachel started hinting that her version of the character "wouldn’t spend her days pining over a man." She also expressed that she thought it was "weird" that the original story's Prince "literally stalks" Snow White. In turn, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes star received backlash from fans who felt she didn't deserve to play a character she was constantly criticizing.
"In all honesty, it made me sad that it was taken in such a way, because I believe that women can do anything. But I also believe that they can do everything," Rachel told Variety.
"I would never want to box someone in and say, ‘If you want love, then you can’t work.’ Or ‘If you want to work, then you can’t have a family.’ It’s not true. It’s never been true. It can be very upsetting when things get taken out of context or jokes don’t land," she added. "The love story is very integral. A lot of people wrote that we weren’t doing [that storyline] anymore — we were always doing that; it just wasn’t what we were talking about on that day."
Rachel's film Snow White hits theaters on March 21, 2025.
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