‘Snow White’ Star Rachel Zegler Says Ariana Grande Has Been ‘So Deeply Kind’ To Her

Hollywood can be a very lonely place. Whether you’re at the bottom trying to crawl your way up to the middle, or at the top looking down on all the places you’ve been, it’s not alway easy to find people who can relate, and embrace, who you really are.

Snow White star Rachel Zegler knows that journey all too well, and now that she’s earning high praise for her title role in the live action remake of the classic Disney tale, the West Side Story veteran has opened up to Allure in a cover story about all the fellow A-listers who have had her back over the years.

“She reached out to me — kind of apropos of nothing — and was like, ‘If you need anything, I am here,’” Zegler, 23, said of Ariana Grande’s generosity. “She is so deeply kind. She has gone through so much in the public eye, and I have always really, really admired her courage in the face of all of that.”

Among the other women who have stepped up to offer support according to Zegler are actor and activist Jameela Jamil, who she considers to be a “big sister” at this point. “I love that she has no regrets about being outspoken, about being strong-willed and strong-minded,” Zegler said of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law star. She also gotten props from her Shazam! Fury of the Gods costars Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, who she called “my keepers in all of this, where I feel very held by them.”

While Hollywood is always a competitive place, Zegler said she doesn’t conform to the idea that it has to pit women against each other. “All I’m ever really looking for in this business is a sister and they’re not always easy to find. We’re often told that other women have to be your competition and I don’t subscribe to that,” she said, noting that she’s all for “championing your friends” and co-workers.

“So the second that there’s any intimidation or competition, just put on ‘Girl, so confusing’ by Charli XCX and talk it out,” she counseled. “I’ve come to know that in the last couple of years, in search of female friendship in the industry, there is room for all of us no matter what anybody else will have you think.”

The story also touches on Zegler, whose family is Colombian, stepping into the role that was described in the original Brothers Grimm story in 1812 as one inhabited by a woman “white as snow,” at a time when the Trump administration is rolling back DEI initiatives and scrubbing the government’s websites of any words tied to diversity or inclusion.

“The reality is, I was given a chance because I could sing,” she told the magazine about her bona fides to play the role that has traditionally been inhabited by white actresses in the film opening on Friday (March 21). “They saw something. Something they could invest in for the future,” she said of Snow White coproducer Marc Platt and director Marc Webb’s recognition that it was her talent, not her appearance, that mattered when casting her in the role.

“Snow White has an optimistic, youthful grace. Even in her darkest moments, she finds humanity and beauty in others,” Webb said. “I think Rachel has that in her spirit. And it doesn’t hurt that during her screen test, she made us weep with her rendition of ‘Waiting on a Wish.’”

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