Featured Image Credit: CBS via Getty Images
Topics: Film and TV, Sex and Relationships, LGBTQ, Celebrity, Entertainment
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Film and TV, Sex and Relationships, LGBTQ, Celebrity, Entertainment
Mean Girls fans were sent into a frenzy earlier this week when actors Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert reunited for an ICONIC advert for Walmart.
And the iconic promotion rekindling has left many movie buffs reminiscing on what exactly made the 2004 hit such a global phenomenon.
As well as a story moral that strips society from stereotypes - proving that 'The Plastics' and 'The Emo's' can live in perfect harmony - it is the star-studded cast that makes it one of the most iconic blockbuster rom-coms of the 21st century.
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Fronted by child star Lindsay Lohan - who stars as naive new-girl-in-town Cady Heron - the movie also stars the likes of Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert as the bombshell school bullies.
Doing it for the boys in the heartthrob hit, were the likes of Jonathan Bennett, who played Cady's hunky love interest Aaron Samuels, Daniel Franzese, who played her loveable best friend Damien, and Rajiv Surendra, who played the notorious mathlete-turned-rapper, Kevin G.
But one interesting fact that many fans of the movie may not know, is that, all of the major male leads from Mean Girls ended up coming out as gay later in real life.
After his character was described by quirky 'emo' BFF Janice (Lizzy Caplan) in the movie as 'almost too gay to function', the first actor that happened to come out as gay in real life was Daniel, who played Damien Leigh, back in 2014.
Later speaking to AOL of his revelation, he recalled: "I get a lot of fan mail, but around the 10th anniversary of Mean Girls, I got a letter from a fan who was grown up that said, 'When I was in 8th grade, I was beat up for being chubby and tortured for being a sissy, but then your movie came out. And, in 9th grade, on the first day of school, the popular senior girls walked up to me and said, 'You're like Damian, come sit with us!'" he continued to recall the fan mail.
Daniel went on: "And he was like, 'Thank you so much, I don't know if you're gay or not...' but then I realized it's so important that I come out. And then I did come out, and I made two of my other costars come out — Kevin G and Aaron Samuels — we're all gay!"
Yep, you read that right. Jonathan Bennett - the first crush for millions of teenage girls around the world - is off the market and very much loved up with his husband, Jaymes Vaughan.
Telling his 'coming out' story to TooFab, Jonathan previously recalled: "There comes a time in your life when you realize it just doesn't matter and it's not worth it to not just live completely open as yourself."
"I never really talked about it when Mean Girls came out, my friends all knew," he continued. "I just was kind of told by not anyone specifically, but everyone [to stay closeted].
"We lived in a weird world where us actors who were working in the public eye at the time that were gay, we all didn't know what to do."
Jonathan continued: "It's everyone's own journey, and they can do it how they want. For me, I was like, OK, it was time. I was like, 'Yep, I'm done. I'm over it.' I'm like, f**k it don't cast me, I don't care."
In 2020, he confirmed he was engaged to Celebrity Page host Jaymes Vaughan, and a year later, the pair became the first gay couple to appear on the cover of The Knot magazine.
They completed their love story in March 2022, after getting married at the Unico Riviera Maya Hotel in Mexico.
Perhaps the most surprising of the major male stars to come out is Rajiv Surendra - and that's only because the smooth-talking mathlete was such an unexpected womaniser in the movie.
He told Kajal mag, "I know full well that if I was an openly gay actor, there was no way I’d be considered for the role of a 16-year-old religious Indian kid in a movie that Fox was putting $100 million into."
Ravij later moved to Germany, telling the publication: "I had complete anonymity there, which I think helped me come to terms with doing what I wanted. I didn’t need to be worried about what everyone else thought."
Good for all you!