Rachel Zegler 'refuses to assimilate' in fiery response to Snow White and West Side Story backlash
Rachel Zegler has responded to backlash she faced over her casting in both Snow White and West Side Story.
Rachel Zegler refuses "to assimilate for anybody else's comfort" after backlash over her heritage.
The 24-year-old actress faced fierce backlash for her Snow White casting from people claiming her Colombian heritage made her a 'woke' hire, while she had previously dealt with people complaining that she wasn't Hispanic enough to play Puerto Rican character Maria in West Side Story.
Speaking to Harper's Bazaar magazine, Rachel - who has a Polish father and Colombian mother - said: "I was told I wasn’t enough of one thing for West Side Story and too much of another for Snow White. 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."
Rachel acknowledged that her mother had a very different outlook much closer to the experience seen in West Side Story, having built her own life "in an era of assimilation being a tactic for survival”.
She added: “It was the experience of so many people in my family: the idea that you will get a job, you will be American, and that’s how you survive – that’s the only way you’re guaranteed a future.”
The Evita actress also hit out at "the way people comment on women’s bodies and their faces, no matter what we say or do".
She was recently told she'd "aged very well", and quipped: "I was like, ‘I’m still in utero! I’m a zygote…’”
She continued: "It’s going to have an effect on how we perceive ourselves and the way we choose to age.
“Everybody’s doing everything they can to prevent ageing, and I don’t want to do that. It’s proof you’ve been here and lived a life.
"I have a mum who embraced that – she refuses to dye her hair because she loves her greys, and I love that about her. That’s the example I have going forward.”
