‘Snow White’ star Rachel Zegler calls out online hate she’s received

For actress Rachel Zegler, the star of Disney’s recent live-action Snow White, receiving online hate has become a regular thing.

“It’s interesting,” the actress said of opinions of her floating around on the internet in an interview with i-D magazine published Monday. “It’s really alarming at times.”

The actress received backlash from the moment she was selected for the iconic role, often thanks to racist trolls who didn’t agree with the Colombian actress playing the lead character in the film. She’s also received hate for some of the political views that she shares, such as when she spoke out against President Donald Trump before last year’s election, sparking a conservative boycott. (She later apologized.)

But the 24-year-old hasn’t let the reaction to her words keep her down for too long.

“I think a victim mindset is a choice, and I don’t choose it,” Zegler told the outlet. “I also don’t choose nastiness in the face of it. I don’t choose negativity in the face of it. I choose positivity and light and happiness. And I do believe at times, happiness is absolutely a choice, and every day I wake up and I think I’m very lucky to live the life I live.”

When the noise became too loud, however, Zegler left her place in New York and went home to New Jersey, where she was with her family, including her dog.

“My f—ing psychiatrist has seen me through all of it,” Zegler said. The professional was able to tell her, “‘What you’re going through isn’t normal.'”

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Zegler said hearing those words, combined with medication, helped her.

“That sentence did such wonders for me in multiple situations in my life,” she said. And the meds were “truly a game changer, because I just wasn’t functioning. And I wanted to function in a way that made me feel confident in the way I was moving through the world.”

Zegler currently stars in the musical Evita in London’s West End.