When sapphic icons unite, there’s nothing they can’t do.
That’s what Reneé Rapp proved in a new interview, where she revealed that her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, “Not My Fault,” did more than make it onto every gay’s playlist: It also helped Rapp feel more confident in her body.
“Meg has made me love my body a little bit more,” Rapp said in an interview with Them, launching into a story about being on set with Megan to film the song’s music video.
Rapp said she was nervous to be on camera in just a bodysuit and tights (“I am always so scared to show any part of my body,” she explained), but when she dropped her coat to reveal the outfit around Megan, the rapper apparently said, “I know you don’t have an ass like that.”
Culture, unfiltered
Twice a week, our newsletter will bring you the pulse of queer culture, from the tastemakers to the groundbreakers.
“I fear I do,” Rapp replied. Rapp continued that Megan’s celebration of her body led to the track’s cover art, which puts both artists’ behinds front and center.
“I can’t believe I got to have my ass out like that next to Megan,” Rapp said.
Rapp also shared more about embracing her lesbian identity and coming out earlier this year. She had previously identified as bisexual, and she wasn’t sure if her thoughts about being a lesbian were just stemming from a desire to prove her queerness.
“When you’re bisexual, you almost want to prove yourself, so I thought it was kind of that,” she explained. “But it came to be that, no, I’m actually just gay like that.”
That led to her viral coming-out moment on Saturday Night Live, where Bowen Yang referred to her as a “little lesbian intern.” The word choice was apparently Rapp’s decision: she asked the writers to change the word “bisexual” to “lesbian” ahead of filming the show.
The attention she got afterward was both frightening and freeing, Rapp said: “I stayed off my phone for a couple days because I was so f*cking terrified and felt so sh*tty but then it was just, like, a thing, and it felt good.”
Since then, she’s shouted her lesbianism from the rooftops, from an L Word-themed introduction at Coachella to a viral post asserting her identity.
“I still have incredibly homophobic thoughts toward myself constantly,” Rapp admitted, but she said she’s proud of how far she’s come in accepting herself. “‘Lesbian’ was not a good word for me to hear as a kid, and now it’s something that I have such a close emotional connection to.”
RelatedSome might call Rapp a triple threat, and I think they’d be spot on.Rapp schooled Sheeran on the rules of basketball in a viral clip from the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in Boston.