Reneé Rapp Feared Homophobic Comments Ahead Of Sex Lives Of College Girls Debut

The Sex Lives of College Girls star Reneé Rapp is opening up about how her role on the show led her to reassess the people in her own life.

“When the first season came out, I had different people in my life,” she recently told PEOPLE. “I was really afraid for the show to come out because I felt very judged, and I didn’t feel comfortable.”

Rapp’s character Leighton has been undergoing a journey to embrace her sexuality over the course of the show’s first two seasons. She ultimately came out as gay to one of her roommates at the end of season one, and season two has seen her take further steps towards being out and dating women at college.

In real life, Rapp herself is bisexual, and admits that when it comes to sexuality, she “never really dealt with those emotions as outwardly as Leighton did.”

“I kind of… Just let s—t go, in a bad way,” she said.

It sounds like that may have led to people being allowed in the actress’s life who didn’t deserve a place there, leading to the aforementioned concerns about being judged for playing a queer character.

Fortunately, she says the people who caused her stress in that regard are no longer in her life.

“I actually was very excited for the second season to come out, because I felt much more comfortable to not be terrified to hear something either homophobic or slut-shaming, or things like that,” Rapp said.

The first and second seasons of The Sex Lives of College Girls, created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, are currently available on HBO Max, and the show has been renewed for a third season.