Honor Gillies as Barb Azure, Konstantin Taffet as Clerk Carmine and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Photo Credit: Murray Close

Actress Rachel Zegler confirmed that the upcoming Disney live-action Snow White film will change the origin of Snow White’s name.

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. ©?’ .. and as long as the Mirror answered, ”You’re the fairest one of all, Snow White was safe from the Queen’s cruel jealousy.”

The film then transitions to the Evil Queen asking the Magic Mirror, “Who is the fairest one of all?” But instead of answering that the Queen is the fairest it, it informs her, “Famed is thy beauty, Majesty. But hold, a lovely maid I see. Rags cannot hide her gentle grace. Alas, she is more fair than thee.”

When the Queen instructs The Mirror to name the person, The Mirror replied, “Lips red as the rose. Hair black as ebony. Skin white as snow.” The Queen then says, “Snow White.”

 A screenshot from Snow White (1937), Walt Disney Productions

READ: Rachel Zegler’s Snow White Avoided at the Disney Parks: Why Disney World and Disneyland Are in a Hard Spot

In an interview with Variety, Zegler revealed that Snow White’s name is not due to her skin tone. She shared, “It fell back to another version of ‘Snow White’ that was told in history, where she survived a snowstorm that occurred when she was a baby. And so the king and queen decided to name her Snow White to remind her of her resilience.

Zegler added, “One of the core points in our film for any young woman or young person is remembering how strong you actually are.”

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Snow White (2025), Walt Disney Studios

Not only did Zegler confirm that Disney’s live-action is changing the origin of Snow White’s name, but she also addressed the backlash she received regarding her numerous comments made at D23 back in 2022 that revealed how Disney was seemingly changing the entire movie altogether.

For example, Zegler insulted and derided anyone who had an affinity to the original film telling Extra TV, “he original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird. Weird. So we didn’t do that this time.”

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Snow White (2025), Walt Disney Studios

After being asked about the Prince, she said, “We have a different approach to what I’m sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because like we cast a guy in the movie, Andrew Burnap, great dude.”

She continued, “It’s one of those things that I think everyone’s going to have their assumptions about what it’s actually going to be, but it’s really not about the love story at all, which is really, really wonderful. And whether or not she finds love along the way is anybody’s guess until 2024. All of Andrew’s scenes could get. Who knows? It’s Hollywood, baby!”

“It’s an inner journey that she goes on to find her true self. And she meets a lot of people along the way that make the journey really incredible,” she concluded.

She made similar comments to Variety, “I just mean it’s no longer 1937, and we absolutely wrote a Snow White–”

Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot, who is playing the Evil Queen, then asserted, “She’s not gonna be saved by the prince.”

Zegler concurred, “She’s not gonna be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.”

“She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be. The leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, brave, and true. And so it’s just a really incredible story for, I think, young people everywhere to see themselves in,” she concluded.

READ: Actress Terra Jolé Blasts Disney Over ‘Snow White’ And Reveals Apple TV+ Originally Planned To Cast Dwarves For ‘Time Bandits’ But Changed Course After Peter Dinklage Criticized ‘Snow White’

To Entertainment Weekly, Zegler stated, “The reality is that the cartoon was made 85 years ago and therefore it’s extremely dated when it comes to the ideas of women being in roles of power and what a woman is fit for in the world. And so when we came to reimagining the actual role of Snow White it became about the fairest of them all meaning who is the most just. And who can become a fantastic leader.”

“And the reality is, you know, Snow White has to learn a lot of lessons about coming into her own power before she can come into power over a kingdom,” Zegler shared.

Gadot also said, “Also the fact that she’s not going to be saved by The Prince and she’s the proactive one and she’s the one who set the terms is what makes it so relevant to where we are today.”

Zegler addressed the backlash to these snide and disrepectful comments by playing victim telling Variety, “In all honesty, it made me sad that it was taken in such a way, because I believe that women can do anything. But I also believe that they can do everything.”

She continued, “I would never want to box someone in and say, ‘If you want love, then you can’t work.’ Or ‘If you want to work, then you can’t have a family.’ It’s not true. It’s never been true.”

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Zegler then lied and said her comments were taken out of context and that she was joking, “It can be very upsetting when things get taken out of context or jokes don’t land.”

She then appeared to indicate that the love story is back on the table after it likely had been removed before the backlash, “The love story is very integral. A lot of people wrote that we weren’t doing [that storyline] anymore — we were always doing that; it just wasn’t what we were talking about on that day.”

Rachel Zegler via Good Morning America YouTube

Zegler then doubled down on playing victim and even attempted to tie it to the current presidential campaign in the United States, “I’ve watched women get torn down my whole life, my whole career. We’ll watch it in the election that’s upcoming. We’re gonna witness that for a long time, I fear. Sometimes it can feel like we’re going back; it certainly felt that way when that was happening.”

She then revealed it’s all a power struggle to her, “I don’t like to give them the satisfaction of knowing they hurt me in the moment. You give them a lot of power by taking a social media break.”

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Disney’s live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What do you make of Zegler’s revelation that they are changing the origin of Snow White’s name? What do you make of her response to the backlash she’s received?