It’s been quite some time since Mean Girls hit our screens – a whole decade in fact, which for many of us means practically half our lives ago – scary stuff. Suffice to say, the actresses behind the infamous clique have taken some drastically different turns since 2004: marriages, blockbuster hits, jail sentences, rehab stints, breakdowns – cough, Lindsay, cough. With the power of hindsight, we can quite happily confirm that fetch never did happen, and alas, the question of whether Karen can sense the rain with her boob ‘ESPN’ will remain forever a mystery. However, we can have a little delve into the real life of the Plastics post-Mean Girls, starting with good girl gone seriously bad – Cady Heron, better known as tabloid-sensation Lindsay Lohan.
Lindsay Lohan
After the huge success that was Mean Girls, it unfortunately seemed like LiLo’s career took a turn for the dull – landing a few roles in indifferently received flicks like Herbie: Fully Loaded and Just My Luck, before plummeting into a streak of rehab stints and DUI allegations that resulted in seven arrests and the cancelling of many film contracts. Most recently, she starred in her own documentary on Oprah Winfrey’s channel OWN, which has received mixed reviews and showed the starlet at her most candid. It’s worth a watch – if only for a peek into her insane wardrobe. The series ended with Lindsay preparing for a new role in upcoming thriller Inconceivable – here’s hoping she makes it through to filming without falling off the wagon again.
Rachael McAdams
After removing her Queen Regina crown, Rachel’s career went from strength to strength – bagging stellar roles in The Notebook and Sherlock Holmes. Unlike Lindsay, once the heat got a little too much, she got out of the kitchen – distancing from the industry for a few years after 2006, despite critics dubbing her the “next Julia Roberts”. These days, McAdams is worlds apart from her role as Regina, living a simpler life in Ontario with her brother when she isn’t filming, practising yoga everyday and participating in humanitarian work.
Lacey Chabert
No longer Gretchen, daughter of the inventor of toaster strudel, Lacey’s public life hasn’t been particularly well documented since the events of 2004. With her adopting a number of vocal roles in videogames like Sonic the Hedgehog, and even voicing a Bratz doll in the 2006 film, her acting has reverted back to being behind the curtain – did you know she voiced Meg Griffin in the first series of Family Guy? However, of the group, Chabert appears to have been the luckiest in love, marrying David Nehdar in 2013.
Amanda Seyfried
We could bet that Regina wouldn’t still be calling Karen stupid if she knew her real life self would go on to an arguably better film career than all of the Plastics, following her hilarious role as the ditsy girl who fancies her own cousin. Seyfried who, alongside having the world’s hardest surname to memorise, has consistently remained a big name in Hollywood, something which only seemed to explode after her first musical role in 2008’s Mamma Mia. Since then, she has appeared in the megahit that was Les Miserables and 2013’s Lovelace in which she shed her sweetness and light persona, depicting the life of prostitute Linda Lovelace, with a handful of films in the works.
