Amanda Seyfried has spoken out about an uncomfortable situation that arose after her breakthrough performance as Karen Smith on Mean Girls. The comedy film produced many memorable moments and quotes, but in an interview with Marie Claire, the actress says she was "grossed out" by the negative attention she received from male fans approaching her and referencing a scene from the movie. In that scene, Karen relays to Cady (Lindsay Lohan) that her breasts could predict the weather.

Mean Girls starred Lohan, Seyfried, Lacey Chabert (Party of Five) and Rachel McAdams (The Notebook). It was produced by Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels and included Saturday Night Live alumni including film writer Tina Fey, as Sharon Norbury, a math teacher, Amy Poehler and Ana Gasteyer as parents, and Tim Meadows as the school principal. The film gained a cult following and pop culture phenomenon status which lead to a made for tv sequel that premiered in 2011 (and was not as successful as the original), while a musical adaptation hit Broadway in 2018.

Before her role in Mean Girls, Seyfried appeared on daytime soap operas As the World Turns and All My Children, but Mean Girls catapulted her into stardom. During the interview, Seyfried, who was only 18 when Mean Girls was released in 2004, expressed sympathy for child stars. She said:

“I think being really famous [young] must really fucking suck,” she explained. “It must make you feel completely unsafe in the world. I see these younger actors who think they have to have security. They think they have to have an assistant. They think their whole world has changed. It can get stressful. I’ve seen it happen to my peers. So, I bought a farm. I was like, let’s go in the opposite way.”

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Seyfried's Post Mean Girls Career

Naveen Andrews and Amanda Seyfried in The Dropout
Hulu

After Mean Girls, and particularly her role as a ditzy young girl, Seyfried sought to diversify her acting portfolio. Shortly after the film, she appeared in Veronica Mars as Lilly Kane and as Sarah Henrickson on Big Love.

She later starred alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! and its sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. In Jennifer's Body she went in a darker direction playing the story's narrator, Needy, an insecure teen who ends up institutionalized. She followed up with roles in romantic films Dear John and Letters to Juliet before being cast in the film adaptation of Les Misérables.

For her role as Marion Davies in David Fincher's Herman J. Mankiewicz biopic Mank, Seyfried won praise and multiple award nominations. She recently appeared in The Dropout, the real-life story of Elizabeth Holmes, where she also served as producer for two episodes.