Brandy portrayed the classic Disney princess in a 1997 television movie adaptation of ‘Cinderella’ that Rachel Zegler said she “grew up” watching

Brandy is showing support for a fellow Disney princess.

While speaking with Variety for an interview published Wednesday, Oct. 2, Rachel Zegler, 23, who plays Snow White in Disney’s upcoming live-action reimagining, cited Brandy’s performance as the title character in 1997’s Cinderella as a clear-cut example of diversity in casting for retellings of Disney’s classic princess stories.

When the outlet reached out to Brandy, 45, for comment on Zegler’s upcoming performance, the singer-songwriter said via email that she believes Zegler “will be absolutely incredible in this role.”

“You’re not taking on this role to fit the mold of the critics,” Brandy told Variety of Zegler. “You’re doing this for every little Colombian girl who has yet to see themselves in a role like a Disney princess. You’re doing this for the little girl that you once were, who grew up without that representation of her Colombian culture. You are showing her that anything is possible for someone who looks like her, and that is the most important job in the world.”

Rachel Zegler in 2025’s Snow White.Disney

As Zegler told the outlet, she grew up idolizing Brandy’s version of Cinderella — but that did not prevent her from accepting other versions of the character. “I grew up in a house where that was Cinderella. Obviously, we watched the cartoon. But a child’s mind is the most amazing thing, where it’s just like, ‘OK, that’s Cinderella,’ ” she told Variety. “But the blond-haired, blue-eyed, blue-dress Cinderella from the 1950s cartoon is also Cinderella. Also, Hilary Duff is Cinderella in A Cinderella Story. I was able to comprehend those things at a young age.”

Rachel Zegler.Disney; Mike Coppola/MG24/Getty

Though Zegler’s version of Snow White is still months away from its theatrical release, the actress shared with Variety that the character’s name in the new movie comes from a different version of the fairy tale than the 1937 animated film, which describes Snow White as having “skin as white as snow.”

“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,” she said. “And so the king and queen decided to name her Snow White to remind her of her resilience.”

Disney’s Snow White, which costars Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, releases in theaters March 21, 2025.