The Real Reason Reneé Rapp Left The Sex Lives of College Girls—& Whether We’ll See Her in Season 3
The Sex Lives of College Girls quarter is now down one member. Reneé Rapp’s Leighton has officially moved on from Essex, leaving her friends Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), Bela (Amrit Kaur) and Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) to pick up the pieces and figure out how the dynamics of the group will work out with one less member.
Rapp starred as Leighton for two full seasons of The Sex Lives of College Girls. A rich legacy student, Leighton comes to Essex ready to continue on the status quo with her two “best friends,” only to realize those friends don’t actually like her all that much. But she finds new friends in her assigned roommates, and after a while comes to embrace and accept her sexuality too.
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However, Season 3 will see Leighton depart the show. She is still set to appear in the season, at least for long enough to wrap up her storyline. But why did Renee Rapp leave The Sex Lives of College Girls? Can we expect to see her back at some point?
Why did Renee Rapp leave The Sex Lives of College Girls?
Rapp left The Sex Lives of College Girls to focus on her music career. When her departure was first announced, back in July, Rapp shared a statement on X (formerly Twitter) where she expressed that taking on the role of Leighton “changed my life.”
“College girls moved me out to LA and introduced me to some of my favorite people. 2 and a half years later – it’s given me y’all and this community,” she wrote, adding also her gratitude to the people who made it all possible, “Thank u Mindy [Kaling], Justin [Noble] and everyone at Max for believing in me.”
Rapp wasn’t done, also saying, “A lot of queer work gets belittled – but playing Leighton has changed my life. I love who I am 10x more than I did before knowing her. I hope she gave y’all a little bit of that too. She’s such a tiny part of representation, but even the tiny parts count.”
Finally, Rapp added, “I wouldn’t be half the person I am without her and y’all. “I love that b—tch more than you know. I’m so excited for this season and I can’t wait for you to see what we have coming for her and the girls.”
In a January 2024 interview with Vanity Fair, Rapp explained more about her decision to leave the show. “[I thought], I can do music on the side, like, I can just hustle. And now I’ve just kept acting, because it keeps supporting the music… Acting was my way into tricking everyone that I warranted attention, so that I could have this interview with you,” she said, confirmation that her intention is to dedicate to music full time.
Rapp got her starts on Broadway, playing Regina George in Mean Girls. After landing the role of Leighton on The Sex Lives of College Girls she also signed with Interscope Records and released her debut EP “Everything to Everyone.” Rapp also recently reprised her role as Regina George in the new Mean Girls musical movie alongside Angourie Rice, Jaquel Spivey and Auli’i Cravalho.
