Rachel Zegler has opened up about her health.
The West Side Story star, 21, used her Instagram Stories on Saturday as a platform to share a photo of the scar she had after a breast cancer scare at 19 led to an out-patient biopsy procedure.
In a since expired post that was captured by JustJared, Zegler told her story.
“Two years ago I found a lump in my breast and went through what was undoubtedly the scariest week of my life,” she wrote over the photo.
“No OB/GYN was taking new patients due to the backlog of the pandemic, but I was fortunate to have the care of my pediatrician who prescribed me an ultrasound, which led to an out-patient biopsy procedure,” she continued. “Thankfully it was benign.”
“And now the scar serves as a reminder to check my breasts regularly for any irregular growth – the fibroadenoma in my left breast is a common occurrence but nevertheless extremely scary to find. Early detection saves lives!!! Check your titty meat :),” Zegler concluded.
The Golden Globe winner has used her platform to share health updates in the past, from mental to physical. In 2018, prior to her meteoric rise, she tweeted: “Hello. My name is Rachel. I suffer from anxiety and depression, and occasionally feel depersonalized/disassociated from reality. I am a work in progress. I am finding the common ground between me and my mind. And that’s enough. But please, ask if I’m okay. #EndTheStigma”
Next up for the actress is Disney’s Snow White. In a chat with Andrew Garfield for Variety’s Actors on Actors series earlier this year, she recalled that her live-action casting announcement “was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry.”
“Ah, those people. The people that we need to educate. The people that we need to love into awareness,” explained Garfield, 38.
“We need to love them in the right direction,” replied Zegler, in reference to those who criticized her casting over her race. She added, “At the end of the day, I have a job to do that I’m really excited to do. I get to be a Latina princess.”
“Never in a million years did I imagine that this would be a possibility for me,” the actress noted. “You don’t normally see Snow Whites that are of Latin descent. Even though Snow White is really a big deal in Spanish-speaking countries.”
“Blanca Nieves is a huge icon whether you’re talking about the Disney cartoon or just different iterations and the Grimm fairytale and all the stories that come with it,” Zegler continued. “But you don’t particularly see people who look like me or are me playing roles like that.”
The 1937 Disney animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs serves as the inspiration for the upcoming live-action reimagining, but don’t expect a beat-by-beat retelling.
“Most of my character does not work for today’s audience, I’ll just say it,” Zegler — who plays the lead princess in the movie opposite Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen — told PEOPLE at the D23 Expo Sept. 12, comparing their new version to the original. “We did a really deep dive into fixing and making a modern woman out of Snow White.”
She and the filmmakers set out to “make a new version of the character.”
“I think she’s 13 in the original cartoon, so we started there and said, ‘No, she’s 18 in this one.’ She’s a bit more independent,” Zegler, 21, continued. “She’s also living in grief. I mean, there was a lot of complex emotion that we decided to deep-dive into. And understanding what it’s like to be a teenager on top of all that.”
The Snow White remake will be directed by Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man) and will also star Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.
