The real reason we haven’t seen Lacy Chabert since her iconic role in ‘Mean Girls’

Much like her catchprase “that’s so fetch,” former child star Lacy Chabert’s popularity seemed to disappear after the 2004 film, Mean Girls.

Though she struggled to keep her career alive on the big screen, Chabert – now part of the Hallmark Channel family – is playing the most important role of her life.

The 41-year-old woman, who started acting when she was only 10, is a mother to Julia Mimi Bella, who she says is her “number one priority” and “the light of my life.”

Keep reading to learn more about the actor and her party of three!

From 1994 to 2000, fans of the family drama Party of Five watched a young Lacy Chabert grow up on TV.

“It was a little bit of a different way of growing up and not everyone can relate to it,” Chabert said in 2023. “It was interesting because sometimes my character would go through things in life on the show that I had yet to actually go through in life. You know, like my first kiss and all of this kind of embarrassing stuff.”

When the series ended, Chabert says she was “heartbroken,” but remains “very, very, very close” with her former castmates.

“They’re a part of my life now. And it’s been nice to grow up together and become parents… you know, go through different phases of life together.”

In the following years, the young woman then had starring roles in films like 2001’s Not Another Teen Movie and Daddy Day Care (2003) with Eddie Murphy.

In 2004, Chabert landed the role of a lifetime in Mean Girls, playing Gretchen Wieners, the loyal sidekick to the head of The Plastics, Regina Winters (Rachel McAdams).

The teen hit comedy, written by funny woman Tina Fey, also stars Lindsay Lohan (Freaky Friday), Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!) and Saturday Night Live alum, Amy Poehler and Fey.

Twenty years after the film was released, the cast reunited to film a Walmart commercial, playing as adult versions of their characters with teenagers of their own.

“Oh, this is going to be so fetch,” she says in the ad as Gretchen, who’s speaking with her daughter and two friends.

Her teenage girl responds, “Stop trying to make fetch happen mom. It’s still not going to happen.”

Chabert, who starred as the nice one in the quad of mean-spirited high schoolers in the iconic film, says of the brief reunion, “Oh my gosh, it was the best! It was like stepping back in time, like no time had passed,” said the actor. “It was so fun to reminisce about all the memories we have from the movie and then catch up with each other.”

She adds, “We’re all moms now…And it was such a full circle moment and I’m so thankful for the experience.”

In December 2013, Chabert quietly married her “best friend,” businessman David Nehdar.