Amanda Seyfried reflects on 'Mean Girls' legacy and a missing paycheck

Amanda Seyfried is calling out Paramount Pictures for a decades-old oversight that’s still bothering her: unpaid royalties for Mean Girls merchandise featuring her face. In a recent interview, Amanda didn’t hold back, saying she’s ‘a little resentful’ that she’s never seen a dime from the wildly popular merch based on the 2004 cult teen comedy.

Amanda Seyfried calls out Paramount for using her Mean Girls likeness without pay, reflecting on lost royalties and teenage naivety

“I really love seeing my face on people’s T-shirts,” she admitted, “but Paramount still owes me some money.” Amanda, who played the adorably dim but psychic Karen Smith, was just 17 when the Tina Fey-penned film premiered and became an instant classic. Fast forward 20 years, and her face is still plastered across everything from mugs to meme tees—without her getting any royalties in return.

“Every store sells Mean Girls T-shirts,” she noted, pointing out how her image, alongside co-stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Lacey Chabert, is routinely used in licensed merchandise. “I don’t know if it was because I was 17 and dumb or what,” she added, referencing her lack of awareness back then about the business side of Hollywood. Despite the missing cheques, Amanda says she still feels affection for the fan love. “I love it. Even the girl at TSA was like, ‘Mean Girls, my favourite movie,’ and I’m like, ‘Wait! I was 17. I had nothing to do with it,’” she joked.

This isn’t the first time Seyfried has reflected on her breakout role. Earlier this year, the now 39-year-old actress described working on the film as ‘unadulterated fun’ on a podcast. “It was, in many ways, a perfect movie,” she said, adding, “Any day, I’ll honour that movie for what it did for me as a person.”

Mean Girls continues to live on in pop culture, having been adapted into both a Broadway musical and a new 2024 film. But while the legacy stays strong, Amanda’s comments are a timely reminder that the business behind the nostalgia is often less fetch than it looks.