Mean Girls is actually based on a true story

Mean Girls is back, and this time in musical form. But did you know that the initial idea for the movie came from real people?

Mean Girls is inviting you to wear pink and sit with them at lunch once more, as a musical adaptation is now heading to the big screen.

Based on the 2004 movie by Tina Fey, and also having been written by Tina Fey, the Tony-nominated musical hit Broadway back in 2018, though its 833 show run was sadly cut short as a product of the global constrictions in 2021.

Mean Girls has taken many forms over the past couple of decades, including a movie, a musical, and, of course, a movie musical. But did you know that the Lindsey Lohan 2004 film was not the origin of the Mean Girls story? There’s actually a large slice of truth within the tale…

Mean Girls is based on a book that’s based on real people

Mean Girls is based on a 2002 non-fiction book, titled Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World. The book was written by Rosalind Wiseman, and based on real teens from National Cathedral School, a private girls’ middle school in Washington.

As the description for the book’s third edition reads: “More than twenty years ago, Queen Bees and Wannabes let parents inside the secret world of their adolescent daughters’ female relationships, giving us a new vocabulary for these fickle social dynamics as well as invaluable strategies for helping our daughters navigate them. Since then, nationally recognized thought leader and speaker Rosalind Wiseman has interviewed and listened to thousands of girls talk about the powerful role cliques play in shaping what they wear and say, how they respond to boys, and how they feel about themselves.

“This fully revised and greatly updated edition of this parenting classic now reflects the pressures unique to today’s girls – including the role that social media and gender as a spectrum play in adolescent life. With input and stories from dozens of girls experiencing these dynamics today, Wiseman takes readers into ‘Girl World’ to analyze teasing, gossip, and reputations; beauty and fashion; alcohol and drugs; boys and sex; and more, plus how cliques play a role in every situation.”

Obviously, the phrase “Girl World” will no doubt flash you into the universe of Mean Girls, as Tina Fey took a lot of the social dynamics and lingo present in the book and projected them onto the characters of the movie. Fey also drew from her own experiences in Upper Darby High School for inspiration, along with her observations of Evanston Township High School, which the film’s fictional North Shore High School is based on.

There’s a lot about Mean Girls that teenagers can relate to in real life, such as talking behind friends’ backs, social dynamics in large groups, and even feeling like a bullied outcast. A columnist for the Washington Post even wrote a piece back in 2014 about her school being featured in the original book, stating: “I am not one of the actual documented mean girls — not a Queen Bee or Wannabee or even a Floater, moving contentedly from group to group. But I am in the book. I wrote a poem about beauty that shows up at the end of the chapter called ‘The Beauty Pageant’. It is every bit as heartfelt and awkward as you would expect.”

Last year, Rosalind Wiseman actually came to legal disputes with Tina Fey and Paramount over residual pay, telling the New York Post, “We have reached out to Paramount to have things be more equitable, but Paramount is not interested in that.” This is due to her only getting the initial pay for signing over the book rights back in 2002, and allegedly not receiving her dues for the musical or the upcoming movie.

Mean Girls will be available in US cinemas on January 12, and UK cinemas on January 17. Read more of our Mean Girls movie coverage here. And for more of our regular TV and movie coverage, click here.