Madelaine Petsch Covers Rollacoaster Magazine Spring/Summer 2022 in OMEGA

You probably recognise Madelaine Petsch from her role as the crimson-haired bombshell Cheryl Blossom in Riverdale. Currently filming Season 6, the character has been evolving on our screens for over five years - traversing girlhood, going from insecure bully to a woman confident in her own skin, coming out as gay and dealing with a lack of acceptance from her family, conversion therapy, processing trauma, the list goes on - Cheryl Blossom is character development in its truest form. Petsch speaks compassionately of her character when she sits down with Rollacoaster - “I almost feel like we grew up together, and in a sense I guess we did”. 

It was indeed Petsch who realised that Cheryl was gay, and the collaborative nature of the show gave her the freedom to take that to the producers. The fan response was amazing: she received messages from young viewers all over the world saying how affirming it was to see their experience of coming out, and not being accepted for it, portrayed on a mainstream Netflix show. But make no mistake, there’s a lot more to Petsch than just Cheryl Blossom. She’s just completed her production debut, Jane, a psychological thriller which she also stars in and has an active youtube channel, which boasts 6.83 million subscribers.

We caught up with the star to talk about filming the latest Riverdale season, her own experience of anxiety and how that inspired her to work on Jane, and how she manages to stay grounded through it all.