If you grew up from the 1990s on, chances are Disney Channel Original Movies (a.k.a. DCOMs) bring you all the childhood nostalgia. Hilary Duff got her own DCOM in the middle of her Lizzie McGuire fame in the form of Cadet Kelly. While it’s not officially classified as an LGBTQ+ movie, over the years a lot of people have been talking about their thoughts on the movie having a queer subtext, and Duff just addressed it.
2002’s Cadet Kelly follows the titular teenager (Duff) who gets sent off to military school. There she finds herself at odds with Cadet Captain Jennifer Stone (played by Christy Carlson Romano), especially when they start to fight for the attention of their common crush Cadet Major Brad Rigby (Shawn Ashmore). Here’s what Duff said about the TV film while revisiting it with Vanity Fair:
I don’t know if I should say this or not, but I know that like the internet had this big thing that went on about that this is like really like a lesbian love story. I’m just wondering why Disney didn’t wanna like follow up with [Cadet Kelly 2], because 100% this seems like it would've gone in a great direction for the sequel.
Over the past few years or so, the LGBTQ+ community has been talking on the internet about how they saw Cadet Kelly, and for a lot of young queer kids, they chose to see Kelly and Jennifer’s relationship as a lesbian love story in hiding. Given Disney’s history with queer representation in film, this likely wasn’t the intention of the movie, but enough people chose to read through the lines, that it’s in turn become an iconic movie for the gays.
In Hilary Duff’s interview, the singer and actor said she hadn’t watched the movie in awhile. But after seeing the dynamic between Kelly and Jennifer in one clip shown to her, she suggested that Cadet Kelly get a sequel that confirms its queer subtext.
Duff previously tried to work with Disney on a Lizzie McGuire revival, but her hopes to make the character “equally as real and relatable” in her 30s as her teen years led to some creative differences that resulted in the project dying. The fact that she talks about a sequel in past tense makes it sound like it could have been a good idea, but she's not necessarily expecting for it to happen now.
Back in 2022, Duff first shared her knowledge of Cadet Kelly’s LGBTQ+ significance. In her words to People:
I have to watch the movie again. No one has brought that to my attention except for Tien Tran on [How I Met Your Father] who plays Ellen. She was like, 'Oh my God. It is a moment in the queer community. All that close-talking with Jennifer. I didn't know that. But if it helped anybody, I hope so.
Her How I Met Your Father co-star, who is openly lesbian, apparently told Duff about Cadet Kelly while they were filming the sitcom (which was sadly cancelled in 2022 much to fans’ disdain). Along with Duff supporting a Cadet Kelly sequel, earlier this week she headlined her first concert in 18 years ahead of her album luck… or something coming out on February 20.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
