Most of us were introduced to the iconic Liz Gillies when she starred in Victorious as Jade West, the defining goth goddess of our time. She raised the comedic bar for children’s television, sparked countless queer girl awakenings, mastered the art of the layered and likable female “villain,” and shaped entire personalities *cough* mine. Thank heavens today’s youth still get to experience the Jade effect via Netflix.

Excellent news: According to Liz, Jade is thriving in her 30s. The actress sees her beloved character as a talented tattoo artist who owns her own shop now. “Beck comes into the shop now and again, but they have a baby, and I actually think he’s kind of home with the baby a little more than her,” she says. “I think the two of them take the baby into the salon and the baby’s indie and dresses really cute.” I love this life for them. 

Like theoretical modern-day Jade, Liz is in a peaceful era these days. She says she’s most likely to grow vegetables, make flower arrangements, and get into small fights with her “Roomba guy.” (She lives for a quality cleaning sesh with her Dyson.) In addition to enjoying her serene domestic life, Liz is busy working on exciting projects. She executive produced and stars in the new Tubi movie, Spread, which follows an aspiring journalist who reluctantly takes a job at a failing adult magazine and winds up thriving there. I’m pulling a Rolling Stone and giving the feminist comedy “Instant Classic” status – that phrase accurately describes the Liz Gillies touch. 

As a fangirl who was raised on Victorious, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, the Dynasty reboot, and Liz’s 50,000 Zach Sang interviews, I was quaking in her presence. “I always am myself, so, take it or leave it,” Liz said during our chat. She joked, “You’re like, ‘Leave it.’” I epically failed to play it cool and within .2 seconds replied, “No, absolutely not! I am definitely taking it.” 

Please join me in welcoming Elizabeth Egan Gillies into the Hall of Betches. 

HALL OF BETCHES INDUCTION:

LIZ GILLIES

Congratulations on Spread! I loved it. It’s hilarious. What drew you to the project, and did you have to audition? 

Thank you! I didn’t have to audition. I was sent that script towards the end of Dynasty and it made me laugh. I got through it so easily. I sometimes don’t even finish an entire script when they’re sent to me just because either I get bored or I realize immediately it’s not for me. But this script, I found it so funny and refreshingly, maybe unserious in a lot of ways. I think we just don’t laugh enough anymore.

And feminist!

Yes, very feminist. Goes without saying. Everything I do sort of has that underlying tone.

Definitely. In Spread, your character lies to get a job at The Sophisticate. Have you ever lied to get a job?

Before the internet when everything was on paper, there was a special skills section of your resume and I would put everything, horseback riding, gymnastics. I could do like 12 flips… I figured if they hired me, I would figure it out quickly. Fun fact about me is I have a really hard time lying. Actually, I’m a really bad liar, which has been its own issue for me in my life. So I never lied beyond exaggeration to get a job. Let’s just say that.

So, this is true… I’ve always said you’re my personality icon.

Aw.

Do you have a personality icon? Someone you look up to for their sense of humor or just like their charm?

Jean Smart in Hacks and outside of Hacks. I am such a big fan of hers. I look up to her a lot and I think that we have a lot in common. Karen Walker from Will & Grace maybe too. Unfortunately, Valerie Cherish from The Comeback. I have a lot. 

Who’d be at your dream dinner party, alive or dead?

Yo, that’s nuts. My dream dinner party alive or dead? Give me some of yours.

You’d be there.

Oh my God, well, you don’t have to wait until I’m dead. We can go to dinner. 

And Chappell, Sabrina, Ariana, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo…

I’ll come to your dinner. This sounds fun. You know who would be at my dinner for sure? Peggy Lee would be at my dinner party. Oh, there’s so many people. Maybe just like, John Lennon. We mix it up with some dead artists and then maybe we add in your alive people.

Which would you say was harder – filming the “thank u, next” music video with a giant spider bite or trying to channel a rat for “the boy is mine” music video?

That’s a really good question. That’s a deep cut with the spider bite, definitely. I always have a rat impersonation ready to go. I’m very in tune with the rats, especially being in New York City, the rats of Manhattan. They’re everywhere. 

They’re inspiration.

I haven’t seen one today and I hope that changes. But no, filming the “thank u, next” music video with what turned out to be a staph infection from a spider bite and a giant chin… luckily I packed it with makeup against the doctors orders, and we got it done. But that was harder because you want to look your best when you’re going to be in a music video, let alone a– 

– a little indie artist’s music video.

A little indie artist. That was tough. They did take care of me, but my chin is much bigger than when it is in real life in that video. But the most embarrassing thing about the Mean Girls dance that we did, I didn’t realize everyone was slapping their boots for that, and I was slapping my thighs. Once we were done, I was like, “Does anyone else have these huge bruises on their thighs?” And they were like, “What are you talking about, Liz?” And then they’re like, “We’re slapping our boots.” And I was like, “Oh,” and I had welts on my inner thighs for a week.

You sacrificed a lot for that video.

I sacrificed so much. Could have been my life if I didn’t get an antibiotic, too.

Who would you like to play you in a movie about your life, and what would the movie be called?

The movie would be called Is That All There Is? Hopefully it would happen after my passing, otherwise I would probably just micromanage it and it would be really bad. I don’t know how the math would work, but I would hire Lindsay Lohan. Back in the day, people used to say we resembled each other and we look like long lost sisters.

I actually really see that. What is your weirdest obsession?

Miniatures. I love miniatures. Rats are weird. I do like them. This didn’t come from the video. I’ve been vocal about rats for a while. Other than that, I have trinket boxes in my house too. I love collecting strange little things and little sculptures. My husband just bought me what appears to be a pigraffe for my birthday. It’s a pig giraffe sculpture that we found in the store with zebra on the bottom.

I wonder if that’s ever been done before.

It’s the first, which is why I own it.

Okay, Fuck, Marry, Kill: Victorious, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, Dynasty.

Great question. I’ll fuck Sex & Drugs because it wants me to. I have to marry Victorious because it’s my first. And I’m going to kill Dynasty, not because I don’t love it, but just because of the way the first two rolled out. Listen, think about the worlds we’d be living in. One is happy. It’s comedic. It’s beloved by so many generations now. And the other is a lot of drama and conflict and it’s newer. So I have to go with my first husband, which is Victorious.

Valid. 

But I still love Dynasty. I’ll have an affair with Dynasty.

What’s your biggest fashion regret from your teenage years?

Well, anytime I tried to be trendy, that was really a failure for me. I think layering black clothing was such a weird thing I did constantly. I would just layer as many black clothing items as I could on top of each other. And sometimes you lose the plot at a certain point.

I remember early on I went to a premiere and I wore a dress, and there was no lining underneath. It was pulled up. Ya know when you get into a dress quickly and you have to pull down the slip underneath? And I remember being so upset because even though you can’t really tell in the pictures, I knew that I was semi-exposed and I got really, really upset about that. But it’s more about poses. There are poses I deeply regret more than choices.