Lacey Chabert "learned so much" during her days of child stardom.
Mean Girls star Lacey Chabert was just 11 years old when she landed her first major role
The 41-year-old actress had played minor roles in US soap opera 'All My Children' and appeared alongside Bette Midler in a television adaptation of the musical 'Gypsy' by the time she was cast as one of the leads in the long-running drama series 'Party of Five' in 1994 but didn't really "understand" what it meant to land such a big job at the time.
She told Us Weekly: "I learned so much being on set and really grew up. I went through a lot of firsts, like, kind of every first that a girl from 11 to 17 can go through. And a lot of times [whatever] it was hadn’t yet happened for me in real life — or it was a first time — and, you know, there was so much reality to it.
"I didn’t understand the scope of what it really meant to be on a television show. just knew I loved acting and telling stories, and I got to do that with this incredible group of people who I loved hanging out with."
In the years since finding fame, Lacey - who starred in her now-signature role as Gretchen Wieners in 'Mean Girls' in 2004 alongside Lindsay Lohan and prior to that briefly voiced the character of Meg Griffin in 'Family Guy' - has become a mainstay of Hallmark's Christmas television movies and is now hosting the party planning reality show 'Celebrations with Lacey Chabert' for the network.
She said: "They also feature a lot of DIY and things that you could do at home. So the audience will have a lot of takeaways there as well. So it’s a feel good celebration."
Tagged in Bette Midler Lindsay Lohan Lacey Chabert