Unveiling the Rift between Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi
Benanti's Initial Dislike for Levi
Laura Benanti, at 45 years old, openly expressed her distaste for Zachary Levi, who is 44. She recalled how everyone around seemed to praise Levi, but she had a different perspective. "He's not great at all. He's constantly sucking up all the energy in the room, trying to mansplain everyone's parts," she said. This initial dislike set the tone for their interactions.Benanti's aversion to Levi was not just a one-time occurrence. It permeated their time together on the set. She found Levi's attempts to dominate the energy with his dance party ideas unappealing. "He really tried to get the cast to do a dance party every night. I had no interest in that. It was just not my thing," she added. This difference in preferences created a rift between them.
Levi's Handling of Gavin Creel's Death
The death of their fellow costar Gavin Creel on September 30 at the age of 48 due to metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma was a tragic event. Creel was diagnosed just months prior in July. However, Levi's response to this tragedy greatly upset Benanti.During an October Instagram Live following Creel's death, Levi implied that Creel died as a result of the COVID vaccine, according to Deadline. This act of using Creel's memory for his political agenda was deeply offensive to Benanti. "For him to do that, to use a person he wasn't even friends with in such a way, it was beyond unacceptable. Watching him try to make himself cry with that one single tear that he didn't wipe away, I was furious," she expressed.
Benanti believes that Levi's conservative views will actually benefit him in the future. "Everyone thinks it's career suicide, but it's not. Christian, faith-based TV and film is huge. He's going to be a huge star in that realm. It makes me sick, but also a bit of a 'I told you so,'" she said.
Representatives for Levi did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment, leaving the story with many unanswered questions.