Tina Fey recently revealed that she was the main inspiration behind comedy's ultimate Mean Girl: Regina George.

According to an interview with Net-a-Porter's The Edit, Fey admitted, “I was [the Mean Girl], I admit it openly.”

Fey goes on to examine why she chose to relentlessly bully those around her, saying it was largely a “coping mechanism” for her own insecurities. She said, "That was a disease that had to be conquered. It’s another coping mechanism – it's a bad coping mechanism – but when you feel less than (in high school, everyone feels less than everyone else for different reasons), in your mind it's a way of leveling the playing field. Though of course it’s not.”

Fey continued, saying she used comedy in general as a coping mechanism, too: "For me it was about hitting age 13 and realizing, 'OK, I'm not going to glide by on looks. I'm a normal-looking person, but that's not going to be where my bread is buttered.'"

But Fey says she’s since learned from her past, realizing that “saying something terrible about someone else does not actually level the playing field.”

The 30 Rock actress also admits that the Regina Georges of the world remain terrifying, no matter how old you get. She said, “If I meet a girl of 14 or 15 today who is that kind of girl, I am secretly, in my body, afraid. Even though I’m 45."

Read the full interview over on Net-a-Porter.

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