Elaine Hendrix always knew her character Meredith was not the villain of ‘The Parent Trap.’ She’s glad the world’s finally caught up.

“The Parent Trap” character was portrayed as a villain in the 1998 movie. Buena Vista Pictures Elaine Hendrix played Meredith Blake in the 1998 Disney remake of “The Parent Trap. ” She recently went viral for a TikTok video that inspired people to think of Meredith in a new light.

Hendrix told Insider she “always believed” Meredith wasn’t really the villain and is glad TikTok agrees. Two-and-a-half decades after the release of Disney’s remake of “The Parent Trap” premiered, actor Elaine Hendrix is glad people are starting to see her character Meredith Blake in a different light. Hendrix recently went viral with a TikTok video, which has received over seven million views, and inspired people to question whether Meredith was really the villain she was portrayed as in the movie.

The video showed Hendrix opening a bottle of wine while on-screen text described the events in the movie from Meredith’s point of view. Hendrix posted the TikTok on On July 29, exactly 24 years after the movie premiered, but she’s had clear ideas about her character since the beginning. “Meredith Blake isn’t the villain, no way,” Hendrix told Insider.

“I always believed that. ” @elaine4animals Happy 24th Anniversary. #hesa10but #meredithblake #theparenttrap #wine #vinyard #elainehendrix #fyp ♬ Easy On Me – Adele  Hendrix understood her character from the very beginningIn “The Parent Trap,” Hendrix played a glamorous woman engaged to the father of 11-year-old identical twins Annie and Hallie, played by Lindsay Lohan, who were were separated at birth and each raised by one of their parents, meeting for the first time at a summer camp and then plotting to get their parents to reconcile.

Meredith is portrayed as the villain of the story who stands in the way of the family being reunited.  The actor noted that “by Disney standards,” her character was a “foil,” a device used in fiction where one character’s traits are exaggerated in order to enhance another character’s attributes. In this case, Meredith being portrayed as a villain would help a viewer root for the twins’ parents to reconcile.

But when she was preparing to play Meredith, Hendrix said she had to justify her behavior. “I just simply put forth the story from Meredith’s perspective. Everyone else is always saying that I’m trying to, you know, recast her as ‘not the villain’ and it’s like, no, I just simply put forth what I built for her,” she said.

Hendrix thinks the shift in perception is down to generations who grew up with the movie”I love that people love Meredith Blake,” Elaine Hendrix said. Buena Vista PicturesHendrix thinks people are now seeing “The Parent Trap” differently because many who loved the movie growing up are now at a similar age to her character. She said, “The millennial generation were the ones who were like, ‘No, I think we’re going to rethink Meredith here.

Because now that we are Meredith’s age, we want to be her. ‘” According to the Pew Research Center definition, the oldest millennials would have been approximately 17 years old when “The Parent Trap” came out, while the youngest millennials would have been only two years old. Hendrix believes fans of “The Parent Trap” now realize that Meredith was “just trying to get the bag, and had fabulous style while doing it,” forcing them to change their perspectives.

Hendrix feels like she is following the fans’ lead when it comes to reevaluating Meredith’s villainy because even though she never believed that Meredith was the villain, she let the viewers decide what they thought about her: “I’m glad people are agreeing with what I’ve known from the very beginning. ” @elaine4animals Wise words from @kurvykween_anji 🙏🏼🥂 #beablessing #champagne #amiextra #areyoubasic #elainehendrix ♬ original sound – Product reviewer/business prmo  “I love that people love Meredith Blake and love ‘The Parent Trap’ still. I’ve done over 150 individual TV and film productions and it’s still by far one of my most favorites and certainly one of the ones I’m most recognized for,” Hendrix said.

When asked why she believes the movie continues to resonate with fans, she said, “It has spanned generations. It spans classes, it spans genders, race, everything, and this movie just seems to be beloved by everyone. And that, to me, is really really special.

“Hendrix has posted several videos honoring “The Parent Trap” and Meredith, but even on videos unrelated to them, she receives comments from fans saying “I love you Meredith!” She told Insider that she “for sure” will do more videos relating to Meredith Blake, given it’s what many of her followers want to see. For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider’s Digital Culture team here. Read the original article on Insider.