Madelaine Blossoms

MADELAINE PETSCH went from working as an assistant to international stardom in a matter of weeks. She tells Susannah Guthrie how shes coping with the whiplash...

- Susannah Guthrie

When teen drama Riverdale first hit Netflix in January 2017, some good friends recommended I watch it.

I’d seen Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse all over my Instagram feed, so was aware of their burgeoning fame, but my mates suggested there was an entirely different incentive to tune in.

‘Madelaine Petsch, the girl who plays Cheryl Blossom, she’s killer. She steals the show,’ they told me. They were dead right.

Flash forward one year, six months and two seasons and I’m telling this to Madelaine herself, as she gets her nails painted Blossom-red for filming on the smash-hit show’s third season.

‘Oh my God,’ she says, sounding legitimately emotional. ‘That’s the cutest story I’ve ever heard, thank you! I feel honoured.’

The 24-year-old is an electric presence as Cheryl, the twin sister of murdered teen Jason Blossom, whose death kicks off the entire series. Based on the Archie comic books made popular in the 1940s, the show follows a bunch of crime-fighting teens as they navigate life in a small American town gripped by murder, mystery, and occult-related drama.

Cheryl is easily the most multi-faceted character in the series. Her family is royally deranged, she flits between satanic and sweet, and she’s one of the few bisexual characters on mainstream television. At the end of season two, we saw Cheryl acquire a new lease on life after being busted out of an asylum, attacked by a masked assailant and threatened by her own mother.

Unlike her on-screen alter ego, Madelaine is living life large right now. When we meet, she’s just clocked 10 million followers on Instagram, a figure that puts her in an exclusive club inhabited by stars like Margot Robbie, Miranda Kerr and Blake Lively.

‘It was quite a shock! Who would have thought!?’ she asks melodically.