Monique Coleman says Disney "broke my heart" with the High School Musical 3 promotional tour

While the main leads of Disney’s teen opera High School Musical were Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens’ clique-crossed lovers Troy and Gabriella, the true stars of the film series were East High School’s chorus of side characters. One of those highlights was Taylor McKessie, Gabriella’s best friend and the school’s queen of academics, played by actor Monique Coleman. For the Gimme Mo’ producer, though, one negative experience with the musical franchise left her heartbroken, as she revealed recently while sitting in on former Disney star Christy Carlson Romano’s podcast Vulnerable.

During the podcast, Romano and Coleman’s conversation veered towards the one-time Suite Life Of Zack & Cody actor’s breakthrough role in High School Musical, with her revealing that Disney didn’t invite her to join the third film’s promotional tour.

“I feel safe to say this: Disney really broke my heart,” said Coleman. “When I got to the third movie, I really championed the film. I always spoke so positively, and I was a Black girl playing the smartest girl in school, which was a very big deal at that time. When it came to promoting the third movie, I wasn’t invited on the tour. They said something about there not being enough room on the plane and they only invited Zach [Efron], Vanessa [Hudgens], Ashley [Tisdale], and Corbin [Bleu]. Lucas [Grabeel] and I weren’t included.”

Detailing how she went into a “bit of depression” after the incident, Coleman described moving through her “heartbreak” by finding a balance between people’s love of her High School Musical character and her own self.

“To be in a position to where I had the wherewithal and to take that out into the world and say, ‘You know what? I’m not going to feel reduced to Taylor McKessie,’” said Coleman. “I’m gonna rise up and actually walk in the door and let people see me and connect this character that was their childhood with who Monique Coleman is and I’m gonna leave a message that lets you know that your dreams are also possible.”

Even though Coleman has a good reason to not want to work with the company again, it seems that the two have made amends. She recently teased her return to the franchise in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’ upcoming fourth season. While she’ll be playing a fictional version of herself (the meta series is about students at the high school where High School Musical was filmed), we will get to see a reunion between her and a few other past Wildcats.