Gabby Windey Didn’t Want To ‘Look Like Ellen DeGeneres’ As A Closeted Teen— Her New Horror Series ‘The Body’ Gets That

Gabby Windey says Netflix’s teen horror series *The Body* captures the uncertainty queer girls faced in the early 2000s, when visible lesbian representation was limited. She felt the story offered the kind of nuanced, varied portrayals she would have welcomed as a closeted teenager.

Set at a Catholic school in 2004, the series follows an elite dance team after a new member’s initiation goes wrong; Windey plays their coach. She and actress Sara Boustany say the show’s characters reflect creator Quinn Shephard’s own feelings about not wanting to be defined by the era’s most familiar lesbian public figure, Ellen DeGeneres. Windey, who came out publicly in 2023 and married comedian Robby Hoffman in 2025, says the story is about being “hot and gay” as well as coming out.