Molly Ringwald is setting the record straight on the label that followed her and her peers for decades. Speaking at a Breakfast Club reunion panel at MegaCon Orlando in February 2025, the actress expressed frustration with the term 'Brat Pack', coined by journalist David Blum in 1985. "I think it kind of in a way minimized the work that we were doing," she admitted.
The Lasting Impact of the 'Brat Pack' Label
While the term grouped together young actors from films like Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, and Pretty in Pink, Ringwald and others, like Andrew McCarthy, have long resented it. McCarthy told PEOPLE in 2024, "We were just in the right place at the right time and represented that seismic change in pop culture."
David Blum’s Perspective
David Blum, who introduced the term in a New York Magazine article, later reflected on its impact. In a 2024 Vulture piece, he admitted, "Nothing prepared me for the firestorm of attention that resulted." Featured in McCarthy’s documentary Brats, Blum defended his work, saying, "I was just doing my job as a journalist."
While the Brat Pack label remains a part of 1980s Hollywood history, Ringwald and her contemporaries continue to push back against the idea that it defined their careers.
