Alexis Bledel played one of the most iconic teens for 7 years. This is her life now.

Two very different TV roles have solidified Alexis Bledel’s icon status over the years.

The first was as the model student and aspiring journalist Rory Gilmore in the 2000s classic Gilmore Girls, and the other as Emily Malek, the biologist-turned-vengeful-handmaid in Hulu’s award-winning series, The Handmaid’s Tale.

Having stepped back from The Handmaid’s Tale for its fifth season, which is premiering imminently, we’re taking a look back at the career of its biggest former star. 

Bledel as Rory Gilmore in 2000. Image: Warner Brothers. 

 Bledel shot to fame in her role as Rory in Gilmore Girls, which kicked off in 2000, when Bledel was just 19.

The show centred on Rory and her mother Lorelai, played by Lauren Graham, who had given birth to her daughter aged just 16.

The show was a major success, running for seven years and following Rory’s journey from high school into college, as well as Lorelai’s trials as she attempts to find lasting love and success in business.

While the show ended in 2007, the cast later returned for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, which comprised four feature-length episodes catching us up on the last decade of the characters' lives.

The series controversially ended with Rory announcing she was pregnant, leading fans to believe the series would continue after such a shocking ending. However, the next year, Bledel would debut her second iconic role when she appeared as Emily in The Handmaid’s Tale.

The gritty dystopia, which was based on Margaret Atwood's critically acclaimed novel of the same name, showed us a futuristic world where women are sorted into the roles of Wives, Marthas, Handmaids, and Jezebels, all forced to serve men who ruled a post-apocalyptic corner of the United States.

The character of Emily, who was introduced to us as a Handmaid, was instrumental across the first four seasons of the dystopian series, with Bledel’s character striking up a close friendship with the main character, June Osborne, played by Elisabeth Moss.

The two began the series as characters 'Ofglen' and 'Offred', two Handmaids assigned to carry children for their Commanders and their wives. As the episodes progressed, Emily starred in some poignant and challenging storylines, showing Bledel's true range as an actor.

"I’ve always tried to play characters that are as different from one another as I possibly could. I’ve been trying to find out what my wheelhouse is as an actor," she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017.

The performance would win her Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2017, and received two more nominations for the award in the following years.

But as she was starring in the award-winning show, Bledel was also focused on raising her son.

Bledel with Vincent Kartheiser in 2013. Image: Getty. 

Bledel has famously played her cards pretty close to her chest when it comes to her private life, but we've learned the odd detail here and there.

She dated Milo Ventimiglia, who also played her on-screen boyfriend in Gilmore Girls, Jess Mariano. The pair were together for four years, from 2003 until 2007, which appears to be Milo’s longest public relationship.

While Bledel kept her dating life private for the following six years, she later started dating actor Vincent Kartheiser after playing the mistress of his character, Pete Campbell, in a few episodes of Mad Men.

The pair got engaged in 2013, and married in 2014, but kept their relationship out of the public eye.

"It’s something I realised about the most important things in my life," Kartheiser said of their relationship in 2014. 

"If I share them with the world and open that door to their fuming anger that they need to get out or their adoration that they want to flaunt, it lessens it. It cheapens it, it weakens it," he explained.

They later welcomed their son in 2015, with her Gilmore Girls co-star, Scott Patterson, actually being the one to reveal her news.

"She's a proud new mother and married and happy," Patterson told Glamour. 

"We're comparing notes because my son is about a year and a half older than her young son. I'm showing her photos and videos and what to expect. We're just really enjoying each other's company," he shared.

With her family having grown, Bledel confirmed it had changed the way she viewed her work.

"More than anything, I just think about what roles I take on, and make sure that it’s really something that I feel passionate about if I’m going to leave home and go work," Bledel told Entertainment Tonight. 

"I just want to love what I’m doing."

However, Bledel and Kartheiser confirmed they had filed for divorce in August 2022, and finalised it in the same month.

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In May, Bledel announced she would be leaving the role of Emily in the fifth season of The Handmaid's Tale, which premieres in September, 2022.

"After much thought, I felt I had to step away from The Handmaid’s Tale at this time," she said in a statement released to USA Today. 

"I am forever grateful to Bruce Miller (show creator) for writing such truthful and resonant scenes for Emily, and to Hulu, MGM, the cast and crew for their support."

While Emily has now been written out of the show, early reviews of the new season hint that Miller seems to have left things open for her to come back if she chooses, rather than kill the character off. 

With season six being confirmed as the last for the series, we’ll be keeping an eye out and hoping for Bledel’s return - even if it’s just a cameo.

Feature Image: Getty/Warner Brothers/Hulu/Mamamia.