The cheerful, charismatic actress Milana Vayntrub, popularly known as Lily in the AT&T commercials, has been enjoying a successful run of national commercials advertising the multinational communications company’s upgrade to 5G. Indeed, she’s garnered over 740,000 Instagram followers. However, Vayntrub confessed to her followers on Instagram Live recently that she’s experiencing a dark side to her fame.
“Maybe it just has to do with being a person on the Internet, or maybe it’s specific to being a woman on the Internet. But all of these comments … it hurts my feelings,” the 33-year-old actress revealed. In case there’s any confusion, she’s setting the record straight: “Let me tell you, I am not consenting to any of this. I do not want any of this,” she asserted.
Much to her dismay, some social media users have taken to posting photographs of Vayntrub adorned in bathing suits that were taken when she was amongst friends and people she trusted in her personal life. The unwelcome posts include objectifying memes on Twitter as well as explicit comments, and even distortions of photos featuring Vayntrub.
“The photos that have come out of me that are super-cleavage-y are from a pool party I went to in college over a decade ago,” she explained. “I’m reporting them all—honestly, it’s like there are so many more of them than I have time to report.”
“I’m hurting, and it’s bringing up, like, a lot of feelings of sexual assault,” the commercial star emphasized. “I am just like, you know, walking my dog and getting messages from people who have distorted my pictures to get likes on their accounts.”
Trying to contain the crude comments, AT&T replied to offensive posts, writing, “We don’t condone sexual harassment of employees in the workplace or on our social channels.”
But when nothing was deterring the flood of unacceptable, objectifying comments, AT&T finally shut down the comments on an Instagram post featuring Vayntrub. The company also stated:
“We will not tolerate the inappropriate comments and harassment of Milana Vayntrub, the talented actor that portrays Lily in our ads. We have disabled or deleted these comments on our social content that includes Lily and we will continue to fight to support her and our values, which appreciate and respect all women.”
Vayntrub has starred in AT&T commercials since 2013. In fact, she played Lily from 2013 through 2016 and returned for the role this year. The actress has also appeared in NBC’s This Is Us.
When an actor is cast in a national commercial, he or she becomes a public figure as opposed to a person who works as an accountant, waiter, or salesperson. Knowing your face will show up on countless commercials on both TV and on the Internet, have you ever paused before accepting such a highly visible role because you were concerned about images from your past possibly being leaked? Or have you ever received unwelcome personal comments in response to an ad you were featured in? Sadly, the more empowering aspects of social media come with a price tag of possible unwanted attention and negative publicity. In Vayntrub’s case, it came along with sexual harassment.
With this in mind, if a career in the entertainment industry is your dream, it’s wise to guard your private information as best you can.
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