Milana Vayntrub is a familiar face to plenty of people, although most probably know her better as "Lily" from a decade of AT&T commercials. The actress became a spokesperson for the company back in 2013, and has portrayed the AT&T salesperson off and on throughout the years. Unfortunately, she has also faced a lot of commentary about her body over the past ten years, to the point of speaking out about it. Now, Vayntrub reveals that another actress known for her work in ads reached out to show some support.
After speaking out over the years about being the target of online harassment about her body, Vayntrub shed some more light in an interview with The New York Times (via Deadline). When the abuse that she received online was adding up, the AT&T actress spokesperson received a call from none other than Stephanie Courtney, a.k.a. "Flo" from the Progressive Insurance commercials. According to Vayntrub, Courtney was an empathetic listener who made her feel "like there were people on my team" when she being bombarded with negative attention.
Stephanie Courtney is certainly well known in the world of advertising, as she began portraying the character of Flo for the Progressive ads back in 2008 after roles in shows like Mad Men and Cavemen. In fact, Flo was included in Pete Davidson's "I'm Just Ken" Barbie parody when he hosted Saturday Night Live in the fall, prompting a fun response from the character. It's no wonder that Vayntrub getting an encouraging call from Courtney was helpful!
Vayntrub – who has appeared in projects including Werewolves Within, Die Hart, and NBC's This Is Us as well as her commercial work – returned as AT&T spokesperson in 2020 after some time off, but with some unwanted kinds of attention. There were enough remarks about her body that AT&T turned off comments on at least one social media post, and Vayntrub opened up about how she was "hurting" and "not consenting to any of this." At the time, AT&T released a statement in support, saying:
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.
The comments didn't stop there, sadly, and she shared in 2021 that she directed the most recent ads and began placing and dressing herself in certain ways because of the "thousands of unwelcome comments I receive about my body." The entire situation has impacted her career over the years in various ways, none of which she signed up for when she became a spokesperson for cell phone plans.
That's not to say her entire career is overshadowed by the commentary on her body. Just shy of one year after she glammed up to celebrate 2023, Milana Vayntrub had a short film to promote on Instagram. She both directed and starred in Pickled Herring, which premiered over the summer and continued to play across film festivals throughout the fall.
We can only hope that Milana Vayntrub is able to continue moving forward in her career without being constantly trolled about her appearance. At least she can count on the support of another spokeswoman, thanks to Stephanie Courtney!
