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Euphoria's Barbie Ferreira calls out "backhanded compliments" about her body

4 February 2022, 14:20

Barbie Ferreira opens up about Kat’s “self love” scene in episode 2

By Katie Louise Smith

“It’s not radical for me to be wearing a crop top. [Comments like those are] just backhanded compliments."

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Euphoria's Barbie Ferreira is opening up about the "backhanded compliments" she receives on social media about her body.

Before bringing Kat Hernandez to our screens in the hit HBO series, Barbie Ferreira was best known for being a model, often appearing in campaigns including the viral un-retouched #AerieREAL, and in web series such as Teen Vogue's body positive Body Party.

In an interview with Who What Wear, Barbie has now opened up about the pressure that comes with the idea of “being this person who ‘loves themselves'" and how she feels about it.

“It’s so funny that people just assume that," she told the outlet. "What—did I say that? I never said that. You guys just say that. You posted that on me.”

Barbie Ferreira calls out "backhanded compliments" about her body. Picture: @barbieferreira via Instagram, HBO via Alamy

Touching on the comments she receives from fans and people on social media, she continued: “It’s not radical for me to be wearing a crop top. [Comments like those are] just backhanded compliments. I’ve been doing this since I was 16. I’m 25.”

Barbie also added: "I think bigger bodies are not as 'trendy' as they used to be, which is really sad to me," Barbie also added. "But it's more of a conversation of the fact that we all struggle with self-love, and I don't think any young person has really figured it out yet."

Speaking about Kat's storyline in Euphoria, Barbie also said: “I feel like I had a lot of things come up emotionally because of the pandemic, and putting some of that into this season was therapeutic for me. I hope other people [watching] can also feel the same way and release the pressure of being perfect and happy all the time. Because that just doesn’t exist.”

Barbie Ferreira explains Kat’s cam-girl storyline on ‘Euphoria’

Barbie previously opened up about Kat's "self-love" scene in a behind-the-scenes interview discussing season 2, episode 2.

In the episode, Kat is confronted with a whole host of influencers who are telling her to "love herself," and "smash all beauty standards". The scene reflects the suffocating nature of social media and toxic positivity.

"For me, it was very personal because I have this expectation to be this confident person, which I have to say, I'm not very confident at all," Barbie said. "There's this false perspective on me that just because I'm a bigger person, in like a world of thinner people, that I have to be really confident."