Barbie Ferreira addresses ‘backhanded compliments’

Barbie Ferreira is finding her light. Before her groundbreaking role as Kat Hernandez in HBO’s Euphoria, the model and mental health advocate posed for several labels including Aeria, Adidas and American Apparel. Now that she’s a rising star, she is using her platform to drive important discussions about unrealistic beauty standards in the fashion industry.
In a recent interview with Who What Wear, the actress opens up about feeling pressure to be “this person who ‘loves themselves” simply because she’s a plus-sized model. “It’s so funny that people just assume that,” she said. “What – did I say that? I never said that. You guys just say that. You posted that on me.”
In Euphoria’s second season, Ferreira had the opportunity to explore her feelings. In the second episode, Kat has a dreamlike sequence where a group of female self-love influencers – those who are deemed ‘perfect’ by social media standards – invade her thoughts while screaming ‘Love yourself!’ until she has a meltdown. The scene is a metaphor about the negative affects toxic positivity online has on young people already experiencing anxiety – something that personally resonates with Ferreira.
“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,” Ferreira said. “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.”