Barbie Ferreira is worried that the entertainment industry is going to move backward after recent strides in the body positive movement.
The model and actress has played Kat in Euphoria and Bailey in Unpregnant, which has made her a face of the plus-size community and a champion for improving representation on screen.
Other stars including Aidy Bryant (Shrill), Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), Danielle Macdonald (Dumplin') and Shannon Purser (Riverdale) have also spoken about Hollywood's beauty standards after starring in recent shows and films.
But Barbie is afraid the momentum won't last, telling Cosmopolitan she's worried "that it's not going to be ‘trendy' anymore," she said in an interview published on Wednesday, Sept. 30. "That brands are still going to find people who are the thinnest version possible of something."
Barbie has previously shared how she feels being asked about her body in every interview and conversation. "Because I'm bigger, I get asked about body positivity in everything I do, which is redundant," she told Vogue in July. "It's not helping to normalise things. Stepping into a career that has historically had rigid standards of beauty, people definitely projected me as this body-positive activist and I owned that in the beginning."
The 23-year-old repeatedly calls for the standards to be broken down and for different body types to be accepted.
She's not alone—earlier this month, Lizzo was on the cover of Vogue to "redefine the body-positivity movement," as the title read. "I think it's lazy for me to just say I'm body positive at this point," the "Truth Hurts" singer said. "It's easy. I would like to be body-normative. I want to normalize my body."
In her interview with Cosmo, Barbie moved on from the plus-size convo to open up about her role in the road trip comedy Unpregnant—also starring Haley Lu Richardson—which discusses abortion.
"Normalizing abortion is what we have to do," Barbie said. "Society puts this pressure on people who are getting abortions, that they should feel a lot of guilt and shame and really emotional about it. Most people are just relieved."
Most importantly, "it was really great not to talk about—or act out—my body for once," the H&M model added about her character.
She explained that as a member of Gen Z, spending her childhood online has affected how she views herself. "That had to do something to my brain," Barbie said. "I mean, I got crippling anxiety. A lot of depression issues, eating issues, paranoias, and just weird things that I'm one thousand percent certain are from the internet."
Barbie later shared a snapshot of her life in quarantine, revealing she got a stick-and-poke spiral tattoo on her butt, done by her girlfriend Elle Puckett (who is in the band Poema). "A spiral for my quarantine spiral," Barbie said.
Elle posted a pic of the couple kissing on Instagram this week with the caption, "true love's kiss, I'm shrek."
Barbie, meanwhile, posted her Cosmo cover on Instagram, writing, "oh boy!!! what a range of emotions this week. I hope you guys are taking care of yourselves."
Her show Euphoria was nominated for six Emmy Awards in September and took home three trophies, including Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series for Zendaya's role as Rue.