A little positivity goes a long way! Lauren Ash has no regrets about showing her truest self on social media — no matter what the trolls have to say.
The Superstore actress, 36, who spoke out about body positivity online after a bikini photo she posted in July 2019 went viral, told Us Weekly exclusively on Thursday, January 30, that the responses she received were overwhelmingly supportive.
“It’s 99.999 percent positive. I am so lucky,” the actress told Us at the Casting Society of America’s Artios Awards in Beverly Hills. “It’s bizarre, almost, how lucky I am that I don’t get a lot of trolling and the odd time I do, you just wait and watch because the fans … They take out the trash for you, you know what I mean?”
Embracing her body for what it is has taught Ash about the ways in which society puts an unfair amount of pressure on women to always behave or look a certain way.
“I was like, you know what? In 20 years, I’m going to — I’m sure — envy the body that I have now. I look fabulous and it’s important to celebrate,” the Canada native explained. “I was shocked at the outpouring I got from people … it made me realize how much women, especially, want that community. I think we’ve been programmed from birth to be a certain way — to be demure, to be polite, and to be nice and to not be boastful or braggadocios in all of these things — and it leads to this kind of tragedy. Women spend so much time hating what they look like.”
The Second City alum previously admitted to Us that “being in the public eye and seeing yourself on film and in photographs” can have a significant impact on the way you view yourself. However, Ash — who wrote in her social media post last year about only speaking about herself and others in positive ways — won’t let anything shake her confidence and hopes that her followers follow her lead.
“Women literally [were] like, ‘I needed to hear this today, you’re so right, this is important, I need to think about the things about myself that I love,'” the actress told Us. “So it’s been a beautiful thing, it really has, and it’s nice to feel that connection again. I feel like women want that connection and community.”
Ash found a supportive community after opening up about her experience with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in July 2018. When a Twitter user implied that fat people “simply choose to be overweight,” the actress slammed the troll’s rebuke against “thin privilege.”
“Love that people are acting like the concept of ‘thin privilege’ is new and doesn’t exist,” Ash tweeted at the time. “I think the ‘privilege’ word is what people may be finding problematic. But to suggest that people ‘choose’ to be fat is offensive and simply untrue.”
Ash followed up with another tweet, writing, “As someone who has been told by multiple doctors regarding my #PCOS and weight loss, ‘I’m sorry, you’re basically just screwed,’ I really get my back up about this.”
Again, Ash saw a wave of positive responses from women just like her, thanking her for sharing her story about the hormonal disorder and making Ash feel like opening up was “one of the best things” she ever did.
