Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders breakout star Faith Ward reflected on being confronted over her past on social media before making the team.
During season 3 of Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Ward, 23, had a stern conversation with DCC director Kelli Finglass about “unflattering pictures” she was tagged in when she was a teenager.
“It was hard to watch, I’m not going to lie,” Ward exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, June 23. “In the moment, I was just, like, fight or flight. I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, this is my dream and I don’t want it to be taken from me from something that I know I’ve grown so much from.’”
One picture showed Ward and a friend partying with the caption: “Us after 1 sip of a vodka redbull.” Another photo appeared to show Ward attempting to drink from a vodka bottle.
“I’m just a girl who’s in her 20s, trying to navigate life on the other side of the world,” the New Zealand native said. “I do have to give myself grace at the end of the day and remind myself that I have learned a lot and grown a lot since the age of 18. We’re all young and we want to participate and be cool and be in TikTok trends.”
Despite the stern warning from Finglass, Ward has been able to find “value in that scene.”
“Young girls can watch that and realize that this is a learning thing,” she explained. “You don’t need to post every single part of your life online. There is a thing called a digital footprint, Faith! I learned a lot from that.”
Ward also has no lingering resentment toward Finglass, 61, or DCC choreographer Judy Trammell for confronting her on camera.
“I think they definitely had a point,” she acknowledged. “I took that as good feedback and them wanting to help me grow in my profession. I know it’s constructive criticism. I’m learning and growing all the time.”
When it comes to her experience on social media now, Ward admitted that it’s been a bit of an adjustment as a public figure.
“I think people think of us as characters,” she said. “But there’s so much more to us. We’re actually real humans that have feelings. I was definitely someone that went into his job and was like, ‘I have the thickest skin. I’m gonna be able to deal with the hate and block it out.’ But then it happens to you and you’re like, ‘Oh wait, this actually does sting.’”
Ward added, “I do obviously care about what people think, but I’ve also learned from this job that I need to separate those categories and remind myself to either be educational or just to block it out, because it’s not worth the time.”
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is available to stream now.
