Tragic Details About Lily From AT&T

Since her first appearance as Lily in a 2013 AT&T commercial, Milana Vayntrub has starred in dozens of spots for the telecommunications company. Similarly to Flo from Progressive, Allstate's Mayhem, and Jan from Toyota, the actor was a beloved spokesperson that became synonymous with the brand as she advised customers about the latest deals.

While she initially was only meant to appear in one AT&T commercial, Valerie Vargas, senior vice president of content creation for the company, told Adweek in July 2016 that Vayntrub's character was too successful to discontinue. "The first spot was so successful for us that we thought, let's do another one and then another one and then another one. It was so well-received that we kept bringing her back," she explained. After the character of Lily was given a break in 2017, Vayntrub pitched the idea of her spokesperson's return in 2020 and directed many of the spots herself from home during the pandemic. Initially, this seemed like a great idea that would bring the comedian's work more attention as she quarantined at home. However, it turned out to be both a blessing and a curse for the actor, who had already endured a lifetime of tragic events.

From her early years as a refugee to the unfortunate circumstances she faced during her career — not to mention the countless crude online comments directed toward Vayntrub — these are the tragic details about Lily from AT&T.

Back in 1989, Milana Vayntrub was a toddler refugee who fled Uzbekistan with her parents in search of a better life. Like many Jewish people from the former Soviet Union, the family sought out the American dream in hopes of leaving religious persecution behind. In speaking with NBC News in November 2016, Vayntrub explained, "There was a lot of discrimination against the Jews at that time. Both my parents were born there but we were considered outsiders." Fortunately, the actor had extended family already living in Los Angeles, who helped them finally settle in West Hollywood.

Vayntrub, who was only 3 years old when she came to the U.S., spent the rest of her childhood in WeHo while her parents worked odd jobs. "My mom worked in a factory that manufactured airplane parts and cleaned medical buildings at night, all while completing a program offered by the Jewish Federation to become a registered nurse at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. And my dad, he worked as a donut deliveryman," she told InStyle. Eventually, Vayntrub's parents split and her dad returned to Uzbekistan to start his own company. While most people probably couldn't even imagine enduring such a tumultuous childhood, the actor looks back on her upbringing fondly — and she attributes the experiences she had in her early years as the reason for pursuing her career. "This is why I do comedy, because I've had such a weird childhood," she told Esquire.

It isn't uncommon for child stars to get into show business to help support their parents. Unfortunately, some actors have had to become the breadwinners in their families to avoid catastrophe, like Bella Thorne, Melissa Joan Hart, and Milana Vayntrub. "It started because we were really poor and ... someone was like, 'You should put her into commercials, and then she can pay for her own college,'" she revealed on the "Box Angeles" podcast. Her mother entered her into a beauty pageant at Disneyland when she was 5 years old and she won, resulting in the young star signing with her first agent.

From there, she caught the acting bug and began appearing in Barbie commercials. There's no doubt that Vayntrub felt some amount of pressure to help out her family, but fortunately, she truly loved what she was doing.The star told Esquire about her first big role coming at just 8 years old. "I was on the first season of 'ER.' I played Tatiana, a little Russian girl with AIDS who Julianna Margulies tried to adopt. It was also Season 1 with George Clooney and he was amazing," Vayntrub shared. She went on to explain how much she and her mom loved the actor and would try to get him to come over for dinner — unfortunately, to no avail.

Since her teen years as a bored high schooler, 'AT&T girl' Milana Vayntrub has had quite the transformation. She appeared in a number of television shows, including "Days of Our Lives" and "Lizzie McGuire"; however, around the age of 12, the actor took a step back from performing. "I just kind of stopped for a while because I didn't think I wanted to do it. I stopped around middle school and high school because I remember thinking, 'I should probably focus on something more realistic,'" Vayntrub told Esquire.

Instead, the young actor set her sights on a career as an artist. As Vayntrub explained while on the "Box Angeles" podcast, "I wanted to be a painter or a graphic designer, like art was way more my thing." She had completely given up her dreams of acting, and hadn't even been involved in any of her school's drama productions because she thought they weren't very good. While attending Beverly Hills High School, where she surely would've been surrounded by countless aspiring performers, Vayntrub's grades were suffering and she ultimately decided to drop out after her sophomore year. "I didn't like it that much," she added.

Fortunately, this gave her the opportunity to explore other options, as she trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade in improv, got her GED, attended community college, where her grades improved, and graduated from UC San Diego with a degree in communication.

There's a reason AT&T's Milana Vayntrub looks so familiar. As her career hit an upward trajectory in the 2010s, she went from starring in short films to television shows and even dabbled in directing. Vayntrub scored roles in shows like "Silicon Valley" and "This Is Us" before it was announced in 2017 she would be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a live-action series, "New Warriors." The show would have introduced viewers to Vayntrub as Doreen Green (aka Squirrel Girl), but the series tragically never came to be.

It was originally meant to air on Freeform, but when the network passed on the project, there were rumblings that "New Warriors" would be available for streaming on Disney+, which had yet to debut. When the plug was pulled on the series, showrunner Kevil Biegel alleged that a homophobic executive had been behind the cancellation, claiming the show was "too gay" (via Gizmodo).

Vayntrub still got to hold on to part of her newfound character, as she went on to voice Squirrel Girl in a couple animated miniseries, including "Marvel Rising: Initiation." While speaking with The Marvel Report at WonderCon in April 2019, Vayntrub revealed how much she'd grown to love her character, saying, "When I am voicing her, I genuinely feel so connected to her in the cheesiest way possible. I feel like Squirrel Girl is not just my spirit animal, she is like my spirit."

In 2020, when Milana Vayntrub made her return to television for AT&T as her beloved character Lily, there was no way for her to predict the devastation that was coming her way. Everyone was still adapting to life in the pandemic, and while many enjoyed seeing their favorite spokesperson in her new setting as a work from home sales person, others were more focused on her body. Vayntrub's breasts became a major part of the discourse, and commenters began crudely referring to her as "Mommy Milkers."

Before long, enough internet users had made disturbing and inappropriate comments about the actor on Instagram that AT&T had to step in. "We don't condone sexual harassment of employees in the workplace or on our social channels," the company wrote (via The New York Times). However, this did nothing to dissuade the harassment. In August 2020, Vayntrub shared her distress in an Instagram Live video, saying, "I do not want any of this. ... I'm hurting and it's bringing up, like, a lot of feelings of sexual assault."

As Vayntrub told The New York Times in December 2023, she at least had a fellow actor on her side, as Stephanie Courtney, aka Flo from Progressive, reached out to support her. However, the media's portrayal of Vayntrub's sexual harassment didn't help, as her Instagram video was deemed to be a desperate plea. "Like I was begging a lover to not walk out on me into the pouring rain," she said.

While the comments Milana Vayntrub received were objectifying and cruel — and she had, of course, done nothing to deserve the treatment — she was in a fortunate position as the director of the new AT&T commercials. The comedian continued to appear as Lily in several spots, but often from behind a desk or using tighter shots of just her shoulders up. It was clear Vayntrub was determined to not let the sexual harassment deter her from excelling in the role.

In a March 2021 tweet, the actor addressed the questions regarding Lily no longer showing her full body in AT&T ads, writing, "I direct the ads. I place myself like that. And it's because of the thousands of unwelcome comments I receive about my body. You've lost the privilege of looking at it until I feel safe again." While the responses unfortunately included a handful of derogatory comments, the post also received a ton of praise for Vayntrub's inspiring ability to stand up for herself.

During a July 2021 interview with Business Insider, Vayntrub shared, "Just by showing up to do my job, I received unwanted sexual and violent comments about my body and what people want to do to it." Vayntrub explained that going forward, she had to consider everything from the amount of skin she showed to acting in any sort of sexual scene, saying, "I'm unfortunately always thinking about it."

Before Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, making it incredibly difficult for many women to receive abortion treatment in the United States, there were warning signs in the air. Many celebrities stood in solidarity of the right to choose, including Milana Vayntrub who, in February of the same year, shared her own abortion experience in an article she penned for the Daily Beast. The actor explained that she had become pregnant for the first time in 2012 when she and her boyfriend were struggling to make ends meet.

Vayntrub explained that there was never a question in her mind about what to do. "I immediately knew the right thing to do was to have an abortion," she wrote. "There was no handwringing, no confusion, no sleepless nights." She continued, sharing, "My [moral] compass pointed very clearly in the direction of not bringing a child into the world that I did not want and could not care for." Years later, the comedian became pregnant again, and this time she was in a much better position to carry the pregnancy to term and care for her child.

Understandably, the topic of abortion is highly controversial, and the AT&T spokesperson was bound to receive comments of disapproval for her words. Previously, Vayntrub shared some of her story in an Instagram post, which also received backlash, including one person calling her a "babykiller." Others took a different approach. "That's why I moved to T-Mobile!" someone commented. Nevertheless, Vayntrub hasn't backed down from the conversation. In April 2023, the actor and director advocated for abortion rights on X, formerly Twitter.

Tragically, there's only so much Milana Vayntrub can do to deter vulgar online comments. Since 2020, she has become careful about what she wears and how she places her body, both in commercials and on her social media platforms. However, she unfortunately still receives shockingly vile comments on her posts.

In December 2023, Vayntrub excitedly shared a few snaps of herself on Instagram after doing a vintage-inspired photoshoot. The actor was dressed modestly and the pictures she shared left more than enough to the imagination. While many of her followers were kind, sharing enthusiasm for the shoot with comments like "awesome '80s vibe" and "I love your hair," others took things in the wrong direction. One commenter asked whether she'd had a breast reduction, while another wrote bluntly, "Fun bags."

It seems like Vayntrub is unable to escape the persistent sexual harassment, even when she's simply showcasing her latest project. The comedian shared an August 2024 Twitter post promoting her short film "Pickled Herring," and despite the fact that the image she included was essentially just the side of her face and another actor's, inappropriate responses poured in. One user wrote, "MILK TRUCK!" while another cruelly added, "Can't wait to see those hot pool party pics of you when you were young and had value." Other comments echoed the same misogynistic sentiments.