“For me, I can’t help but think about the 13-year-old brown girl who gets all of her denim at American Eagle, who already struggles to see her beauty and worth in a world that continues to value white, Eurocentric beauty standards,” said Payal Desai from Medford in an Instagram video she posted on Tuesday.
“The American Eagle ad triggered your childhood trauma? Because Sydney Sweeney is blonde and beautiful?” another person asked, questioning the seriousness of the reaction.
“Girl, that’s not oppression, that’s insecurity, and you need to handle that in therapy, not social media. I’m a mixed Latina, and I think she looks absolutely stunning.”
“This was probably just a grift by her to get everyone to tell her she is pretty,” added Rugg, who has built a following of 1.8 million users on X.
In her video response, which has pulled in 284,000 views on her Instagram account @payalforstyle and another 88,000 views on TikTok, she opened up about how growing up in a “predominantly white community.” made it harder for her to feel confident in her looks.
“I really wasn’t gonna weigh in on this, but here we go. It is so difficult to grow up as a person of color, specifically a woman, and view yourself as beautiful in any sense of the word growing up in this country,” she said in the video, speaking directly to her 441,000 Instagram followers.
Back in 2023, she gained millions of views with a series on TikTok titled “No Dusty Sons,”, where she shared life lessons with her two young sons that she hopes will help them become better future partners.
Following the backlash over her recent video, Desai has now turned off comments on the controversial Instagram post that sparked the discussion.
