'Riverdale' star Lili Reinhart says she did bra scene to promote 'body positivity'
Reinhart hopes her decision will combat unrealistic body expectations.
Lili Reinhart is a believer in practicing what you preach -- which is why she did a bra scene in the latest season of "Riverdale."
In an interview published Monday by the Los Angeles Times, the 23-year-old opened up about her decision to film the nearly naked scene for her role as Betty Cooper on the teen series and admitted to feeling "insecure."
"I don’t have the CW girl body -- tiny waist, nice-shaped legs, skinny, small, tiny," Reinhart said. "I had to do a bra and underwear scene in this last season and I felt really insecure about it. I really, really didn’t want to do it. I didn’t tell anyone this. I wasn’t pressured into doing it. I did it because it was my job."
"But I felt bad about myself doing it. I really did," she admitted. "And this is where it gets complicated. I can’t preach body positivity if I don’t practice it. So even if I’m not feeling amazing about my body, I felt it was important for me to do the scene anyway in my bra and underwear so people could see my body as it was."
The "Hustlers" star hopes her decision will help break down the unrealistic body expectations people are constantly bombarded with on social media.
"You go on Instagram, and I’m like, 'Oh, look, all these people with these beautifully toned bodies' and then go to the beach -- does anyone on the beach in the real world look like that? I don’t see anyone looking like this," Reinhart reasoned. "Instagram and Victoria’s Secret runways are not a portrayal of how people look in real life."