Amber Riley “suffered” due to vicious online attacks about her weight while on “Glee,” but a stint on “Dancing With the Stars” helped her win her confidence back.
“I suffered so much through my time on ‘Glee’ with people always having an opinion about my body. Like, my body was always a topic of conversation,” the “Masked Singer” winner, 36, tells Page Six exclusively. “It was a war zone for such a long time for people to pick over online.”
She adds, “‘Dancing With the Stars,’ honestly, doing that show, really helped me with my confidence. I will always be grateful for that time because I got to show myself in all my glory.”
Riley appeared on Season 17 of the dance competition show in 2013 and ended up winning the mirrorball trophy with her partner, pro dancer Derek Hough.
FOX Image Collection via Getty I
FOX Image Collection via Getty I
The “Wiz Live!” star admits she was actually hesitant to participate in the ABC series at first because of the potential scrutiny she may once again face.
“But me being me, the things that scare me and the things that challenge me, I have to do it,” she says.
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FOX Image Collection via Getty I
As Riley’s season of “DWTS” progressed, the actress says she allowed the costume department to make her dance outfits “shorter” and “body conscious” because she became more comfortable in her own skin.
“I started loving on my body [because] you can’t dance in that way and not love yourself,” she says.
“You have to love your body because you’re moving it in such a way where if you aren’t loving every single curve, it’s not going to connect with other people.”
Riley explains that her mindset has also evolved because she realized that “everybody’s going to have their [own] insecurities.”
“Someone that I don’t even know, someone that I’ve never met, created these beauty standards, [so] why do I care?” she says. “I don’t even know who the person is that created what I’m ‘supposed to look like.'”
The “Black Beauty Effect” commentator concludes, “I just decided to stop torturing myself and start loving on myself, and that doesn’t mean that I think everything about me is perfect and I don’t have my bad days, but overall, as a person, I deserve to feel beautiful just like everyone else deserves to feel beautiful.”
