Who Is Milana Vayntrub? The Actress Who Briefly Became An Internet Sensation For Her Role As AT&T's 'Lily' Explained

The internet is obviously no stranger to thirsting over fictional characters, from humanoid mascots for smartphones to villains from children's movies, but it also infamous for taking it too far when the object of their desires is a real person. One of the most notorious cases of the internet taking their thirst too far came with Lily from AT&T, a spokesperson for a phone company that the internet became too infatuated with during 2020.

What Happened With Lily From The AT&T Commercials?

Milana Vayntrub is an actress who began breaking through in web and small TV roles in the late 90s and early 2010s. In 2013, she was cast as "Lily", the spokesperson for a series of AT&T commercials who is usually depicted as a helpful AT&T employee. The ads ran from 2013-2017, and she returned to the role in 2020.

Around this time, Family Guy included her in a bit in which Peter asks Lois how he would find the name of the actress who plays Lily in the AT&T commercials. Lois responds she left a list of the names of "hot commercial women" on the fridge.

This seemed to be the impetus for an influx of men attempting to find Vayntrub on social media. When they did, they began commenting on Vayntrub's looks and particularly her breasts with extremely vulgar language. It got so bad that AT&T itself stepped in, saying "We will not tolerate the inappropriate comments and harassment of Milana Vayntrub, the talented actor that portrays Lily in our ads." Vayntrub herself spoke openly about the harassment she was receiving in an Instagram live.

"All of these comments -- it hurts my feelings," she said. "I’m hurting and it’s bringing up, like, a lot of feelings of sexual assault. I am just like, you know, walking my dog and getting messages from people who have distorted my pictures to get likes on their accounts. I am not consenting to any of this. I do not want any of this.” As she was speaking about it, vulgar comments continued to pour in.

Since the incident, Vayntrub has continued to serve as an AT&T spokesperson, but has also become a cautionary figure about when internet thirst behind real people goes too far. In December of 2023, three years after the bulk of the harassment took place, The New York Times ran a profile of Vayntrub recalling the era. In the piece, Vayntrub revealed she received support from actress Stephanie Courtney, who also plays Flo in ads for Progressive auto insurance.

What Else Has Milana Vayntrub Done?

Though Vayntrub is certainly most well-known for her portrayal of Lily, she has had an extensive career in entertainment. Recently, she starred in the 2021 mystery comedy Werewolves Within and voiced Lúnda in God of War Ragnarok. She has also voiced Squirrel Girl in Marvel's New Heroes Rising franchise.

For the full history of the Lily From AT&T controversy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.