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Face of Obamacare feels bullied

Posted at 10:54 AM, Nov 13, 2013
and last updated 2013-11-13 12:54:43-05

By CNN Political Unit

(CNN) — She was the face of Obamacare, a Halloween costume and the butt of jokes and attacks across the political spectrum. But she’s also a Colombian émigré named Adrianna.

“I deserve a chance to tell people who I am and not just let everybody else say whatever they want,” the woman identified by ABC News as the so-called “Obamacare girl” told the network on Wednesday.

Asking that her last name be kept private, Adrianna told ABC that she is not a professional model.

“I’m a mother and I’m a wife,” she said.

Nor was she paid for becoming the temporary face of HealthCare.gov, agreeing to model in exchange for free family photographs that could be used the promote the website. The online federal insurance exchange has since been changed and Adrianna’s face is no longer the marquee image.

Adrianna, who says she’s a permanent resident of the United States, had some idea how her image would be used but little concept of the fallout, she said.

“We signed the release that said it was supposedly going to be used for material promoting the healthcare,” she said. “We just didn’t know that it was going to have a negative impact.”

The impact, Adrianna said of mockery online and on-air, amounts to bullying. Which is why “I’m here to stand up for myself and defend myself.”

–CNN’s Bryan Koenig contributed to this report.

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