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‘Star Wars’ actress responds to body shamers

Posted at 1:19 PM, Mar 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-10 15:19:22-05

‘Star Wars’ actress Daisy Ridley is responding to online criticism about her appearance.

On Wednesday, the 23-year-old actress who plays the female lead Rey in ‘Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens’ posted twice on Instagram responding to a meme posted about her, which has since been deleted, according to Entertainment Tonight.

The original post featured a picture of Ridley from the movie with the words “I can’t believe the unrealistic expectations I’m setting for young girls. Who cast me anyway? Don’t they know real women have curves?”

Ridley reposted the meme with the caption “‘Real women’ are all shapes and sizes, all ethnicities, all levels of brave, have families, don’t have families. I am a ‘real woman’ like every other woman in this world.”

The English actress soon took down the post which included the username of the Instagram user who published the meme, after mean messages were reportedly sent to that person.

Afterwards, she posted a lengthy statement, and included the caption: “Guys it was not my intention for anyone to send messages to that poor person that posted the original picture. My whole post is about being kind to each other, so please refrain!”

In her post, she talked about why women need to praise each other.

“What’s weird is most of the time I see such gorgeous messages from people around the world,” Ridley wrote on Instagram.

“People who relate to something in Rey they haven’t found in a female character before. People who’s daughters now think they can do things without the aid of a man, but who wouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help,” the post reads.

Ridley went on to say “It is much more hurtful to continue to slate other women than BE a woman, BE a character, BE whoever you want to be. I’m a normal girl thrust into extraordinary circumstances, just like Rey. I will not apologise for how I look, what I say and how I live my life cause what’s happening inside is much more important anyway and I’m striving to be the best version of myself, even if I stumble along the way.”

She ends with a message about kindness.

“Kindness isn’t going to cure the world of all its awfulness but it’s a good place to begin,” Ridley wrote.