Monica Ruiz, who starred in the much-maligned Peloton ad, offered her take Wednesday on why it touched a nerve.
“Honestly, I think it was just my face,” she told “Today” in the interview above.
Asked to elaborate by host Hoda Kotb, Ruiz replied: “My fault! My eyebrows look worried, I guess?”
Ruiz used the expression after her already-lean character in the Christmas ad received the exercise bike as a gift from her husband. She anxiously began her fitness journey, documenting her daily routine for the camera and declaring to her husband that she had been transformed.
Kotb showed a screenshot (below) of the expression, prompting Ruiz to say: “I’m telling you. It was my face. That was the problem.”
While Ruiz’s take on her role in the stir may be lighthearted, the ad invited serious backlash. Many called it sexist and the company’s stock value dropped. Ruiz later poked fun at the commercial by gulping down a cocktail in an ad for actor Ryan Reynolds’ Aviation Gin.
She said she finally agreed to speak publicly because the furor wouldn’t blow over and she wanted to have her own say.
But in the end, she said, she wants to be recognized for more than a viral stationary bike commercial.
“I hope that people can kind of just see me as an actress, cause that’s what I am,” she said. “I hope people can remember that I’m not actually the Peloton lady and let me work other jobs.”
Watch the interview above. And check out Ruiz meeting Reynolds in person for the first time in the clip below: