How Barbie Ferreira Remains Confident — Even When Locked Outside In Her Underwear

The thought of getting locked outside your house in nothing but your underwear is enough to send most people spiraling into a mortified mess. It’s the kind of embarrassing, will-never-quite-live-down memory that creeps in at 1:17 a.m. — when sleep is just within reach — and shakes you awake as you’re forced (of your own volition!) to relive that painful, teeth-clenching moment.

But Barbie Ferreira isn’t most people. 

In the first installment of TORRID’s four-part digital film series, the model and actress gets into character, stripping down to her undergarments for quality home time and, in an unfortunate series of events, finds herself in a delicate situation: She’s outside, she’s stranded, and she’s vulnerable. But instead of hiding behind a bush and tragically weeping (like I would), she gets resourceful. Spoiler alert: She finds her way back in with the aid of a chic neighbor. 

And much like her onscreen persona, Ferreira personally embodies the same truly inspiring level of self-assured confidence — one that she’s gained from years of embracing her curves and being unapologetic about her beauty. “I’ve been in my underwear or scantily clad since I started modeling at 16, so it’s been a journey to accept that my body type is deserving of being shown and photographed,” Ferreira says. “My first swimsuit shoot felt that way for me — it was freeing.”

In her first video series as the face of TORRID, Ferreira says she was determined to deliver a performance that felt authentic and, more importantly, fun. “To embody TORRID was to embody the playfulness and power I feel in being a thick girl in this world,” she says. “I wanted to do a video I’d want to see — something out of the box and fashion forward that felt like it was true to the curvy girls of the world.” 

Even so, as empowering as that is, Ferreira recognizes being just that — “a thick girl in this world” — still, unfortunately, comes with its challenges like judgment from strangers and unsolicited opinions. 

“People have opinions about people’s bodies, and it’s a sad reality that we live in,” she says. “People will always be negative, and it’s my job to be able to separate myself from their opinions.”

It’s her hope that with more exposure (with this campaign and the work she’s doing in promoting body acceptance), she’s creating a future in which body-negativity becomes a thing of the past. “The change I’d like to see,” she says, “is bigger bodies becoming more normalized in the media.”

Watch Barbie navigate what appears to be an initially hopeless situation in TORRID's first film "Locked Out," above.