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Lili Reinhart, Mindy Kaling promote self-love at Glamour's Women of the Year

By Annie Martin   |   Nov. 12, 2018 at 9:33 AM
Lili Reinhart spoke about body image at the 2018 Glamour Women of the Year summit on Sunday. File Photo by Howard Shen/UPI Mindy Kaling attends the New York premiere of "Ocean's 8" on June 5. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI Lili Reinhart attends the MTV Movie & TV Awards on June 16. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI "Ocean's 8" cast members, left to right, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Awkwafina arrive for the CinemaCon 2018 Warner Bros. studio presentation at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on April 24, 2018. File Photo by James Atoa/UPI

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Lili Reinhart and Mindy Kaling shared a message of self-love at the 2018 Glamour Women of the Year summit.

The 22-year-old Riverdale star and 39-year-old Mindy Project creator spoke about body image and self-confidence at the event Sunday in New York.

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Reinhart, who plays Betty Cooper on Riverdale, said she struggled with body image after constantly seeing herself on social media and in paparazzi photos amid The CW show's success.

"I became hyper-aware of my changing body," the actress said, according to Glamour. "I could see the difference in my shape in photos and wondered if anyone else was noticing. I felt this strange, constant struggle of having to live up to the expectation of the appearance that I had already established to the world."

Reinhart shared her hope the conversation about women's bodies will change in the future. She encouraged women to ignore unrealistic beauty standards and celebrate each other's uniqueness.

"Remind yourself that this perfect world you see online or in magazines ... are presented to you through many different filters," she said. "Do not set impossible goals of meeting those fake standards. It's unrealistic to think that your body or my body will ever look like anyone else's. That's not the way it's supposed to be."

Reinhart said in a tweet Sunday afternoon that she was "honored" to take part in the Glamour event.

"Thank you for having me, @glamourmag. So honored to have been a part of this," she wrote.

Kaling took part in the Closing the Dream Gap: Showing Girls (and Ourselves) What's Next panel with Today anchors Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie. Kaling credited self-love and self-confidence as a big part of her success as an actress and producer.

"It's not that I'm into myself. It's that I don't hate myself. In my career, a lot of people have a problem with being around women who don't hate themselves. Never hate yourself," she told the audience, according to Glamour.

The Mindy Project creator told the audience how not being considered conventionally attractive by men actually helped foster her confidence and assertiveness.

"When you are ignored in that way, things like confidence and asking for things in your professional career become a little easier," she said.

Reinhart previously addressed body image in 2017 after a person said she doesn't want the actress' talent "to be overshadowed" by her weight. Reinhart responded by encouraging fans to eat what they like.