Actress Milana Vayntrub, best known for starring as Lily from the AT&T commercials, spoke out about the rampant sexual harassment she faced online, and the surprising figure who reached out to show her support.

In a new profile from The New York Times, Vayntrub detailed how she landed her long-term deal with AT&T, which she’s worked for on and off since 2013. When she reprised her role in 2020 amid the pandemic, Vayntrub noticed a shift in the type of attention she was receiving online. Suddenly, she was facing countless “lecherous” and “jeering” comments about her body and appearance, the outlet reports.

 “Our real world was so small,” she said, “that the internet felt like everything.”

She revealed that actress Stephanie Courtney, who has starred as Flo from Progressive since 2008, reached out to show her support. Their phone call made Vayntrub feel “like there were people on my team,” she said.

The actress added that she resented the way articles portrayed her at the time by reporting that she was “pleading” with the trolls to stop the harassment. “Like I was begging a lover to not walk out on me into the pouring rain,” she said.

The profile notes that, after she first stopped working for AT&T when her campaign ended in 2017, she took up directing commercials. Years later, she and a colleague pitched a new campaign where Lily is working from home during the pandemic. She directed and filmed the ads from her own home when the mobile company greenlit her proposal.

Despite it all, Vayntrub claims she still feels that the trade-off of becoming known as AT&T’s spokesperson was worth the cost.

“One hundred percent,” she said.