Peloton wife has spoken, and from now on, she’d like to be known as anything but the star of the ad that exploded the internet’s collective brains.
Actress Monica Ruiz sat with “Today” host Hoda Kotb to finally address the infamous commercial that became a cultural phenomenon coinciding with a massive tank in Peloton stock.
The ad, which showed Ruiz tirelessly vlogging a year’s worth of Peloton workouts after her husband gifted her the stationary bike, was called sexist, tone-deaf and alarming, to name a few.
Ruiz jokingly accepted the blame for that last part.
“Honestly, I think it was just my face. It was my fault,” she told Kotb. “My eyebrows look, like, worried?”
For her part, Ruiz shoulders the fallout with a smile and the same expressive eyes that caused millions to worry about the fictional Grace from Boston’s well-being in the first place. But it wasn’t always that way, she said.
“It didn’t really blow over as quickly as I thought it would,” she said.
She’s fine, guys. Really, she’s fine!
Ruiz declined interview requests after the ad went viral so she wouldn’t appear to be capitalizing on the negative press or making fun of the company, she told “Today.”
She was even reluctant to agree to shoot an ad for Aviation Gin when Ryan Reynolds’ company reached out to her agent. (She ultimately did, in a meta commentary on the Peloton spot that sees Ruiz’s beleaguered wife chugging a martini glass of the spirit).
But even after that ad aired, people couldn’t quit talking about Ruiz. The mother of two just wasn’t content to sit by and let people speak for her.
“I’ll just let everyone know I’m fine,” she said. “I’m OK — I’m not in rehab for mental health anywhere.”
Now that she’s addressed the Peloton debacle, she’s ready to shirk it for good and get back to work — you know, portraying fictional characters.
“I hope that people can just see me as an actress,” she said. “That’s what I am. I hope people can remember that I’m not actually the Peloton lady and let me work other jobs.”