Published 11th October 2015
Memes are GREAT. It's always a magical moment when you find one that relates to you perfectly, and they often lead to some hilarious moments in life.
But it turns out that memes really aren't that funny when it's YOU who actually becomes one, as Ashley VanPevenage discovered earlier this year when her makeup-free selfie quickly went viral across the internet for all the wrong reasons.
Ashley has told Buzzfeed that she was having some skin problems at the start of the year after an allergic reaction, so naturally she turned to makeup to cover it up as best she could, just like everyone else on the planet who owns foundation and concealer does on a daily basis.
But a few days after sharing the beautiful makeup job on Instagram, Ashley's image was picked up by two of those pesky parody accounts on Twitter, @SoDamnTrue and @KardashianReact, with the addition of a fairly bitchy caption.
At this point, "I don't understand how people can do this and I can't figure out how to conceal a single pimple on my face" quickly became the tagline of Ashley's selfie.
After being picked up by yet another parody account, things soon got particularly nasty when her image was also captioned with: "The reason why you gotta take a bitch swimming on the first date". SERIOUSLY.
But this week, Ashley has bravely hit back at the cruel comments that she's since received from her memed photos, speaking openly and honestly about what the heartless reactions had done for her self-esteem.
Admitting that she'd previously been a fan of memes, Ashley says: "When it's actually you and you're dealing with all the harsh comments, it's a while different story."
She then goes on to reveal some of the hurtful, personal things that people had written underneath her photo, including things like "I'd spend some time with her, as long as I never had to see her before 10am". Dork.
Luckily, Ashley has found her confidence again, and has some words of wisdom to offer anyone facing negative comments or criticism online for their appearance.
"My advice for people who may have to deal with this in the future is it doesn't matter what people say about you or what they think about you," she said. "Everyone is beautiful inside and out."
Story by Lucy Wood of Cosmopolitan
