What Happened To AT&T Commercial Star Milana Vayntrub?

Jc Olivera/Getty Images

There are a few actors who rise to fame by simply starring in a commercial, and Milana Vayntrub is one of them. She first charmed fans as Lily Adams in her 2013 AT&T televised ad and went on to portray the chipper phone carrier employee for four years. Vayntrub opened up about the breezy audition process on Mike Elder's "Box Angeles" podcast, saying, "That was very easy. That was like a joke." At the time of the 2015 interview, she had no idea how famous she had gotten. When Elder told her that one of her commercials was shown during the Sugar Bowl, she exclaimed, "Wow! Think about that. That's crazy! Like, think about 20 million people. ... I used to get freaked out when 300 people watched my YouTube video."

Vayntrub, who has a net worth of about $4 million as of this writing, continued to gain momentum with her AT&T commercials until her contract ended in 2017. While she didn't quit acting completely, she turned her attention to honing her skills behind the scenes and soon became a skilled commercial director. Here's what Vayntrub has been up to since she started looking for opportunities beyond her small screen fame as a salesperson.

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Milana Vayntrub isn't just a quirky television personality; she's also a talented director. In 2016, she launched her commercial directorial debut with Cracker Barrel Macaroni & Cheese, and more opportunities followed, including with AT&T. In 2020, Vayntrub shared a behind-the-scenes look at her work as a director and actor for one of the telephone company's commercials. The video showed her day starting before sunrise, and after being tested for COVID-19, she got into character as Lily Adams. She then showed a cool shot of her directing a scene from behind the camera, and finally, after a long day, the crew wrapped.

Been making these since April #director #lilyatt #att #milanavayntrub The actor- Jorge Diaz. Makeup- @TorstenWitte on IG. Cinematography by Kai Saul.

♬ Wes Anderson-esque Cute Acoustic – Kenji Ueda

In a 2023 interview with "Alicyn's Wonderland," Vayntrub revealed that she had actually started directing in college. "My school had a wonderful theater program and gave us the opportunity to direct plays, and so I started doing that and I totally fell in love with it," she shared. After college, Vayntrub co-starred in and directed her comedic web series, "Let's Talk About Something More Interesting," which featured big-name actors like Matt Damon and B.J. Novak. 

Work stalled during the pandemic, and that's when Vayntrub pitched the idea of Adams returning to AT&T, but this time, she directed and filmed herself in her home. "I really like directing commercials and I am in a really good place with it. And I know a lot of commercial directors who want to do other things ... and I think part of the secret to happiness is wanting what you have," she stated.

Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock

Milania Vayntrub was on vacation in Greece when she witnessed something that would change her life. In a 2016 interview with AP, she described seeing boatloads of Syrian migrants make a perilous journey to a nearby island, and she immediately connected with them as a fellow refugee. "It felt a little ridiculous that I could do something but would choose not to," she recalled. Instead of going home as planned, Vayntrub stayed behind to help the refugees and then began a nonprofit called Can't Do Nothing. "I'm asking everyone to find simple ways to share your time, your money, your voice to make a difference. Helping can be a lot of things," she stated.

Through social media and her now-defunct website, Vayntrub was able to raise enough money to make a huge difference. "In the year and a half since I launched Can't Do Nothing, we've been able to make a real, substantial change in the lives of Syrian refugees," she told InStyle in 2017 (via Yahoo! Life). She added, "Through partnerships with organizations like Carry the Future, Salam UK, and The Syria Fund we've sent kids to school, provided prescription eyeglasses, bought emergency medical vehicles, and fed thousands of people."

Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

When Milana Vayntrub reprised her role as Lily Adams in 2020, she was not expecting to get harassed online for her body. As reported by The New York Times, a handful of internet trolls made lewd comments about her breasts, and then others quickly followed suit. The harassment took a toll on Vayntrub, and its effects were magnified because it happened during the COVID-19 lockdown. "Our real world was so small that the internet felt like everything," she stated. As shared on X, formerly Twitter, Vayntrub took to Instagram to tell the haters, "I'm hurting, and it's bringing up a lot of feelings of sexual assault. I am just walking my dog and getting messages from people who have distorted my pictures to get likes on their accounts."

Sadly, the negative experience forced Vayntrub to change how she appeared on television, and she tweeted in 2021, "Been getting a lot of 'why are they placing her body like that in those ads?' Well, I direct the ads. I place myself like that. And it's because of the thousands of unwelcome comments I receive about my body. You've lost the privilege of looking at it until I feel safe again."

On May 3, 2024, Milana Vayntrub announced the launch of her podcast, "Your Mom is a Podcast," on Instagram. She described the concept behind it in a video, saying, "My best friend Sandeep and I had this idea. We were like, 'I wonder how our favorite people got that way. Was it because of their moms or their dads?'" Vayntrub continued, "We interview people that we love, that we find inspiring, and we interview their moms to figure out how the f*** they got that way."

According to the "Your Mom is a Podcast" website, Vayntrub and her co-host, Sandeep Parikh, were once roomies and are now parents to their respective children. Like the "Threads" star, Parikh is also an actor and director, and fans may recognize him from the comedy series "The Guild." The podcast is different from others in that Vayntrub and Parikh interview the parents first and then show their guests what was said about them. "It's been a real gift to our guests because we're like, 'Hey, you want to like, have a beautiful moment with your mom?' And you get to know your mom in a way that you haven't because how often do you get to have that facilitated moment?" Vaynrub stated on "Trash Tuesday."

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Milana Vayntrub is highly private about her personal life, and while she doesn't disclose the name or face of her husband, she did announce their marriage on September 17, 2023. "Married my husband in front of the temple he built. Our impromptu rabbi @elienblue had us exchange pink sunglasses under a chuppah held by irl spirit guide @michaelawat and lifelong friend @alina.greenbergla and their perfect partners," she shared on Instagram. The wedding was a simple beachside ceremony, with Vayntrub wearing a white lacy Zimmerman dress and a crown of crystals on her head. Her husband was also dressed casually in a linen shirt and khaki pants.

Vayntrub is also super protective of her son's privacy but did open up about motherhood on the "How TF Did You Bounce Back?" podcast in 2022. She revealed that her feelings were somewhat confusing, as she felt like she couldn't bear to be away from her child but had also come to cherish the moments she had to herself. "There's just so many things that I was unprepared for," she said. "I was unprepared for the time commitment." That said, it sounds like her son became the center of her world. She gushed, "I just think he's the greatest and [am] so in love with him."