'Euphoria': Barbie Ferreira Says She Was Just Like Kat Hernandez as a Teen

credit: @barbieferreira/Instagram

Euphoria actress Barbie Ferreira knows what it’s like to obsess over a band, a TV show, a movie.

Much like her character Kat Hernandez, Barbie has been the ultimate fangirl. Speaking with Allure magazine, she revealed,

Harry Potter was my first love. I used to go to conventions and meet and greets. Then, when I was a young teen, I loved One Direction. I was a huge fan of Panic! At The Disco when they were a band.”

She continued,

“I, much like Kat, escaped into a different world when I could. I totally get [it] when people like something. I try to be very understanding of that.”

barbie ferreira one direction euphoria
credit: Eddy Chen/HBO

In Euphoria, Kat channels her love of pop culture into fan fiction. She becomes a prolific writer on Tumblr, where she has legions of fans.

Her most notorious work is her One Direction fanfic of Larry Stylinson — aka Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson — in which she imagines what it would be like if the two former bandmates got together.

The fanfic is based on the long-held rumor that Harry and Louis had some kind of romantic relationship during their early days in the band. Fans based their theories on several photos and videos in which Harry and Louis are physically affectionate with one another.

However, you may remember that Kat’s resulting fan fiction turned into quite the controversy. Euphoria illustrated Kat’s narration with a quite explicit visual of Harry going down on Louis before the two engage in a 69 position.

Needless to say, Louis was not pleased with the scene. Following the airing of the episode, Louis tweeted,

“I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it.”

Barbie, however, stood by the scene. While appearing on GMA, she said,

“I was very much in the fandom so I think the show really reflects reality in a way that gets people uncomfortable. And of course, I totally understand why people want to take care of their favorite band, these boys that they have this connection with, I completely get that.”

She continued,

“Unfortunately, the uncomfortability of like, Euphoria, can kind of be — especially for the younger girls and stuff that were like, tweeting — the reality is, I was in the fandom. I was fully aware of Larry Stylinson to a point where it was trending every day and it was something that was so spoken of as a cultural impact. It was definitely topical.”

credit: Eddy Chen/Instagram

Whether or not we’ll get to see more of Kat’s fan fiction in season 2 is unknown at this point since the trailer didn’t reveal anything either way.

But one thing’s clear, Kat as a character will be very different. According to Barbie,

“My character is definitely more toned-down this season. There’s no latex.”

She added that the glittery makeup we’ve come to know and love will also be “very different.”

Euphoria season 2 premieres on HBO and HBO Max on January 9, 2022. In the meantime, you can watch the Euphoria season 2 trailer below.

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Lena Finkel
Lena Finkel is the Editor and Founder of Femestella and The Feminist Health Source. Prior to starting Femestella, she worked at People, InStyle, Tiger Beat, and Sesame Workshop (aka Sesame Street). She loves all things Real Housewives and The Challenge. When she's not busy binge-watching TV, you can find her taking an absurd amount of photos of her tuxedo cat Tom.