Women to Admire: Daisy Ridley

Though she may be one of the faces of the Star Wars franchise, Daisy Ridley’s transparency behind the camera as well makes her one of our women to admire.

The Star Wars franchise is worth more than $9 billion at the worldwide box office. It’s one of the most lucrative franchises in the world, which is why they keep expanding the brand.

At the forefront of this brand, at a time when the world is at its craziest and social media makes it nearly impossible to have any sort of privacy, we have Daisy Ridley. Though she wasn’t necessarily a huge Star Wars fan before she got the role in The Force Awakens, her character Rey quickly became one of the franchise’s most beloved characters.

Obviously, it can be tough to deal with a sudden onslaught of popularity. If your mid-20s are reserved for growing and figuring things out as you transition into independent adulthood, Ridley did it in front of all the people who made it the highest-grossing film at the domestic box office.

Beyond Star Wars, though, we admire her for being an outspoken advocate for mental health and self-care. During most interviews, she speaks really honestly about the strain that Star Wars and being in the spotlight has taken. In fact, she admitted to going to therapy because she felt like “she was reducing herself and not living the life she wanted,” according to Alternative Press. She also decided to quit Instagram to focus more on herself because she had “a lot of growing up to do.”

Of course, we respect her decision. But she’s still missed by many of her fans, especially since she used the platform to speak about her struggle with endometriosis and feature a lot of her workout training videos.

Luckily, she’s around for more than just Star Wars. She voiced a character in Peter Rabbit, which is now in theaters. Plus, she will reunite with her Murder on the Orient Express co-star Josh Gad for a Netflix film. And her films Ophelia and Chaos Walking are still on the horizon.

Off-screen, she’s funny and gives pretty great advice, which makes Daisy Ridley one of our women to admire this month and the type of person we’ll love year-round.

Editor’s Note: Every day in March, we here at Culturess will feature a Woman to Admire — both real and fictional — for Women’s History Month. Keep coming back every day to see who’s made it on the list.