Dascha Polanco tells us how she became the body positive queen she is today

Dascha Polanco wants her fans to know they are not alone, which is why the Orange Is the New Black star uses her platform to spread self-love. “All this time that I felt that I was alone and hidden, and I felt like ‘Yo, no one is going to understand what I’m going through.’ Now is a beautiful time because there are so many people out there that reach out and they’re like ‘Yo, how are you so confident?’ I’m like ‘Yo, in reality my confidence is not confidence,’” she told HOLA! USA while celebrating National Rum Month with the Bacardi Limited Premium Rum Portfolio in New York City. “It’s me having my, like I like to call myself, my night suit on when I’m out because I won’t allow my pride and who I am, I’m my kids’ parent, I won’t let anyone put me down. I can put myself down if I want to, but no one else is going to.”

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The Orange Is the New Black actress is known for being a body positive activist

The actress is a mom to son Aryam and daughter Dasany. Aryam recently snapped a picture of his famous mother fearlessly showing off her “ripples” in an untouched photo. The image garnered praise from Dascha’s social media followers, as well as fellow Hollywood stars. “Honestly I hesitated so much to post that picture because I hadn’t worked out in such a long time,” she confessed.

MORE: Dascha Polanco reveals why she came to the US and her fears for her family in the states

Dascha continued, “I’m such a fashion girl and then I think about the experience of what I’ve seen in magazines and what has been out there and there have been women that have been in positions of making the decisions of who they put out there and they allow this to continue for X amount of years and girls like me saw that and that affected girls like me and it continues to affect other people, so I think to myself, ‘Yo, there are times when my body looks great and there are times when my body looks not. There are times when I want to do sh-t to my body, and there’s times that I don’t, but there’s times that I’m like ‘Yo f-ck it. Today I ate a little bit too much, but guess what I’m working on my consistency and that’s okay and you’re going to see my butt ripple.’”

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Dascha does not want her fans to feel like they are alone

When the In the Heights star, 36, first started in the industry, she was admittedly “self-conscious.” “I was very careful about what would they think of me if they knew what was going," Dascha explained. "I was so self-conscious, and now I’m telling everybody you know what, you can f-ck off.” The mom-of-two credits time and her own experiences for helping her become comfortable. She noted, “Tomorrow we’re here [and] tomorrow we’re not and who the f-ck gives a f-ck. Everybody keeps on going and nobody gives a f-ck.”

MORE: Dascha Polanco, Salma Hayek, more pen letter of support to Latinx community

These days, the Dominican-born star wants to remind women everywhere to embrace themselves. Dascha said, “I think it’s not a moment of us resisting it’s a moment of us supporting one another, evolving. Knowing the balance of what to accept. It’s okay for somebody to hold the door for you. You deserve for that door to be held. We birth. We are queens. Embrace every part. What you don’t like you fix. What you can’t fix you love and f-ck it.”