Ashley Padilla on Writing a Book With Diane Keaton, Staying Off Social Media and Becoming an ‘SNL’ Breakout Star: ‘I Assumed People Would Go, We Hate Her!’

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By Michael Schneider

Michael Schneider

Variety Editor at Large

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Ashley Padilla was shopping with her mom at Glendale’s Americana at Brand outdoor mall in September 2024 when the news was announced: She had just been added to “Saturday Night Live” as a featured player.

Padilla had just collaborated with her old boss, Diane Keaton, on a new book, “Fashion First,” and was purchasing copies at Barnes & Noble when she received word that the news was about to break. “I was terrified,” she remembers. “I was scared people would go, ‘Ew, her! Why that face? Why that person?’ So I bought my book at Barnes & Noble, and we sat and waited. It makes me sick thinking about it!”

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