Whatever you think of Amber Rose's fame, the woman has used her platform to bring attention to important issues that she's passionate about -- namely, feminism and women's rights.
The model, who's become something of a feminist icon in the past couple of years, recently used her voice to stand up for reality TV queen Kim Kardashian, who sparked a huge debate online last week after she posted a nude selfie.
After seeing the negative reactions to Kardashian's photo, Rose spoke out in her defense -- but don't think she was just looking for attention.
"I would do that for any other woman," Rose told The Huffington Post in a phone interview. "It doesn't really matter. What's right is what's right, and I felt the need to speak on it. How people were going in on her was just unfair."
Rose said Kardashian reached out to her afterward to thank her. (The two text all the time, according to Rose.)
Using her celebrity status to speak up about the issues she's passionate about has always been the goal for Rose. But it wasn't until she split from rapper Wiz Khalifa, the father of her 3-year-old son, Sebastian, that she realized "it was my time to do whatever I wanted to do."
"This is what I've always wanted to do, but sometimes when you're in a relationship, you kind of think about the other person and they have their own career, and maybe you should keep your views to a minimum," Rose said. "And that was kind of how I felt for a while -- not that anyone made me feel that way, that was just me personally."
"Then I just got very liberated," she went on. "I felt like, 'This is my time, this is what I want to do.' And now I use my voice."
Rose said she doesn't "care about social media comments or how certain people feel about me."
"I can only just live my life to the fullest. You have one life to live, but I can't live it for anybody but myself," she said. "And when you live your life for yourself, that's when you're truly enlightened and happy."
When she's not speaking out about feminism, Rose oversees what's turning into a formidable empire. Aside from her eyewear, her MUVA clothing line, her book How to Be a Bad Bitch and her very own Slutwalk, Rose is launching an avatar of herself with 3D messaging app Zoobe this weekend at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Fans who download the app can essentially use Rose's likeness to send messages to their friends.
"If you're a Rosebud, and you're a fan of mine, then it's really cool because you're able to say whatever you want and it comes out of my mouth," Rose said. "It looks so realistic. I'm just excited to see what my fans are going to say and the cool videos they're going to put out."
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