Michelle Rodriguez Discusses Potentially Having Kids, Being a Latina Actress in New Interview

Michelle Rodriguez Discusses Potentially Having Kids, Being a Latina Actress in New Interview
Michelle Rodriguez arrives at the 2014 amfAR Inspiration Gala at Milk Studios on Wednesday, Oct. 29, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Zachary Stieber
1/15/2015
Updated:
1/15/2015

Michelle Rodriguez spoke about a lot of interesting subjects in her latest interview, conducted by former co-star Milla Jovovich.

She revealed her thoughts about having children, and also talked about how she got the role for Letty in the Fast & Furious series changed from what it was initially going to be.

Rodriguez said she doesn’t plan on having children anymore.

“I cherish what you do—having kids—but don’t leave that [expletive] to me. I'll get a surrogate,” she said, in the piece for Interview Magazine.

“Oh, seriously? I was going to ask if you are scared of having kids because feel you like your body would get destroyed?” Jovovich replied.

“It’s not just that. I do what I want, when I want, how I want, and because of that, it has taken me so long to grow into an adult human being. I wouldn’t want to sacrifice the last years that I have of being youthful in this business to have kids,” she said.

“I’m 36, Milla. It’s been 15 years since I was the lead in my own feature, in Girlfight. So I haven’t done what I came here to do. I’m just kind of fiddling around. I haven’t even been born yet. I’ve been part of really big things that are amazing, but I haven’t taken on that responsibility yet. So I don’t want to sell myself short by having a kid and then regret not doing what I set out to do.”

Rodriguez says she plans to use the next year to clean up five projects that she’s working on, and also try to get one project off the ground she came up with when she was a kid called Kingdom Come. 

“I used to hate watching stories about animals being killed off and humans spoiling so much of nature—that hurt a lot when I was growing up, and it’s more relevant now than ever, with our oceans being polluted and animals all over the world running out of habitat. So I came up with this really cool story when I was 15, and it’s evolved to be about these four kids who are hackers and activists,” she said.

“Long story short, there’s a séance in the middle of the rain forest in South America with about 800 tribes getting together, and it causes all the animals to start attacking anything that’s not pure. So it’s kind of Jurassic Park-ish meets Jumanji, and one of the four hacker kids is the chosen one. The story is about her giving her life to the preservation of animals.”

Michelle Rodriguez arrives at the LA Premiere of the "Fast & Furious 6" at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Universal City, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Michelle Rodriguez arrives at the LA Premiere of the "Fast & Furious 6" at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Universal City, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

 

Rodriguez also discussed how difficult it is to be a Latin women in Hollywood, having just a few women ahead of her. And while discussing that, she talked about how she changed the role of Letty, her popular character from the Fast & Furious series. 

“When I looked at Letty, I told them, ‘You can’t do the stereotype thing. I get that this dynamic is based on Point Break [1991], but it doesn’t work now. Either you don’t make her slut—not make her a character that gets with both [Vin Diesel’s character and Paul Walker’s] and you respect her, or you’re going to lose me. And you can sue me and do whatever because I’m from Jersey City ... ,’” she said.

She probably would’ve ended up getting sued if not for Vin Diesel. “He was like, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t want a slut for a girlfriend! That makes me look bad.’”