Gina Rodriguez guest starred on the “WTF with Marc Maron Podcast” on Feb. 15, where she opened up about body issues and the pressure she feels to represent the Latino community in entertainment.
A conversation began when Maron told the Chicago native that he has body dysmorphia, a disorder in which a person is overly-preoccupied with the flaws in their appearance. The 33-year-old actress agreed that body dysmorphia is real and has gone through it herself.
“I’m having a better time talking to myself about body dysmorphia, watching myself on-screen, being able to see myself fluctuate in weight,” Rodriguez told the stand-up comedian. She went on to describe the month she spent in Thailand training in Muay Thai for four hours a day last year and her struggle to stay in shape when she returned to shooting “Jane the Virgin.” She later shared a lesson she learned from that experience.
“I start to understand that it’s ok. If you work out four hours a day, of course, your body’s gonna look one way. And if you don’t, your body’s gonna look another,” she said. “So, I started to accept what my body looked like on each experience.”
The former salsa dancer has been extremely vocal about better Latino representation in television and film. However, she doesn’t feel as though she can be a voice for everyone. “I can’t speak for the entire Latino community. Latinos come in all shades, and backgrounds, and cultures. Latino encompasses so much,” she said to Maron.
“I’m Puerto Rican, from Chicago. And I’m a woman,” she continued. “That’s one perspective. That’s one specific lens, and that’s not everybody’s lens.”
Despite coming to terms with this reality, Rodriguez will continue to speak out about the lack of Latino leads. Accepting underrepresentation is no longer an option. “The complacency kind of just keeps us where we’re at,” she said. “So I was like, well, I got to speak up.”
Other topics discussed on the podcast were her experience as a first-time director of “Jane the Virgin” last week, what it was like growing up in a Puerto Rican and Polish “hood” outside of Lincoln Park and the upcoming projects she is producing. Rodriguez also mentioned that her new film, “Annihilation,” comes out in theaters Feb. 23.