Michelle Rodriguez Talks About Her Career, The World Talks About Her Sexuality

Actress Michelle Rodriguez recently told Entertainment Weekly that she doesn’t like talking about what she does with her vagina, so naturally, that’s all the media wants to talk about today.

This morning, the Internet was abuzz with reports siting Rodriguez’s admission to EW that she has gone “both ways.” SEO-friendly headings all but shout at readers about Rodriguez’s sexuality, playing up the bisexual angle of a story that actually has a lot more to do with Rodriguez’s incredible career and her desire to create empowering media content for Latinas. But you wouldn’t know that from looking at most of the posts that have spawned from the original EW interview. All you’d know is that she thinks both men and “chicks” are “intriguing.”

Credit: MICHAEL MULLER for EW

Well, don’t you fret, because we have got you covered. Here are a few highlights from Rodriguez’s candid interview that say a lot more about her ambition, her character and her strong personality than the handful of quotes describing what she likes to do with her vagina:

Determined to not be a “lowlife,” admitted “knucklehead” Rodriguez took a chance and auditioned for the lead role in Girlfight, despite the fact that she did not have any formal training.

After a night of partying, it seems, her best friend wound up in jail. “I said to myself, ‘I don’t want to be a lowlife,’” she says. “I was always that kid who’d look up at the stars and think, ‘I don’t belong here. Where do I belong?’” Then she hopped a train to New York City for the audition that would change the course of her life. “I walked into the room and told them the truth,” says Rodriguez. “‘Never graduated high school, never been to school for acting — but I can beat girls up and you want a boxer.’”

Michelle wants to be a symbol for female empowerment, and considers each role that she takes on as an opportunity to make good on that goal.

“Female empowerment became my torch to bear,” she says. “I won’t ever bend on what I believe in. I don’t care who you are — you can be the best director on the planet. If you don’t get what I do, what I’m good at, I will not bend for you.” She tosses her hair back, taps her fingers along the table. “People don’t understand how important symbolism is. Seeing an image up on that screen can make a difference to somebody. It can make a difference.”

Rodriguez was sexually assaulted by a producer when she was 22 years old.

When she was 22, she was at a wrap party in Europe when a producer pinned her against a wall and grabbed her between the legs.

But the Jersey girl defended herself…with a knife!

“Well, get this,” Rodriguez says. “This girl from Jersey City has a knife in her boot. I pulled it out and said, ‘I’ll cut your d— off.’” She sighs. “You know what he did? He laughed at me.” But he never bothered her again.

Rodriguez doesn’t work with just anyone, especially if their view of women does not align with her own.

The actress says she gets grief for not making more movies with Latin filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez: “Most Latin directors don’t understand female empowerment at all. Culturally they’re in the archaic caveman days.”

Rodriguez has aspirations to change the way Hollywood portrays women and Latinos in the media. She’s even written a few new projects!

After she shoots Fast & Furious 7, she has a few writing projects: one a kids’ movie and the other about a secret society of women.

Also, Rodriguez wants to create a Latina superhero!

“She should be, like, a South American Amazon princess,” she says. “I just need to figure out what her superpower is.”

But all anyone else is writing about is this:

“I don’t talk about what I do with my vagina, and they’re all intrigued,” she says of the media. “I’ve never walked the carpet with anyone, so they wonder: What does she do with her vagina? Plus, I play a butchy girl all the time, so they assume I’m a lesbo.” When EW points out that that’s not a fair assumption, Rodriguez laughs. “Eh, they’re not too far off,” she says. “I’ve gone both ways. I do as I please. I am too f—ing curious to sit here and not try when I can. Men are intriguing. So are chicks.” She shrugs.

So there you go! Ultimately, Rodriguez talks about a lot more than her sexuality in her EW interview, and guess what? It’s all very interesting! She’s a kickass Latina on a mission to diversify Hollywood’s image of Latinos and women in the media. Oh, and she happens to have hooked up with both women and men.

Shrug.