Gina Rodriguez wants women to be kinder to themselves , and she's using social media to set an example.
"It’s like we women consciously decide we’re going to be mean to ourselves,” she recently told Women's Health. “But you’re your own hero, not some image you can’t live up to.”
The 31-year-old star of "Jane The Virgin" is known for her refreshingly honest take on body image. In the May issue of the magazine, where she graces the cover, Rodriguez also spoke about how she's using her platform to show it's OK to have imperfections.
“I’m trying to use my social media as a way to communicate that I’m flawed and that I’m okay with it,” she said. “It’s a very strange feeling to be okay with a little cellulite or a little extra anything. I don’t look at it and feel terrified anymore, and my confidence changed because of that. I carry myself differently.”
But Rodriguez also knows the journey to self-acceptance is filled with pressures even she has succumbed to it occasionally. She wasn't afraid to admit this during an interview with Yahoo in March, when Yahoo interviewer Joe Zee was complimenting her for "never falling into the pressure" of feeling she has to be a certain size.
“Of course I’ve fallen into the pressure,” she told Yahoo. “Of course I’ve fallen into the culture." But the important part, she says, is to understand that beauty is not a size.
"You go to television and film, and, it does add 10 pounds, and I don’t look like a skinny mini, and the truth is that’s OK, too, and that is beautiful also.”
Before You Go
