Gina Rodriguez: ‘You Can Love Your Body and Still Want to Work On It’

You may best know 31-year-old Gina Rodriguez as Jane Villanueva in CW’s hit show Jane the Virgin, for which she won a Golden Globe earlier this year.

But Rodriguez is gaining fans for being so much more than an actress - for one, she’s a champion of diversity in Hollywood, starting the #MovementMondays social media initiative that aims to highlight the work of Latino actors. She’s also the co-founder of the body-inclusive, socially conscious lingerie line Naja - its garment factory makes a point to employ single mothers, pay them above-market wages, and provide them with health benefits.

Yahoo Health had the opportunity to ask Rodriguez more about her passion for inclusion and diversity - in the entertainment industry and in general! - as well as her best advice for beating negative self-talk and how her diagnosis with thyroid disease at age 19 was the turning point in her truly accepting and loving her body.

Yahoo Health: Gina, we love that you’re so outspoken about the importance of inclusion and diversity - with regard to race (as with the upcoming Oscars) as well as body size (with your involvement with the lingerie line Naja, which you co-founded). Where did your passion come from?

Gina Rodriguez: My passion to help others came from my parents. They taught us the importance of helping others achieve success, and that it can only help you, too, achieve success… You have to give your blessings away to make room for more.

My father was a union leader in Teamsters Local 714. There were times that I would go with him to negotiate workers’ contracts, fight to help get one of his workers their jobs back, or stand on the picket line with his union members to fight for equal rights. My mother worked in politics in Chicago and also had run for alderman of our community. I would watch her help clean the streets and bring meals to the elderly. My parents didn’t just live for us - they lived for their community, they lived for the people. You know that saying, “It takes a village”? My parents used that motto for everything. Wherever they were needed, they were ready to help the village. To see their passion and the true joy that lending themselves to others brought - I wanted to feel that same joy. I wanted to be a blessing in others’ lives the way others had been a blessing in mine.

Can you tell us more about the lingerie line Naja? The line is created for women of all shapes and sizes - why is it so important that it’s marketed as such?
Naja came into my life at the perfect time. I had just taken in a college girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter into my one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica. They needed a home, and at the time, I had just started Jane, so I didn’t have much to give but a roof. I learned very quickly how absolutely difficult it was for my friend as a single mother. With no help or family to financially assist, it just seemed impossible. To get a job, she had to get childcare; to get childcare, she needed a job. Then the jobs are longer hours, which means more childcare and no time to see her daughter - all while trying to make ends meet. It was impossible. My heart hurt for her.

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And then I met [Naja CEO] Catalina [Girald] and Naja. I had heard about the employment of single mothers in Colombia so they could be with their families yet still provide, and it was a no-brainer. All I could think about was expanding and doing this for women in this country. And trust me, that is the goal! We have some time to get there, but that is the goal. And then it was through beautiful lingerie. Now, I am not a supermodel, and I love lingerie. In societal norms, I don’t have the “perfect” body, and yet I feel like it is, and I feel like I can rock whatever I damn well please. So, it was important for me to bring that perspective into the company - to bring awareness that you don’t have to have any specific body type to wear lingerie or feel sexy as hell in it. All women own it, and all women should own it. So what better way to fuse my desire to change body norms in this culture than to do it with lingerie? And socially conscious lingerie, at that!

Shifting gears a bit - how has your own personal body confidence evolved throughout time? Have you ever struggled with body confidence?
Growing up, I was super-skinny, naturally skinny. I was a salsa dancer and the idea of body image really didn’t affect me. Well, honestly, the only struggle I had was with my big butt. It wasn’t cool to have a big butt in the ‘90s, and now it is - go figure - so much so, that people inject themselves to have a booty like mine. That just goes to show you: You cannot chase a beauty trend! Big lips today, small lips tomorrow. Skinny eyebrows, bushy ones. Big butt, small butt. These are trends, people. We create them. When that started to become obvious to me, it was only logical to stop inflicting pain on myself because I didn’t fit the current “trend,” and start loving me - and all of me - today.

When I was 19 years old, I was diagnosed with thyroid disease, which directly affected my metabolism. It was impossible to keep weight off like when I was a full-time dancer. Now, that’s when I was in college and the idea of not being naturally skinny scared the crap out of me. That’s when I went on a journey of self-acceptance and body acceptance for the place I am at now. Not for the past and not worrying for the future, but accepting where I am today.

Women, we fluctuate. We fluctuate so much between the beginning of the month, to ovulation, and the worst, period time. So why turn the sword on myself and hurt me? It’s the one me I’ve got. The only one I’ve got. No way. Not anymore.

What gets you out of cycles of negative self-talk?
Well, you hit it on the head: It’s self-talk. It’s negativity I chose for myself, and I have control over that. So when the negativity comes in, talk to yourself. Remember that that fear always exists between your two ears. Should someone say something negative to you, remind yourself that “hurt people hurt people” and turn the other cheek. Decide to protect yourself from that demon that wants to drag you down and not enjoy the life and the body you have been given. And trust me: The second you accept yourself, everyone else will.

Has being a role model - for women, for people of colour, for women of colour! - made it harder, or easier, for you to feel confident in your body?
You know what, I don’t know that answer because I don’t see myself as a role model. I see myself as someone who takes responsibility for the choices that I make. Everything I choose affects me first: I want to live out a life that I enjoy; I want to have a body I love versus hate; I want to make decisions in my life that will cater to the greater goals I have for my life and my family. As an artist, I have been given so many blessings that I do not want to ever take advantage of or miss out on being grateful for. So by that nature, should I be someone’s role model, I know I can be the best version of me for them in hopes they will want the same for themselves.

What’s the best piece of advice someone has given you about body image?
Beauty comes in all forms. There is no one definition of beautiful, so do not live up to the standards of someone else. Ultimately, you are the one who must love your body. No one else.

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What makes you feel strong and healthy in your body?
What makes me feel strong is when I am training my body - pushing my body to the limits and then past them. What makes me feel healthy is catering to my Hashimoto’s disease, which means no gluten, no soy, and as little sugar as possible. And, to be honest, this is probably what is best for the majority of us. We live in a society that is gluttonous and consumes way too much. You’d be surprised how little you need to survive. (Though, of course, you need the occasional Snickers bar, donut, or red velvet to treat yourself. Hehe.)

Yahoo Health’s Body-Peace Resolution is all about setting goals that aren’t vanity-driven, but instead strive for physical and mental health. Do you have a health goal you’re working toward right now?
I am constantly working toward bettering myself, and that means catering to what is best for my body. It means feeling the most comfortable in my skin and not living up to false perceptions of what that is, or that there is just one body type. God made us all different for a reason - to force us to find our inner self-love, to force us to accept others who aren’t like ourselves, to make us individuals and to feel blessed that we can do that. It’s a long journey because of how often we are bombarded with images of supposed “perfection” and we have to consistently be battling them. We have to remind ourselves that we are enough and “perfect” is an illusion.

What does having “body peace” mean to you?
Acceptance today. It means not turning the sword on myself and constantly wishing I was something else. If I have a goal, then I will work toward it, but today I can breathe. I can work toward that goal and I can love myself how I am right now. You can love your body and still want to work on it. It’s when you torture yourself before giving it a chance to change or grow that is dangerous. I want to accept me. Me is all I got and me is enough.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo Health