Eva Mendes

“I wasn’t a happy teenager…I still have that insecure 15-year-old girl inside me.”

text celeste rodas
illustration cristÓbal ladrÓn de guevara

Eva Mendes arrives at our interview without a purse; she wears no jewelry, only the slightest hint of makeup, and her manicure is au naturale. She exudes amazing charisma and self-assurance. While she is considered one of Hollywood’s most beautiful women, she easily admits that a few years ago, she struggled with her share of issues. Happily for her (and for the millions of fans who adore her), she has put her complexes behind her. A few weeks ago, she became Calvin Klein’s latest underwear model, a tidy coupe following her success in movies like 2 Fast 2 Furious and Hitch. She recently appeared in We Own the Night, starring alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg, but she confesses that making that movie was an enormous challenge.

What was the biggest challenge working on this movie?
“There were so many! For one, when I first got the script, I wasn’t thrilled with my role so I turned it down. Thankfully, the director asked for some changes to be made to my character to make her more assertive. A few months later, he sent me back the script, and I accepted it. Another challenge was working with well-known actors like Joaquin and Mark. I knew I had to be well prepared for every scene I did with them. They’re such good actors that you can’t just stutter your way through and that demands more work.” »

The first scene of We Own the Night is fairly sexually explicit. How did you prepare for that?
“With vodka! (She laughs). Seriously, I was really nervous, but I’m grateful that James Gray, the director, had the wisdom to shoot that scene at the end, so Joaquin and I already had lots of contact with each other, and we had become confident in our characters.”

That’s not too bad for a girl who dealt with major insecurity as a teenager.
“Really. I went through a hard time in my life from age 13 to 19. At school, I was one of those superficial girls who just wanted to be popular. I stopped studying and started getting into everything to do with fashion and boys. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but I was looking for happiness through frivolous stuff and, in the end, it didn’t make me happy. That’s why I was so torn and didn’t like myself. Anyone who had that kind of adolescence knows that it’s a terrible experience. On top of that, there was a guy at school who always made fun of me. He picked on me all the time and laughed at me in front of everyone. So I would invent any kind of illness, pain or excuse not to go to school. Can you imagine what it’s like to have to go somewhere you don’t like, knowing that when you get there, you’ll be the butt of everyone’s jokes? To make matters worse, I’ve never dealt well with conflict, so I didn’t know how to respond to the people who were poking fun at me. It was horrible.”

How did you get past that stage?
“It took a while, but everything falls into place in time, even our emotions, no matter how strong they may be. In time, I also met a boy who helped me feel more sure of myself and brought out the best in me.”

What advice do you have for teens who are going through similar experiences?
“I think that enduring it makes you grow. It’s incredible, but the saying ‘this too shall pass’ is so true. I still have that insecure 15-year-old girl inside me. Fortunately, I’m an actress, and I know how to make use of those moods.”

What do you do now when you’re in those moods?
“Nothing. I stay home in my pajamas and sleep all day and watch movies and cry. I also order pizza. It’s normal to feel sad every once in a while. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve learned that a better day will come, that nothing in this life lasts forever. Like I said before, ‘this too shall pass.’ ”