Her look for this photo shoot may be unusually stripped back, but Modern Family star SOFIA VERGARA never holds back – which is exactly why we love her. CELIA WALDEN meets the actress to find out about life according to Sofia.
STEREOTYPES ARE STEREOTYPES FOR A REASON
“I’m not afraid of them, and they don’t have to be bad, either. I mean, Gloria [Delgado-Pritchett, played by Vergara in Modern Family] is an amazing character: a really good woman with this hilarious accent, so why criticize her for being a stereotype? Plus, all the Latinas I know are loud, they dress sexy and are really involved with their families: that’s Gloria!”
NEVER BELIEVE A WOMAN WHO SAYS SHE’S ZEN ABOUT AGING
“Watching myself age on screen is awful! There is nothing more disturbing than watching an episode of Modern Family from the first season, then one from seven years later. It just makes me want to ***********, but what can I do? I’ll be sad when the wolf whistles stop. I’m already sad that men have started calling me ‘Señora’. I get really p***** off: ‘What? It’s Señorita!’”
A WOMAN’S FORTIES AREN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE
“Back in my mum’s era, 40 was considered old, but now I don’t think it is. You have to accept that you can look beautiful, but in a different way. Nowadays I don’t do miniskirts and low-cut tops: it’s one or the other. I don’t do shorts or pink anymore, and I’ve softened my eye makeup. In Colombia, once women hit 40, they automatically cut their hair short. I used to think I would do that too, but when it came to it I thought, ‘Why should I f***ing cut my hair? It makes you look older!’”
YOU CAN BE A MAN’S WOMAN AND A WOMAN’S WOMAN
“I know; I am both. I love hanging out with guys and going to basketball games – but I have a better time with my girlfriends. A lot of my closest friends are back in Colombia, but we’re connected all the time, so if I’m having trouble picking a dress for the Oscars, I’ll just WhatsApp them and ask what they think.”
KIDS ARE GREAT WHATEVER YOUR AGE
“I became a mother very young – at 20 – so I feel like I’ve been a mother my whole life, but I love that. Now that I’m 43 and my son [Manolo, with first husband Joe Gonzalez] is 23, it’s funny to see some of my girlfriends raising young kids. In the US, women postpone motherhood, but in Latin America most of my friends have kids my son’s age. I wouldn’t mind another child: my husband [actor Joe Manganiello, 39] is younger than me and he wants kids so we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do. The idea of doing it all again doesn’t scare me but, hey, it’s not like it’s going to happen naturally, is it?”
PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE
“Joe and I didn’t just [ban phones at our wedding] for us, but so that everyone could have a break. And actually all the guests [at the ceremony at The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach Florida last November] said they really enjoyed it, because they were dancing and talking to each other and really involved, so it turned out to be the best idea.”
YOU WON’T HEAR COMPLAINTS FROM ME ABOUT DIVERSITY
“I’m really not one to complain. I mean, seriously, how dare I! Here I am on prime-time television with this stupid accent, I can’t trash anyone. It would be so ungrateful of me because, trust me, I’ve been treated like a queen. Of course [the opportunities] can’t compare to an American or Caucasian woman’s, but things are changing. The problem is not the networks or directors: it’s that there aren’t enough writers creating things for Latinos. Once we have more Latinos writing, that’s when things may really start to change…”
REESE WITHERSPOON IS A GODDESS
“When we made Hot Pursuit together, I really fell in love with her. She’s had three kids and the most amazing career – and she looks like a 12-year-old! While we were filming in New Orleans she would get on a plane to LA for one day just to see her kids. I’d love to work on another project with her. She’s a superwoman… and she’s younger than me!”
LAUGH AT YOURSELF
“You have to make more of an effort when you’re not beautiful, which is maybe why there aren’t many beautiful women who can laugh at themselves. I never thought that I was that spectacular growing up. I was very skinny (I only got my shape later on in life, after I had my son) and even though people told me I was beautiful, I didn’t know I could milk it in this way! But then I figured out I could…”
KEEP A TAILOR, NOT A PET
“My body has changed with age. People will often say that I wear the same thing on the red carpet, but I know my body: it’s very voluptuous and I’ve got the boobs of a stripper. They’re a 32DDD and because they’re real, they’re everywhere, so I need my dresses to have structure – and under armor. There is so much going on under my dresses that I bleed at the end of award ceremonies. In ten years I think it would be good to have a reduction. I don’t think it’s even going to be an option not to [have surgery], because I’m going to start having back pains. I wouldn’t make them too small – just enough that I don’t end up looking like an old stripper.”
I DON’T WANT MODERN FAMILY TO END...
“It’s been my life for seven years and I could do it forever. We’re all involved in each other’s problems and break-ups and I feel especially protective of Rico Rodriguez [who plays Manny, Gloria’s son]. He was a kid and now he’s a 17-year-old man with a moustache. It’s true that [the show is] a lot of work (we shoot five days a week, seven months a year), but the set is 15 minutes away from my house in Beverly Hills and, because it’s comedy, you don’t ever go home exhausted from crying or action sequences: there’s just a lot of laughter involved.”
TURN THE TABLES
“I’ve never understood why women get so offended [by being objectified]. I just don’t believe in all that drama, which is why I’ve made a whole joke out of it. I am secure enough not to take it all that seriously, and I like to laugh at myself. My husband played a male stripper in Magic Mike – do you think he was offended by [the objectification]? I thought it was hilarious. As for whether he has ever danced for me, I really couldn’t say…”
ALWAYS EAT THE COOKIES
“I’ve got a pretty good metabolism, but there’s always going to be a photo shoot or award ceremony coming up, and my problem is that when I gain weight it all goes to my boobs – the last place I need it. I’ll have a salad with chicken and my piece of cake after. At The EDIT’s shoot I had my salad, then two cookies – but one had got stuck to another, so I had to have all three!”
