Jordana Brewster is a pretty low key celebrity, which is surprising for someone who’s starred in one of the biggest movie franchises of our time (The Fast and the Furious movies). I didn’t know this but her mom was a Brazilian model who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1978. In an interview for Yahoo Life, Jordana talked about her mom sneaking her into an aerobics class when she was fifteen, pretending to be eighteen. The unspoken message that young Jordana picked up on was to prioritize weight loss/maintenance and looking camera-ready. She went on to have body image issues throughout her twenties, which she says kept her from living in the present. But her stunt training for The Fast and the Furious movies helped her to focus on strength instead of weight loss.

“I spent most of my 20s trying to fit into, like, a perfect box — which is impossible, really. And it’s a waste of time,” she says. “That’s what really sucks about being super self-critical or having body-image issues is that you’re just trapped in your head, and you’re not living in the present at all. So I think it just robs you of life, really.”

However, recognizing that the “Brazilian ideal” was much different from what was gaining popularity in the United States helped her to maintain a healthier relationship with her body than she might have.

“You always wanted a bunda, [Portuguese for ‘butt’],” Brewster says. “It was never like the 90’s heroin-chic thing.”

Now, at 43, it’s that multicultural upbringing that she credits for allowing her to enjoy movement without the intention of shrinking her body. “I’ve always loved being strong,” she says. That’s also driven her performance as Mia Toretto in the Fast & Furious franchise over the last 22 years.

“The more physical it is, the more fun it is for me,” she says of her role. “When you’re working with a stunt team, it’s almost like working with a dance troupe. It’s so meticulously choreographed and planned. …To be able to be healthy enough to land the choreography and to do it myself versus having someone do it for me, it’s like a badge of honor in a way. I want to keep doing that.”

[From Yahoo]

In previous years, Jordana has also talked about having eating disorders that she traced back to being unhappy in marriage. I can relate to that because most of my worst episodes with my own disordered eating were all directly related to bad boyfriends. I didn’t learn from my own family dynamic how to ask for what I needed or talk about my feelings, so in relationships, I sublimated all of my unspoken anger and anxiety into disordered eating. EDs are often triggered by something other than body image issues, like grief or trauma or bad relationships (the most famous example of that is probably Princess Diana). And yet body image issues can be part of the problem, as well. EDs tend to run in families, too. Body image and food stuff can be really complex. What Jordana says about “living in your own head” also rings true. You can’t relax in social situations because you’re worried about how you look/what people will think about what you are eating/how to hide whatever disordered thing it is you’re in the middle of. I’m glad that she loves doing stunt work so much because that kind of high intensity exercise places you completely in your body. I can’t think when I am weight lifting, it’s one of the only times (besides surfing!) where I feel completely embodied. Jordana seems to have turned a corner with it all and I’m happy she’s found some peace and some healing.

photos credit: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon