Zoe Saldaña gets real with sons about their culture: 'We're not just civil rights activists and martyrs, or criminals'
Actress Zoe Saldaña opened up about teaching her sons cultural awareness and the importance of representation in media in a recent interview with Latina.
Saldaña, 43, has three sons with her husband Marco Perego Saldaña. The two have been married since 2013.
The Avatar actress explained that she wants to make sure her sons grow up with a sense of accurate cultural representation, something she found to be lacking in the industry.
"I thought, 'We're not even enough [in the media industry] to write our own stories and represent ourselves,'" Saldaña said.
This led her to launch her own media company, BESE, in 2017 to amplify Latinx voices in media and ensure that the next generation, including her sons, get accurate representations of Latinx culture beyond stereotypical tropes and archetypes.
"I want my boys to know that within their culture, we're not just civil rights activists and martyrs, or criminals," she said.
She also expressed the importance of diversifying the media her kids interact with and highlighted the role books such as Junot Díaz's Islandborn play in instilling important cultural values in her children.
"They were transfixed when I read it to them. They couldn't believe such a monster would exist, but also that we come from people who fought for the independence of the Dominican Republic — and we're proud of that," she said.
In her latest Instagram post, she gave even more insight into her life as a working mom of three.
"A day in the life…." read the caption.
The short video featured clips of Saldaña wearing a pair of VR glasses, changing outfits and getting some unique face painting courtesy of her three children.
Fans loved the realness of the post, a contrast to the poised personas often presented on celebrity Instagrams.
"Here for the home w kids realness! You can have an impeccable house or you can have young kids but you can't have both, lol," read one comment.
"I just love how real you are with your media posting," another person wrote.
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