Zoë Saldana is a proud mom of boys.
The Avengers: Infinity War actress, 41, caught up with PEOPLE and other reporters on Thursday night at the Cadillac Oscar Celebration, where she opened up about how she and husband Marco Perego aren’t jonesing for a girl to complete their family. (The two are already parents to twin boys Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio, 5, plus their 3-year-old little brother Zen Anton Hilario.)
“The third one was supposed to be [a daughter] and then my husband just doesn’t give any girls,” Saldana joked to reporters during the event, which was held at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont. “I would have been great as a mother of daughters, but the universe, in its irony, and how I became a mom of three boys in the post-#MeToo movement [means] I’m accepting the challenge.”
Saldana is “having such a wonderful time” as a mom of sons, “because that means I get to witness and really nurture a young boy before he turns into a man, and I think that that’s the task for us mothers, as well.”
“We also have to take into account that these men that committed a whole bunch of atrocities towards women had mothers at home that were raising them,” she continued. “We’ve been active participants in either the neglect or in the installment of bad habits, so I’m paying really close attention and I’m accepting the challenge.”
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How Zoë Saldana Is Teaching Her Sons to Shoot Down Gender Stereotypes: They’re a “Blank Canvas”
Teaching her sons not to conform to gender stereotypes, the Avatar actress said, has “been a treat because allowing your boys to be vulnerable and sensible and not just allowing them to fight physically because, ‘Oh, boys will be boys’ — those kinds of terms just don’t exist in our home.”
” ‘Daddy’s little girl’ and ‘Mama’s boys,’ we don’t have that,” Saldana added. “My husband is the father and I’m the mother, but we are [both active] participants in the upbringing of [our kids] and that’s really important.”
The mother of three shared that her sons are already watching her movies and around her and their Italian artist father while the couple works in their respective fields.
“They’re going to know anyway; might as well just grow up around it,” Saldana said. “Our kids grow up in their father’s studio when he’s making his sculptures, and they’re playing with clay by his feet. So when I’m on set getting my green makeup, they’re in the trailer with me, inhaling all those fumes.”
As the green-skinned Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers films, Saldana has thrown around her fair share of impressive world-saving skills on screen.
“Some parents have made the observation [that my son says], ‘Oh, my mom plays a superhero.’ And I’m happy he said the world ‘plays’ as opposed to, ‘My mom is a superhero,’ ” she said. “That means that my son is now in control of our narrative because he’s on the same page as we are, because we’ve shared everything with him.”
As far as her son’s recent milestones go, Saldana revealed that Zen “just got potty trained” — and “he’s the one that learned it the quickest” out of all three of her kids.
“The cost of diapers has reduced dramatically in our home and its been five years,” the actress said. “Even though I’m not going to miss smelling certain scents around the house, I do miss the fact that I don’t have any babies now. I have three boys and so now we’re getting acquainted in this new phase in their lives. Every moment is a treat, and you don’t want to miss anything.”
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