Michelle Rodriguez Talks Violence in Video Games and What Would Happen If You Hurt Her Mother

Michelle Rodriguez gets hands-on with the 'Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3' Beta (Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)
Michelle Rodriguez gets hands-on with the 'Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3' Beta (Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)

Michelle Rodriguez is exactly as you'd imagine her to be, and then some. Though the 37-year-old actress has cultivated an image of being a bit of a bad girl who can hang with the boys, she isn't some adrenaline junkie with no time for deep thinking. In fact, she works in some of her best quality quiet time while she's dominating first-man shooter video games (like Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which she especially loves for its "bad-a-- chick avatars" who stand apart from female characters of games past).

Rodriguez "blames" her brother, who studied computer engineering, for getting her hooked on video games when she was still rather young. "He introduced me to Doom and that opened me up to that whole world," she explained to Yahoo. "I'm not a big fan of fantasy stuff, but if you give me a first man shooter, I really get turned on."

Michelle Rodriguez in gaming action (Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)
Michelle Rodriguez in gaming action (Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)

And yes, her love of this virtual world has definitely influenced her career. "The other video game I really got into was Resident Evil. That's why I was a part of the movie. I called the director and I was like, 'Yo, dude, hook it up!'" she recalled with a laugh.

But while she's a fan of the shooter genre, she's not deaf to the criticisms that exposing people (kids and teens in particular) to such a violent virtual world encourages violence in real life. However, that hardly means she's buying the connection.

"At the end of the day — and this is coming from somebody now who's getting a nutritionist to become full vegan and is as non-violent as they come, though if you hurt my mother, I would kill you — there are certain triggers that every human being has," she said. (Hers is if you hurt her mother, obviously.) "But look, there are logical human beings in society and there are illogical human beings in society and I think illogical people are going to turn to violence regardless, just because they're f---ed up in the head."

She continued on, arguing, "I don't think video games have anything to do with that because at the end of the day, that's what freedom of speech is all about. That's what living in a free world is all about. I mean, you could show me somebody chopping somebody's head off. It's not going to make me want to chop somebody's head off."

Related: Michelle Rodriguez: I 'Couldn't Last More Than 6 Months' in a Relationship'

She went on to say that this type of video game is a lot like chess (noting that no one seems to have a problem with chess) and urged parents to shift their energy: "I think parents should start focusing more on teaching their children well, rather than talking smack about what's out there in the world."

Michelle Rodriguez looking killer at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation 2nd Annual Saint-Tropez Gala (Le Segretain/Hekimian/Getty Images)
Michelle Rodriguez looking killer at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation 2nd Annual Saint-Tropez Gala (Le Segretain/Hekimian/Getty Images)

For her, playing video games is not only non-violent, but actually calming. "That's my meditation, you know. I'm sitting there playing video games and listening to audio books," she revealed. "The audio books help me feel like I'm not wasting my life while I'm playing video games and playing video games just calms me."

One time she's not calm, however, is when she's behind the wheel. In fact, she loves the thrill of feeling like she's "flying" so much that she's hosting a show on Yahoo Auto called Riding Shotgun With Michelle Rodriguez. Since she's a staple in the blockbuster Fast & Furious franchise and she now has her own show that will feature her, well, driving, it's hard not to wonder what kind of driver she is in real life.

"I am an annoying girl in a Prius!" she laughed without one bit of shame. "Sometimes, if someone's really slow, I'll go into the turning lane — like, if we're at a red light and I've been behind you for like 20 minutes and I'm tired of how slow you drive — I'll pull up to that side part where you're supposed to turn and then at the last minute I'll turn my blinker on and pass you." She qualified this (possibly frowned-upon) driving move, though. "I'm not going to pull up in front of you and then slow down just to like, make a point. I just want to get out of there!"

Still, she knows her driving rubs some people the wrong way. "People get annoyed with me, but that's the kind of driver I am," she added.

Somewhere in the midst of mastering Call of Duty: Black Ops III, starring in movies and TV shows, and spicing up the road with her driving style, Rodriguez is working towards one other (previously mentioned) goal: becoming vegan.

"I'm not vegan yet," she was quick to clarify. "I've got to get a nutritionist because my blood type won't break down the greens the way normal people do."

When they come up with a "badass chick" vegan avatar, we'll know the future is now.