Actress Michelle Rodriguez has been open about the ups and downs she endured throughout her childhood, including time she spent in foster care.
While speaking at the 2022 A Sense of Home Gala, Michelle revealed, "I was about 6 years old, San Antonio, and I remember being ripped away from my mother and being put in the system. And that [expletive] is scary, excuse my language."
She continued, "It's a very scary experience to lose your sense of home. I was lucky enough to be reunited with my family three years later, but I'll never forget what it's like to not feel like you belong."
She added, "It's a very powerful and dark place that you can fall into. And love is something that's so important for every human to experience in their life, and I'm just happy to be here to support such a cause because I think what you're doing is great."
Michelle also grew up as a Jehovah's Witness, something that she has previously discussed at length. As she explained, "Birthdays and celebrating Halloween are evil. I didn't get to watch Disney movies until I was in my teens because of all the witchcraft."
However, it seems that her family has opened up in some ways. She added, "My family, I think, at the end of the day they set aside the differences."
This is particularly salient for Michelle because she is bisexual, something that her family hasn't always supported.
In 2020, she put it this way: "I like boys, I like girls, I like both. I've always kind of gone my own little way, I'm the rogue girl in Hollywood who's just kind of made my own path and not really cared what people think too much."
If her family has opened up somewhat, it still doesn't mean that Michelle spends a tremendous amount of time with them.
As she put it in 2020, "As far as spending lots of time with that side of the family, no. I grew up knowing that you're in this alone. Your mom gives birth to you, your family takes care of you, but in a sense you have to make your own in the world. For me, to have other people decide what that looks like, I could never live that life."
