the OG fast furious star and mom of two boys told us, “I love that my story can help women.”
Jordana Brewster is one of those faces you instantly recognize, even if you’ve never seen one of Fast and Furious movies, where as Mia Toretto she showed off her action chops as one of the only original stars since the franchise launched in 2001.
Brewster is arguably just as brave in real life. In recent years, she has opened up about health issues that were once considered taboo: in 2021, she wrote an essay for Charm about overcoming an eating disorder, spoke about using a surrogate after struggling to conceive and spoke openly about his grief for her Fast and Furious co-star Paul Walker, who died in 2013.
Now the 43-year-old mum of two stars of x fastthe last movie of fast furious franchise. Brewster spoke with The Healthy @Reader’s Digest about preparing for her physically intense role (which required post-filming physical therapy!), what it’s like to be the mother of two young athletes, and the health topics women used to talk about keep private.
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Jordana Brewster on family fitness
The Healthy @Reader’s Digest: You have two children who take after their action star mother as athletes themselves. How important is it to teach your children to stay active?
Jordana Brewster: Well, I get up at 5 a.m. every morning to train because I love to train while they sleep, so I can do it. But once in a while they wake up very early and then they join us. I think it’s actually very important for boys to expend all their energy before going to school. And even when they’ve finished school, they still need to move.
My little guy, Rowan, does football, jiu jitsu, lacrosse, softball and even after all that stuff he comes home and he’s like, ‘Let’s go throw a ball in the backyard. And I’m like, “Oh my God, how are you not exhausted?” Julian is a bit more artistic, but he also loves baseball and flag football.
The healthy: Impressive that you get up at 5am before they are woken up.
Jordana Brewster: It’s the only way to do it.
The healthy: Wow. You’ve partnered with Lysol’s new Lysol Laundry Sanitizer. Why was it a natural choice?
Jordana Brewster: I always expected to have girls because I was the tallest girl who ever played Barbies as a kid. So when I had boys, I was like, “How am I going to handle this?” Sport and the sports team have been a big change for me. The stench that comes with working out and dealing with that, I realized I really needed to boost my routine. I found this to be the only thing that takes away the stink. I love my boys, but they sweat so much and they play so hard that it’s essential to get rid of the stench. So it’s a very organic partnership.
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The healthy: I went from being germaphobic with my first child to softening up a bit with my second son. How do you strike a balance teaching them about health, cleanliness and germs, without overdoing it?
Jordana Brewster: I think it’s actually really important to get them involved in the chores. So a lot of times I’m like, “Put that in the laundry basket, put that in the laundry basket, take that to Mommy so we can…” I don’t let them do the laundry because I’m a bit of a laundry freak. control. . But I think having them in charge of their duties is a big deal. Then I also give them an allowance if they do their chores.
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Jordana Brewster on training for movies
The healthy: Tell us about your role in x fastthe last Fast and Furious movie. Was there any specific physical training you did for the film that isn’t part of your regular fitness routine?
Jordana Brewster: As I get older, I’m 43, I’m super balanced. I like to work the muscles that will make me stronger and feel stronger, and I want to be able to run every day. So I integrate Pilates and bodybuilding and a lot of stretching.
But with combat training, it’s very different because you’re doing everything right for the cameras. So I discovered that I was only working the right side of my body, kicking with my right leg, punching with my right arm. So the moment I got home I was like, “Wait, why am I so screwed up?” So I had to do a lot of physical therapy for that, but that’s the difference between real life and making things look really good on screen.
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Jordana Brewster on mental health and self-care
The healthy: We talk a lot about mental health on the site, and you’ve spoken in the past about dealing with the grief of your co-star and close friend, Paul Walker, and how the cast has continued to make room for it. . What did you find that helped you the most?
Jordana Brewster: I think what helps the most is not stifling your feelings or denying them in any way, and finding ways to honor it. I think today’s World Oceans Day and the Paul Walker Foundation are launching [an initiative]. I just think that in any way you can turn a huge negative into a positive by honoring him – I just want to keep his memory alive, so I’m doing it any way I can.
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The healthy: Playing and being a mother of two children is a lot in itself. What does your self-care look like when you need to decompress? Is there a self-care routine you refuse to skip?
Jordana Brewster: The self-care routine I refuse to skip is baths. I love taking baths. I love to sleep and meditation helps me a lot. It helps center me because I think as a mom you juggle, or you drive to sporting events, you drive to school events, you do so many things. So to be able to center yourself and say, “OK, wait, how am I feeling right now? Where’s my energy? I think recording is really, really important. So I have to remember to doing daily.And also to model that for your kids is really important.
The healthy: How long has meditation been part of your life?
Jordana Brewster: It’s been about 15 years. Then once I had kids, to be perfectly honest, meditating twice a day for 20 minutes wasn’t sustainable. So now I do a shorter meditation. I do this for about seven minutes. And often I lure my children into it. I’m like, ‘OK, let’s do this. Now we are going to do a mindfulness meditation,” where I get them to breathe differently so they are aware of their breathing. Because I find that children can also be much more overwhelmed than before because they are exposed to so much now.
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Jordana Brewster’s Healthy Habits
The healthy: Do you have any skincare rituals you do?
Jordana Brewster: My biggest skincare ritual is what my mom taught me a long, long time ago. She was like, “Never, ever go to bed with your makeup on.” And so I don’t. I’m really, really good at making sure my skin is clean.
The healthy: What about nutrition? You were upfront about your relationship with food and how the therapy helped. What has been the response you have received since then from women for speaking out, and what has continued to help you?
Jordana Brewster: I find that the more honest I am, and the more open I am, the more outpouring of responses I get from my peers, which I really like. So I like that it resonates with women. I love that my story can help them in some way.
As a mom, I also try to model healthy eating and not being controlling, but I find that can be very difficult. And I also have to remember that just because I have boys doesn’t mean they don’t internalize negative messages like, “Oh, don’t eat that because it’s bad.” I try not to make it bad or good. But sometimes this program is so integrated that it’s difficult. But I have to check myself.
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The healthy: You have been a strong health advocate on many issues, almost ahead of your time in some ways. You were part of the Clearblue Design Campaign. These days, many women talk about fertility issues. Are you still involved in the campaign and what did you learn that could be useful to other women?
Jordana Brewster: I’m not involved in the campaign, but like when I came out and talked about eating issues and my struggle with it, when I came out and spoke very openly about surrogacy , a lot of women reached out and said, “What was your background? Do you have any advice?” It was really, really helpful and therapeutic for me to be able to share and give back because I had a very positive experience, and I have two beautiful boys thanks to surrogacy.
So yeah, I was really grateful to be able to have this opportunity and to destigmatize and educate other women about the opportunities that are out there.
The healthy: On the heels of x fastyou have a new sci-fi movie, simulatingcoming.
Jordana Brewster: simulating was very prescient. I play a widow who lost her husband and then chooses to bring him back via this robot. It’s very similar to AI and what we’re all talking about right now. While we were filming it, I hadn’t realized how close we were to reality. … We’re grappling with the same themes right now.