Eiza Gonzalez

Summary

Podcast Summary: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard – Episode: Eiza Gonzalez

Host and Guest Introduction

• [00:00] Dax Shepard welcomes listeners to the episode, introducing Aza Gonzalez—a multifaceted artist known for her roles in Baby Driver, Body Problem, and more. Monica Padman co-hosts the episode alongside Dax.

Early Life and Education

• [15:18] Aza Gonzalez shares her upbringing in a non-wealthy family in Mexico, emphasizing her mother's role as the breadwinner and her father's influence, who was a graphic designer with a passion for languages.
  • “My dad was extremely talented but not very successful in business. He was an incredible father figure and prioritized my education.” [15:08]
• [15:45] Aza attended both American and British schools, becoming fully fluent in English from a young age, and spent time in Italy to learn Italian, reflecting her diverse educational background.

Acting Career in Mexico and Transition to the U.S.

• [23:07] Aza Gonzalez discusses her early acting career in Mexican soap operas, starting at age 14 with Floricienta, followed by Lola. The transition to the U.S. market was challenging due to typecasting and cultural differences.
  • “When I moved here, the industry flipped completely. I felt insecure as my artistry was limited to stereotypical Latin roles.” [18:38]
• [40:38] Aza recounts how she was discovered by Robert Rodriguez while appearing on Univision, leading to opportunities in the U.S. film industry without traditional representation.
  • “Mary Bernuelli cast me after seeing me in a bridal shoot. It was surreal.” [40:26]

Personal Struggles and Overcoming Adversity

• [23:28] Aza shares the traumatic experience of losing her father at age 12 in a motorcycle accident, which thrust her into the acting world as a coping mechanism.
  • “I was a grieving, depressed, anxious child forced into child stardom.” [25:26]
• [28:57] She details the harsh criticism she faced in Mexico, including derogatory remarks about her appearance and talent, which fueled her desire to escape to the U.S.
  • “Magazines sold distorted narratives about me, leading to lifelong insecurity.” [28:31]

Navigating Cultural Identity in Hollywood

• [17:24] Aza Gonzalez highlights the complexities of maintaining her Mexican identity in Hollywood, where casting often requires her to conform to specific ethnic stereotypes.
  • “In Mexico, we all were proud to be Mexican without emphasizing specific indigenous backgrounds. In the U.S., my identity was constantly questioned.” [17:58]
• [22:57] She discusses the pressure to fit into certain roles and the frustration of limited opportunities based on her ethnicity.
  • “I felt my artistry was constrained to playing stereotypical Latin characters, which was disheartening.” [22:05]

Relationships and Personal Life

• [29:00] Aza recounts a tumultuous relationship where her boyfriend's sex tape scandalously intertwined with her personal life, leading to public scrutiny and eventual departure from Mexico.
  • “My life felt like a soap opera, filled with chaos and drama that was hard to escape.” [29:10]
• [67:03] Dax Shepard and Monica discuss Dax’s relationship with Kristen, highlighting the challenges of dating while working together on a movie.

Professional Highlights and Roles

• [43:20] Aza speaks about her role in Baby Driver, highlighting the experience of working with industry heavyweights like Jamie Foxx and Edgar Wright.
  • “Edgar was so kind and allowed me to create freely, which was inspiring despite my nerves.” [43:22]
• [44:09] She details her involvement in blockbuster films like Hobbs & Shaw and the challenges of coordinating schedules with multiple high-profile projects.
  • “Shooting Godzilla vs. Kong in Australia was intense, but it led to being part of major franchises.” [44:14]
• [55:52] Monica Padman and Dax discuss Aza’s work in I Care a Lot, praising her performance in psychologically intense roles.
  • “You did an incredible job. I was blown away.” [58:26] Dax Shepard

Challenges in Acting and Industry Dynamics

• [59:37] Aza reflects on the limitations and pressures of acting in the U.S., contrasting it with her extensive career in Mexico.
  • “In Mexico, I was a recognized star, but here, I had to rebuild from scratch amidst constant typecasting.” [38:46]
• [62:22] Dax Shepard and Monica Padman delve into Aza’s roles in psychological thrillers and horror films, highlighting the emotional toll and artistic fulfillment from these intense projects.

Cultural Commentary and Social Issues

• [96:20] Dax and Monica engage in a deep discussion about societal perceptions of young men, incel culture, and the impact of media on gender dynamics.
  • “The narrative unfairly targets young white men who lack power and control, necessitating a nuanced conversation.” [96:49] Dax Shepard
• [99:16] They explore the broader implications of relationship dynamics, age disparities, and the evolving roles of men and women in modern society.

Lighthearted and Humorous Segments

• [03:02] Aza Gonzalez humorously mentions discontinuing hot dogs after a prank by her brother.
  • “One day, I stopped eating hot dogs after learning every piece contains human DNA from a dubious source.” [04:05]
• [50:00] The hosts engage in playful banter about movie scenes, with Aza describing raunchy and humorous moments from her projects.
  • “We have a scene where I'm pegging a man with a strap-on, which got scrapped for being too raunchy.” [48:14]

Closing Remarks

• [72:33] Dax Shepard encourages listeners to watch Aza’s latest horror film, Ash, emphasizing the communal experience of movie-going.
  • “I highly recommend watching Ash. It's a great film that offers a thrilling communal experience.” [72:31]
• The episode concludes with friendly exchanges and a reminder to follow Armchair Expert on various platforms.

Notable Quotes

• Aza Gonzalez: “Every time I'd walk into a restaurant or go somewhere, they would call me. They knew, but people here didn't know who I was. It was brutal.” [38:28]
• Dax Shepard: “If someone breaks up with you after three months, it's a disaster. But at least you've lived through it.” [68:14]
• Aza Gonzalez: “I hate people who get incriminated for things they didn't do. It's like criminal justice wrongfully convicting someone.” [39:24]
• Monica Padman: “Most women would prefer to be in a partnership, something more serious rather than being alone.” [100:11]

Insights and Conclusions

• Cultural Identity: Aza’s journey underscores the challenges of maintaining cultural identity within Hollywood’s often rigid ethnic casting standards.
• Resilience: Overcoming early-life trauma and public scrutiny showcases Aza’s resilience and dedication to her craft.
• Industry Dynamics: The discussion highlights systemic issues in the entertainment industry, such as typecasting and representation.
• Gender and Relationships: The conversation delves into societal expectations and evolving dynamics between men and women, emphasizing the need for empathy and understanding.
• Personal Growth: Aza’s experiences reflect personal growth through navigating diverse roles and overcoming adversity, inspiring listeners to embrace their unique journeys.

Conclusion This episode of Armchair Expert with Aza Gonzalez offers a compelling blend of personal anecdotes, professional insights, and cultural commentary. Aza’s candid discussions about her struggles, triumphs, and the intricacies of the acting world provide listeners with a deep understanding of her as both an artist and an individual. The heartfelt and humorous exchanges between the hosts and Aza create an engaging narrative that celebrates human resilience and the pursuit of authenticity.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondri in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan shepherd and I'm joined by Lily Padman.

[Monica Padman]

Hi there.

[Dax Shepard]

Today we have Aza Gonzalez on. Yes, Aza is an actor. She is a singer. Ministry of Ungentlemanly warfare. Baby driver 3 body problem, ambulance bloodshot in a new movie out that I quite enjoyed. Yeah, very moonlight. As I say in the episode, if anyone remembers that great Sam Rockwell movie called Ash.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, Ash.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I just saw something about Ash on maybe Instagram. Some friends had seen it and they were raving about it.

[Dax Shepard]

They were raving. Yeah, it's an intense. It's got that, as I think I said in the episode, it's got that kind of substance. Y Tenchy.

[Monica Padman]

Ooh, we love a tench.

[Dax Shepard]

It was really good. Really good. Please enjoy Aza Gonzalez. This episode is supported by FX's Dying for Sex, starring Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate. Inspired by a true story, this series follows Molly who after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis, decides to leave her husband to explore the full breadth of her sexual desires.

[Monica Padman]

She.

[Dax Shepard]

She gets the courage and support to go on this sex quest from her best friend Nikki, who stays by her side through it all. FX is dying for sex. All episodes streaming April 4th on Hulu. We are supported by Drunk Elephant. Oh, my father would be so happy at the name Drunk Elephant.

[Monica Padman]

Great brand.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

I know. Not too oily. That's a huge thing in a moisturizer.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

She has bad news.

[Dax Shepard]

Great. I love bad news.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I have amazing life changing information for you because of your hot dogs.

[Monica Padman]

This is what started it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Okay, I'm nervous.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't tell me anything negative about hot dogs.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I fear it will be happening. Are you traumatized by this? And this was a day that I stopped eating hot dogs.

[Monica Padman]

This is a good example of how you. If you care about something, you can twist it because. Well, tell him the fact, and then I'll tell you how I twisted it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, because we were talking about your pictures and your paintings, celebs on sandwiches. I said, wow, who would pick a hot dog as their favorite sandwich? Is that a sandwich?

[Monica Padman]

That's the big question.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I used to be obsessed with hot dogs.

[Dax Shepard]

What were your favorites before we ruined it?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'm not American, so I would just settle for a regular whatever.

[Monica Padman]

Oscar Meyer.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, I mean, I wish we even had that.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you have a street dog? Cause I like the street dog.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I have a Mexican bacon. I don't have anything from the street. Street food is, like, everything for me. So anyway, I was obsessed with hot dogs, and I'd eat them all the time until my brother. I have a brother who's 12 years older than me and likes to ruin my. He was like, do you know it's proven that every single piece of hot dog has human DNA in it? Like, there's human flesh.

[Monica Padman]

And then she just looked it up.

[Dax Shepard]

On what website? Willows.com.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It'S called hey, Siri and Siri is AI. Hey, Siri, is there human DNA in hot dogs? In other words, yes.

[Monica Padman]

Your hot dogs are going to have a little human DNA on them. This answer is from Men's Health dot com.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, well, I don't know about Men's Health.

[Monica Padman]

Also, she started in the middle. She said, in other words, what's before that?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

What is before that?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Why did she edit her own? Why would AI? She made a mistake.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. She's.

[Aza Gonzalez]

In summary, I think I did have a deep dive when I figured this whole thing out, and it's a scary percentage. Definitely, like a 5% of human flesh, which is pretty high.

[Dax Shepard]

Hold on, though. Hold on.

[Aza Gonzalez]

For a hot dog, pretty high.

[Dax Shepard]

We are playing it a little fast and loose with DNA and now human flesh.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But I'm saying that it started with flesh and then I kind of unraveled.

[Dax Shepard]

But if guys operate in the grinding machine, one of their hair strands falls in. That's human DNA. They grind it good. I'm going to claim more of a Jonathan Haidt version, which is like, this is moral dumbfounding. We eat animals. We draw very arbitrary Distinctions between which ones we eat and which ones we don't.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Culturally, some more than others.

[Dax Shepard]

So, I mean, I don't know. Is someone going to get killed so I can eat them? Big ethical issue.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I guess it is all a mental.

[Dax Shepard]

State for you though, the notion of having some human.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It was a done deal for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Look up.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Not really my think.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not mine either. Again, I don't desire to eat a human. It's whether or not I can handle it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

On the surface. Look at Rob. Cute wobby wob. And then look at a pig sitting in its shit.

[Aza Gonzalez]

No disrespect, I'd be more sad to eat a pig than eat him. I'd be more sad.

[Dax Shepard]

Sad because, you know, he's not a good boy.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I mean, he looks. I don't know him, but he looks like if I had to compare it to a little pig who's sitting there just like.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess I'm just saying hygienically, get Rob out of the shower, and then the pig's sitting in his shit and it eats shit and you go like. Like, well, what would be smarter to eat?

[Aza Gonzalez]

You're not wrong.

[Dax Shepard]

You're an alien and you're evaluating one of these animals. Am I going to eat. One's wallowing in its shit and another guy just hopped out of the shower.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, but humans are so gross.

[Dax Shepard]

You think grosser than a.

[Monica Padman]

In our hidden environments, we're disgusting.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It's true. It's really hard to say. I do think that sometimes animals can be cleaner than humans. They lick their own booty holes.

[Dax Shepard]

You need think that's clean.

[Aza Gonzalez]

They're so clean. You ain't cleaning your booty hole as much as the hell I'm not a cat.

[Dax Shepard]

Is a. 80% of my shower shower is focused on my anus, trust me. And I have a brondol where I spray water after every. And then I left out that I also clean when I do that.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But are you like a full hand cleaner?

[Dax Shepard]

I'm neurotic.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You go like in.

[Dax Shepard]

Are we talking wiping or cleansing with water?

[Aza Gonzalez]

No, like in shower. Are you like a full hand cleaner or you're just like a toss of water into it?

[Monica Padman]

No, you gotta get in there.

[Dax Shepard]

Listen, there's multiple steps. So first is I lather a ton of soap and do a full scrub. Then I rinse because I don't want anything gross touching the soap. And then I go hard with the bar of soap.

[Monica Padman]

Wait.

[Dax Shepard]

And I.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Wait, wait, wait.

[Dax Shepard]

Really rub the bar soap not in it.

[Monica Padman]

Wait. First you don't want the soap touching it, and then you use the soap directly.

[Dax Shepard]

I use soapy hands to get the first round of whatever off. Then I rinse everything. So now it's pretty clean. And now I go in with the direct bar of soap.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Direct bar.

[Dax Shepard]

So, yeah, that feels kind of erotic.

[Aza Gonzalez]

No, I don't know about that.

[Monica Padman]

Humans being disgusted.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, that feels. Is this a morning shower? That feels aggressive in the morning? Just a whole bar.

[Dax Shepard]

You guys are very judgmental of this. I'm wondering, how are you cleaning your butts? I hope not. Splashing water.

[Monica Padman]

I'm up in there, too.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'm up in there, but I'm not a bar girl. I'm like a liquid soap. I'm kind of crazy about that.

[Monica Padman]

I have a bar soap.

[Dax Shepard]

And are you putting it directly on your.

[Monica Padman]

I normally use hands, also a lather, but I do get in there. I am sure that I am very.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But I think it's for girls that's more normal. When we were little, my mom, with her hand, very Mexican of her, would be like, in my butt like that. With girls, it's a bit more normal. I feel like guys. By the way, I have showered with men at one point in my life. An array of different routines.

[Dax Shepard]

Do we jump right to Du Mel? Because, you know, I'm friends with Dumel. Oh, God. Did you date Dumel? Did I see this?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes, we dated.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I'm so envious of him in this way. He seems effortlessly masculine. He can't not be masculine. He just seems to have these huge haunches. I'm like, how much are you working out? He's like, I don't know. Occasionally. And I'm like, you have that frame. But I could see him in the shower just, like, walking through and being on his way.

[Monica Padman]

Hold on. I want to give you. Because I was hard on you, and I actually want to commend you now because I do appreciate that you, as a guy, really care about it being clean. Because I do think a lot of guys don't. And then they just have skid marks and they think, who gives a. But really, you should care.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you really should care.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I totally care.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And you should do two rounds, and you should use the soap.

[Aza Gonzalez]

This is across the board. Not women or men. So my mom's an orthodontist.

[Dax Shepard]

Former model, too, right?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Former model, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So did she learn orthodontia later?

[Aza Gonzalez]

So it was the other way around. So my mom, one out of eight brothers and sisters from, like, a very small town, and she was the only one that got out. She got a full scholarship in Mexico City when she was 18. And then, crazy lady, she might kill me for saying this, but she got pregnant the first time she ever had sex with my brother. So she was super young. She was studying to be an orthodontist. And then she had to work because she had to support my brother.

[Dax Shepard]

Because that dad did not stick around.

[Aza Gonzalez]

No, no, he's not around.

[Dax Shepard]

He was out.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And so she started modeling simultaneously because a friend of hers was like, I have extra jobs. And then so much more money as a model. She had a master degree and she was an orthodontist for like three months. And then she was like, well, the model life is paying me more. So she did it for a very long time.

[Dax Shepard]

Did she do your braces?

[Aza Gonzalez]

See, I never had braces. I hate to be that person.

[Monica Padman]

They're literally perfect. They look like veneers.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's very sweet. Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

I, like, really want to get in there now. They're incredible.

[Monica Padman]

They're so white.

[Aza Gonzalez]

So when I was little, all the cool girls had braces in my school. Did that happen here too?

[Monica Padman]

Retainers. People would go and get a retainer.

[Dax Shepard]

All the cool girls had cool girls?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

In middle school, it was a thing.

[Aza Gonzalez]

All the cool girls had braces and they would change. I remember the band Halloween they had, and I was obsessed with it and I really wanted it. And I would torment my dentist, who was not my mother, but they studied together. And he was like, you don't need them. And I begged forever. And now I'm like, wow. I really was clueless about what I was begging for.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you want a cast, too?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I had that from scratch. I've been in the hospital in and out probably past 40 times in my life.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah. I was a very accident prone kid from age negative zero.

[Dax Shepard]

Because you are a risk taker or you're clumsy by nature.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I think it's a combination of both.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a bad combo if you're a risk taker and you have bad balance.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I mean, it was an ongoing joke constantly that I'd be standing and fall. My mom was like, you're just standing there, like, how did you fall?

[Monica Padman]

It's like you're on roller skates, but.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You'Re not all the time. I've been very lucky because I've had impact to the face, you name it. Broken nose in six pieces.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Monica Padman]

And it still looks like that I fixed it later. Okay.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It was a mess. This is unfair because I broke it at 11, I went straight into a. You remember we had coolers outside instead of acs, and I ran straight into a tube at night playing hide and seek. Five pieces. Concussion broke it completely. Like, I have a Harry Potter scar on my forehead.

[Monica Padman]

I love you.

[Aza Gonzalez]

One year old. This is a table. This is jumping in the shower.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. If I was your mom, I would be like, I'm putting you in a bubble.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But to the point of the dentistry of it all.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Aza Gonzalez]

If you brush your teeth, you need to brush your tongue.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

This is the one thing I constantly see that kills me. I'm like, I cannot kiss you. You. Now, if I've seen that you don't scrape your tongue, you don't get a scraper.

[Monica Padman]

Tongue, scrapers.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't have to go to the nuclear option.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Especially if you're shoving that piece of that part of your face into somebody else. My mouth.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's the least. As a respect to you.

[Monica Padman]

I agree.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to promote one of my own products right now to you. A movie called Hit and Run because I directed it. I got to do the thing I always wanted to do, which is in movies, no one ever brushes their tongue. And I brush my tongue specifically till I gag. That's when I know I've gotten.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes, because you're also taking care of your health, brain health, everything.

[Dax Shepard]

So in the movie, I'm brushing my tongue and I gag and almost throw up and there's toothpaste everywhere. And that's in the film. And I felt like I had the first really authentic teeth brushing.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It's important, you know, the one movie also that I remember very clear in my head when I was young, and I was like, oh, wow, this is realistic. Bring it on.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, loved.

[Aza Gonzalez]

The brother and the girl are in the bathroom and they're brushing their teeth, and she stays over at Gabrielle Union's. No, that's the bad girls. The main Kirsten Dunst. Yeah, it's Kirsten Dunst. And then they're brushing their teeth with Kirsten Dunst's brother, and they're going in. It's a whole scene of them sort of flirting, brushing their teeth, and she's going into the tongue.

[Dax Shepard]

And they kept it in. I guess it's not novel.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You did it, too.

[Dax Shepard]

She didn't gag, though, did she?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I don't think she didn't do it. I don't know.

[Monica Padman]

We'll have to go back and watch for the fact check.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Important cleansing. Your tongue.

[Dax Shepard]

So your mother has your brother who's 12 years older than you. And she's an orthodontist turned model. When does she meet your dad?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I think they meet when my brothers, around 8.

[Dax Shepard]

And what did your dad do?

[Aza Gonzalez]

My dad was a graphic designer.

[Dax Shepard]

Was he from Mexico City?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I got a side note. We went for the first time over Christmas, and I cannot believe how much I loved it. It's incredible, right as fucking city.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I love to see what's happened with Mexico City, because when I moved to the US 10 years ago, we're saying that everything for us is 10 years ago, even though we've been here for, like, probably six decades. When I moved here, every time I said I was from Mexico, they were like, how's Mexico? Like, I feel like a lot of people were sort of on the fence of going. And in the past seven to eight years, it's changed so drastically. Every time I say I'm from Mexico, someone says, my God, I love Mexico City. Oh, my God, I love San Miguel de Allende. Oh, my God, I love Merida. The amount of people that have embraced Mexico, everything progresses. And I think that cities get better. And I definitely feel like Mexico City, especially after Covid, got much better because so many people travel to Mexico because it was open in the middle of the country. I'm glad that you had an amazing time. I mean, hey, I'm a patriotic Mexican. Is that a thing? Can you be a patriot?

[Dax Shepard]

Of course, yeah. Yeah. From anywhere. Okay. So you seem on the surface because you went to a couple private schools, One of them was like an American school. It was pretty privileged.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I did have, in the sense, a privileged education, but with parents that worked really hard. My school was very expensive. It was one of the best when it came to education. But my family wasn't wealthy in comparison to everyone else. You know, Carlos Slim's kids were there. We didn't have that type of money. My mom, you know, was truly the breadwinner of the house. My dad was incredibly talented, but not very successful at businesses. And so he was an incredible father figure to me because he spent a lot of physical time with me. And his priority number one for me was education, because he didn't get that. And so he really wanted me to be like, a lawyer, a doctor.

[Dax Shepard]

I hope you've played a lawyer or a doctor.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I have. I played a scientist and an amt, so it was helpful.

[Monica Padman]

So you did it for him.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It did.

[Dax Shepard]

What was the American school?

[Aza Gonzalez]

It's interesting. So I went half my life to an American school. Does that just mean English International Yes. People that flew from America, all their kids were there, or people that worked for the embassy and stuff like that. And then my other half of my education, I went to a British school. American meant it was full English all day long, no Spanish. So I had geography, math, chemistry, everything in English. So I was fully fluent in English since I was a baby. I don't even remember learning another language.

[Dax Shepard]

And your parents put in that effort because they just wanted the whole world to be open to you. Did they specifically see you going to the US that was.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Never thought my dad had a fixation with languages, so he really was hyper focused on me speaking multiple languages. And I do. I was his only daughter and his only kid. My dad really didn't want any artistic sort of influence in my life in the sense of, like, music. And my mom was a naughty one who would take me to dance or singing, and he was like, stop distracting her from 17 different languages.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

You went to Italy at 10 for a minute to learn Italian?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes. So my family lives in Italy.

[Dax Shepard]

Your extended family?

[Aza Gonzalez]

From my mom's side. I went to Trento to learn Italian when I was little.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you done a 23andMe?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I actually haven't because I'm paranoid of human DNA, as you can tell.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't even want to know about your own human DNA.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But I should, because I do know that I have a little bit of everything.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What do you think you have? Because, mind you, what I thought I had didn't prove out in the data.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Have you done it?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, we had to do it. And I'm 100% Indian pure.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That is incredible.

[Monica Padman]

I'm so pure, by the way.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's so funny to me because when I moved to the us when I would ask people, where are you from? They'd be like, yeah, yeah, I'm American. Italian, Spanish with a quarter Cherokee. And I was like, that is. Is, with all due respect, such an American thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Tell us you guys don't do that in Mexico.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'd be like, I'm from Defeat. You'd be like, I'm from Roma. Like, I've never in my life thought.

[Dax Shepard]

Of this, so I would be so wrong. I would have thought it would have been even perhaps more fetishized there because you have this mestizo population and then this European influence, and there has been some kind of status hierarchy a little bit derived from that now.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes and no. We're all sort of in agreement that we all know that there were some sort of mixed it Settled. We got conquered. The conquistadors came in, took us. We had some Jewish communities coming in from this side, some German on that side, in the best way possible. It's a new country type of mentality. America is the land of immigrants. Right. It's the concept of it. So everyone's identify by where they came. I don't want to talk about other countries specifically, but I feel for Mexico. We were just all like, yeah, we're Mexican. We didn't really care if we're like more Aztec, more Mayan.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly.

[Aza Gonzalez]

We're just proud to be Mexican.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It's the search for identity here that you're right, is young country sort of thing. But also it's a college application thing. I think that's when most people start to really do the deep dive. So they're like, I'm 0.2% Native American, so I'm diverse and I'm 5% Hopi.

[Aza Gonzalez]

What to me started happening when I became an actress in America, because they're like, so are we legally able to contractually cast you because you're not Mexican enough? I did definitely have an identity crisis when I moved here. It did throw me off for a second because I had never really asked these questions myself. I was just glaringly Mexican in my eyes, and it was just fine. And so when I came here, people were like, but you're not a Mexican because you don't speak.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. So if mom had family in Italy.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Had they moved from Mexico to Italy, married into Italian.

[Dax Shepard]

That makes sense.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But also, my mom's blonde with blue.

[Dax Shepard]

Eyes, so she might not be Aztec, but she is.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's when, like, to me, is so funny. When they're like, but your mom's blonde.

[Monica Padman]

I'm like, guys, yeah, it's fine. What are we talking about?

[Dax Shepard]

What are we talking about?

[Aza Gonzalez]

There's colors in the world in different countries. Like, it's okay. I have an array of friends who are blonde and fully Mexican. Outside of the fun part of it, it definitely made me really anxious when I moved here because my value was really tied to that. And I understand now why. I think it is a cultural thing. I don't know the chicken or the egg of where it started in this place, but people feel a responsibility to justify or explain there's dissent, and I find that quite interesting. Psychologically annoying? No, because I don't judge the effect of circumstances, but. But it made me insecure.

[Dax Shepard]

You know what's interesting? This is a bizarre thing to say, but I kind of think it's Good. But it does tread on this notion of people pretending they're colorblind, which is also bullshit. But I was watching Ash last night.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You watched Ash?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, of course.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, my goodness.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I loved it. We'll get to it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, my God. Exciting. I haven't talked to anyone that has watched it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. This happens to me more and more frequently now when I'm watching movies. If I hadn't done research on you, I just wouldn't. Wouldn't have considered your ethnicity in any capacity whatsoever. And I wouldn't even guess. I wouldn't know. It was quite irrelevant. Also, people are much more now mixed, just as our population is much more mixed. There's tons of people now that I see on camera. And I think this is a good thing where it's like, if you asked me later what they were, I'd be like, oh, I don't know. I have no clue. I wasn't even thinking of it.

[Monica Padman]

That's what it should be.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But that's exactly how I feel with artistry. When I was in Mexico, I started in soap operas. We were all Mexican. When we were playing roles, they weren't like, oh, this person needs to be from Germany. If they need a German person, they would hire someone slightly Mexican, slightly white. So this sort of thought of where you're from and what you can play never existed in my head. And I worked since I was really young. I started when I was 13, 14. When I moved here, I was 24. So when I got here, I'd be on the first few phone calls with my agents or the first few things that I read. Especially when I came here because it's a night and day. Since I've moved here, the industry has flown, flipped completely. I'd be like, oh, this is so exciting. They're like, yeah, they're looking for more of like a Caucasian, by the way. I didn't even know the word Caucasian. I didn't even understand what that meant. That's when I come to being super self conscious.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, maybe limited.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes. My artistry now is limited. Based on the piece of land that I was born. And my first play was Greece. I played Rizzo and like, the thought in my mind never passed through that I have to be American. So when I started transitioning to the US market, it was really challenging and it made me feel really. Because I felt like my artistry was limited to playing Latin forever. At the time when I was playing Latin, it was really stereotypical. It really deflated my spirit because I went into it Wanting to play an astronaut or a scientist. And the first few years of my career was really impossible. Even with the blessing that I had thanks to my parents, which was having very fluent English and speaking other languages. And I don't say it in oh Poor Me, to me was life changing. The moment that Guy Ritchie let me play English, that there's a million people that could have played it better than me that were English.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe a hundred thousand. I don't.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Not that many. Yeah, you're like math ain't math in here. I grew up watching actors and I guess in hindsight white actors, actresses that could play everything. I mean, I remember my mom were watching all the Godfathers and then it sort of sent us to Scarface and we were watching and I was like the world that Al Pacino was playing, like Italian, but then Cuban. And I never thought of it in any context.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he's played Jewish, Italian, Cuban, and.

[Aza Gonzalez]

No one said anything. And then somehow, somehow I've been in places and roles that if I'm not specific type of Latina, then I'm not even being considered. It's a very complex, nuanced conversation. Right. Because you do want to create opportunity. The Native Americans, they don't get enough representation. And so I'm always sort of torn because I do want people to get opportunities and get more chances, but I don't want Native Americans just playing Native Americans. I want them to play anyone.

[Monica Padman]

It's just taking away the description in the role that this should be a 24 year old white woman. Maybe it could anyone. It has gotten a ton better.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It is definitely.

[Monica Padman]

Once that's gone, then I think there'll be less of. Well, this person's Asian and they should be Native. Like that will go away if the opportunity is there for everybody.

[Dax Shepard]

You got into acting, dancing, painting, all at 12, 13 because your dad died in a motorcycle accident. Yes. I hate that for many, many reasons.

[Monica Padman]

I'm sorry.

[Aza Gonzalez]

No, it's okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And obviously you guys were very, very close. As you already said, super close close. And mom wanted to just keep you busy and distracted.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Was there space for what you were going through?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I didn't think there was. I just looked up to him with so much admiration. I was daddy's little girl.

[Dax Shepard]

Good luck, future suitor.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes, tell me about it. Here we are. But when you have such an amazing father, truly, I don't say that lightly. It was really, really the toughest moment in my life. I just went into complete shock and my mother was really, really suffering back at it. And it just feels like a not even real time in my life because it all happened so fast. My mom took me to extracurricular classes to distract me and I went into musical theater. And that's where it just clicked. I think about it all the time being a young child and I sat my mother down and I said, I need to have a very serious conversation. I was 12, I was like, we're done. I don't have to continue studying. I'm an actress. She was like, what are you talking about? I'm like, I'm dropping out of school, I'm retiring, I'm retiring from school, I'm dropping out. And we're full on going into this. And I don't know what type of crack cocaine was she on that she allowed me to do it because she saw me so happy.

[Monica Padman]

Well, maybe she also was like, life is short. What's the point of that?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Probably.

[Dax Shepard]

How did she take it? My guess is at 12 you would be dealing with your own loss, but then also trying to cheer mom up or regulate mom a bit.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, I feel so much empathy for my younger self. Not only that my career was so jarring because I got thrown into it overnight. And I was so young and I was so not mentally, physically, physically prepared. I was a grieving, depressed, sobbing, eating compulsively child with raging anxiety. And that was really challenging because you sort of get thrown into this child star perfection.

[Dax Shepard]

What age did you get the first telenovela?

[Aza Gonzalez]

14. And it was really overnight Floracienta. Yeah, it was called original was Floricienta and my remake was called Lola Once upon a time Lola eras universe.

[Dax Shepard]

And it was a show from Argentina.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Original, we shot in Mexico. But it was the biggest show in literally history of children out there. And so I got the remake and it was a pretty big deal. It was like a national wide search and they saw thousands of and I got it and I was just so naive. My mom wasn't like a stage mom where she wanted me to be famous and people think that because she was a model. But my mother never wanted me to be in the business. She just was letting me be. But she never made me self conscious about my looks, never made me feel pressured. So I was like a very normal 14 year old. I was like a chubby, not polished girl. I was not doing my makeup, I was quite ratty and I was quite of a tomboy because I grew up with boys because my brother's 13 years older than me. The shock was really aggressive because overnight they were like, wow, she's so ugly. She's fat, she's not talented. My dad had been passed for like less than a year, a year and a half. I was so excited because I loved what I did. It was so earnest. I loved singing. It was the only moment that I felt happy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Can I ask really quick, what was the work schedule of that?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Brutal. So studying in set school, working 17 hours a day.

[Dax Shepard]

So they don't have the same laws?

[Aza Gonzalez]

No, no, no. And you're shooting like 15, 20 scenes.

[Dax Shepard]

A day because it's soap style, right?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, it's a machine. And then I would get on a plane right after I would finish on Friday, straight to tour. So I tour Friday, Saturday, Sunday, get back Monday, goes for years.

[Dax Shepard]

So you started reading about yourself on the Internet?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, I was brutal. I went into a heavy depression because.

[Dax Shepard]

This would have been 2004, 5 and so you could go online. And what was MySpace? Oh, MySpace. There we go.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I remember it like it was yesterday. So they did this presentation. They've been waiting to see who the girl was because it was like a really big show.

[Dax Shepard]

It was like the American office. It was like, who's going to be in the American office?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Exactly. It was the equivalent, I would say like Hannah Montana.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right.

[Aza Gonzalez]

This major presentation where I like came out on a stage and they put me in these crazy dress, I looked insane. And I came out, I didn't really know I was getting myself into. I was just happy to be, be there. And the next day my mom was watching the morning news and these 40 year olds were sitting there ripping into me.

[Monica Padman]

God, it's so embarrassing.

[Aza Gonzalez]

40 year old men and women being like, wow, she's so ugly, she's fat, wow, she's not even talented. It was ruthless looking back at it because now we've become so aware of like, you can't talk like this, not in Mexico. You're talking about like real third world country type of shit. And it was never ending.

[Dax Shepard]

You never got the looks or the body they were hoping you to get.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Or talent or smart. If I said something, I was the worst. If I didn't respond, I was conceited.

[Dax Shepard]

You're already so self conscious.

[Aza Gonzalez]

As a teenager at 14, Jesus. I went crazy. I remember when I was 23 and I got a nose job and then they were like, look at her now. I was insecure.

[Monica Padman]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And then I was uglier. And then, now I had all, all this done to myself. And then they would doctor photos and sell them to sell papers and we didn't have Law of defamation of character in Mexico. A president removed it so you couldn't sue. So you had to, like, let it go. You couldn't fight the magazines. So it haunted me forever. So my life was always sort of terrifying. I moved here escaping that. I didn't even want to cross over to America.

[Dax Shepard]

There was an event too. It's a juicy event. Monica.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It is really funny.

[Dax Shepard]

You were on Lola too. You see another show, Lola.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I am in Amores Bardaderos, which is another soap opera. It's like the Bodyguard. I fall in love with the Bodyguard. My mom falls in love simultaneously with the Bodyguard.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my.

[Dax Shepard]

Love triangle between mother, daughter and a bodyguard.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Two different bodyguards.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, thank God.

[Monica Padman]

Freaky Friday. But, yeah, but everyone gets a bodyguard, bodyguard.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And they're all hot. Yeah, I love very attractive bodyguards.

[Dax Shepard]

But you had a boyfriend. How long were you guys together at that point?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I try to forget.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But I think It'd been like two.

[Dax Shepard]

Years at 20 years old. So that's 10% of your life. That's a huge, chunkier life when you think about it that way. And she sees a headline one morning.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, no.

[Dax Shepard]

Her boyfriend has a sex tape.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my.

[Dax Shepard]

She's not in it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'm not in it.

[Dax Shepard]

Was he famous too? Was he an actor?

[Aza Gonzalez]

No. Oh, my God. This time of my life.

[Monica Padman]

This is awful.

[Aza Gonzalez]

My life is really like a soap opera. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's like life art.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Maybe I should make a movie like the Disaster Artist.

[Dax Shepard]

What would be great is if your boyfriend was your bodyguard at that time.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That would have been incredible. I should have just cheated with my bodyguard. He was a owner of restaurants and a nightlife kind of guy. It was really funny because it was not funny for him. He's going to hate me for this. I'm so sorry.

[Monica Padman]

Doesn't seem like you need to apologize.

[Aza Gonzalez]

The COVID of this magazine and they had, like, little stars covering his private parts. And it's like he has a sex tape and it's not me.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, boy.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And so I remember he emailed.

[Dax Shepard]

He didn't email you preemptively going, this is coming out. He waited till you found out from.

[Aza Gonzalez]

The press in Mexico. You don't know. Again, no defamation. That's the wild, wild West. When complain about the UK press. I'm like, live in Mexico's press for three months. If you survive, I will applaud you. That makes you, like, a different type of person. And so he emailed. This was a really funny story. A lot happens. Chaos, drama. I don't pick up the phone. I'M screaming. And so he thinks that the best idea is to send this email where he cc's my brother, my mother.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh boy.

[Aza Gonzalez]

His whole family, me.

[Monica Padman]

You're just in there. You're like one of, like, it edges open.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You know when you open and you're just like.

[Monica Padman]

You're like 50.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, no. And the title was like, let me explain or something. To not get into detail. He's like going back and forth about how this sex tape wasn't while being with me. The comparison was him in his underwear and sending screenshots of the sex tape to my mom.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I don't even have this underwear anymore.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You know that I don't have that tattoo. He's pointing out tattoos.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, shit.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And I am just like, oh, what are you?

[Dax Shepard]

So he mounted a defense to your whole family.

[Aza Gonzalez]

So a whole defense. Which maybe if I was in that situation, I would have done the same thing. I don't know if I would cc someone's brother with my body naked and photos of before and after. Like a selfie of him with his underwear. And my brother just sent me a message. He said, what's going on? Why do I have photos of this guy naked on my email? And so anyway, I left Mexico. It was so jarring.

[Monica Padman]

That's a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by Addie Flavanserin the Little Pink Pill. Ask your doctor if the FDA approved Little Pink Pill. Addy is right for you. See full prescribing information, medication guide and boxed warning regarding severe low blood pressure and fainting in certain settings@a d d y I.com PI or call 844-ping-PILL. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card is a no fee credit card that gives you daily cash back every day. That's 3% back at Apple and 2% back on every purchase made with Apple Card using Apple Pay. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 18.24% to 28.49% based on creditworthiness rates as of January 1, 2025. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sach Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and [e-mail] we are supported by Quints. Quince is one of our favorite apparel brands with luxury fabrics and finishes at affordable prices. Everyone I know is obsessed with quince.

[Monica Padman]

Quince is amazing. I was gifted an incredible blanket from Quince from Elizabeth and Andy.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Monica Padman]

And it's so Warm and soft and fuzzy and cute.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. All their fabrics are so nice. You get the best of both worlds. Killer st at prices that don't break the bank. Quint has some great wardrobe staples, all at prices that are way less than similar brands. We're talking 50 to 80% less.

[Monica Padman]

This is a gift givers.

[Dax Shepard]

Like Paradise.

[Monica Padman]

Paradise. Correct.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's because Quint's partners directly with top factories, so they cut out the cost of the middleman. And they also make sure the factories they partner with use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices so you can feel good about your your purchase. Indulge in affordable luxury. Go to quints.comdax for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N C E.comdax to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comdax do we believe that it was from an era that you weren't together? Did the tattoos prove his. Yes, because this actually happened to me. One of these trashy magazines ran this article about me saying I had hooked up with this girl while I was dating Kristen. I did hook up with that girl, but it was way before I met Kristen. And luckily I have a tattoo in it that I had covered right before I met.

[Aza Gonzalez]

So this is like a sensitive subject to you?

[Dax Shepard]

For me, it really was that it was a lie. And thank God the tattoo absolved me of that because Kristen met me and I already had that one covered. It wasn't a set. It was just a picture of her night again during an event.

[Monica Padman]

You were kissing.

[Dax Shepard]

We weren't even kissing. I just had my arm around her.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, because these magazines, they do make up so much.

[Dax Shepard]

She lied to them for sure. This woman had sold stories about three other people. She also banged an aa. I met her in AA and I'm obsessed. She was out of money and she's getting high. And this was a fourth story.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's horrible.

[Dax Shepard]

She just lied to them. I guess they believed.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Did you send nude photos of you to compare to your wife?

[Dax Shepard]

To Kristen's dad? Immediately I got hard and I. I sent Tom a picture. Oh, my God. Well, I didn't want him to think I was a loser.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. Of course.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I've said this story before because it's a Phoenix story and I always bring this to my dad's death. You couldn't think of something more tragic than losing a parent? And my father would have never let me be an actress.

[Dax Shepard]

You would have had to fight him and have a big separation from him?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, it never happened. I was convinced that his narrative was my narrative. And I say with all the love because he didn't mean it in a mean way, but. But he wanted the best for his daughter and he thought economy, making money, artistry, modeling, acting. It didn't sound like you had Salma Hayek.

[Dax Shepard]

That was it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And still, by the way, we're not a lot that are from Mexico that crossed over. And so when I did that, I thought amazing, positive things can happen from horrific situations. And that's kind of been my life. Thanks to that, I moved here, I rented a little bedroom and my mom had the brilliant idea. Always wanted to act here, but I never thought it was like a reality. I studied in Lee Strasberg and they educated us that you need an agent, you need a manager, you need a lawyer. And I was like, I have no into any of this. And she said to me, I've heard about this thing, it's called IMDb Pro. Have you heard of it? I was like, mom, you need a manager and agent. She's like, no, no. I heard I can put my email under your profile and then we can get auditions. I was hiding. I was in depression here after that. I was distraught. My boyfriend. I was a public, real big brutal thing. I was already the black sheep in the business. People loved to like really hate me, which was interesting because I never understood why.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I think still this happens here. People pick a villain or escape.

[Dax Shepard]

We like archetypes.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And if you're a woman, I think at the time, the way you see me, I come in strong and confident and I think that the confidence was off putting. They liked a woman that they would kind of bully.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, they also want to see young actors just exude gratitude, which I did.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But I think I didn't do it in the way because I always felt like I had to defend myself constantly about something that I hadn't done. And that's how I felt here too. For many years there was this underlying. I always needed, wanted to be here through a man or because I was dating someone, disregarding my 10 year career in Mexico. Because for people that was irrelevant. When I started dating Josh, they would write I was using him. And I've always wanted to talk about this publicly, but I've never found where to do it in a safe space. They sort of tied this desperation to me as a Latin woman. Like I was coming and wanting to cross over when I had already had a career and found funny enough, they would say that I would call or tip off paparazzi when they forget that 99% of the paparazzi's and the kitchens and the ballets. Who work the kitchens? Who works the valets?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Mexicans.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And I had 10 years of a career in Mexico. I was huge in Mexico. So every time I'd walk into a restaurant or go somewhere, they would call me. They knew, but because people here didn't know who I was, they were like, who is this weird bitch who came out of nowhere?

[Monica Padman]

She's calling the paparazzi for attention.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And it was so crazy because it was a combination of I had no. But at the same time, it was also sort of said in a way that was incriminating of something that I wasn't doing. And it stayed for long. And it was this sort of sense of the experience of being an immigrant. I wasn't worthy of being here.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it possible you were also inflating how big this narrative was?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I think that when you're incriminated of something that you're not doing, it always feels that way. Because I felt really frustrated how to navigate it, because I'm a person that would be like, that's completely fucking untrue. So I don't even care. But at the same time, I was being guilty to, like, not engage into it because you're feeding it. Maybe it wasn't as big, but I felt injustice. Complete character assassination of who I am. You're selling someone that I'm not. I hate people that get incriminated for things that they didn't do. In criminal justice, when people get wrongly convicted, it boils down.

[Monica Padman]

I have the same thing. It really gets under my skin when someone's miscalculated or misjudged.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But when they talk about people publicly, it's so triggering for me. It drives me nuts because I've been that person. To add to your point, I worked really hard. I didn't let that define me. And I cried in silence many days to just not let it become who I was, because it was really prevalent at the beginning of my career. I also was dating, and I didn't want to stop my dating life because I was looking for love.

[Dax Shepard]

I would have fallen for him in one second. I think I did as a guy for Josh. Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

He was my crush when I was little.

[Monica Padman]

You dated your celebrity crush too? I did, and it's exciting.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You're like 23.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Sorry. I'm not smarter at the time to be like, you know what? I'm above this. No, it's Just to say, like, the interesting of perception versus reality.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So mom put you on IMDb Pro. And then impossibly, Mary Vernu calls you in to read for Dusk Till dawn reboot. Mary Vernu, by the way, is another person. She's in the same camp as Allison Jones. As Allison Jones.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I don't know her. Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

Mary Vernu has cast the most incredible, amazing rolling through. I mean, talk about someone's doing their work, they're on IMDb to find you without a manager or an agent.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Random. You know who found me was Robert Rodriguez. He was watching TV and he saw me in Univision. I was on some awards, and he saw me speaking English and he said, mary Finer. And so I was in Mexico in the middle of a bridal shoot. I'm wearing a ginormous bride dress, and I had a flip phone that I had bought at the oxo, like a 711 to have an American number because I was studying in Strasbourg. So I had a 917. I opened my flip phone, I have a text from Mary Bernoulli, and I'm like, who's this? She's like, I'm a casting director. I'm like, okay. She's like, can you tape yourself? So I tape myself against the wall with a wedding dress on the bottom and like a T shirt on the top. And then I flew in the next day. And yeah, he cast me.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, now you go to Austin for two years.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Obsessed.

[Dax Shepard]

Austin is my favorite city in the country.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'm going two days south by.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, I'm going in a few weeks. Where did you live? How was it? How many months were you there to shoot that? Did you go to Barton Springs?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Have you been to.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you go to Saw Salt Lick and sit outside on the picnic tables?

[Aza Gonzalez]

It's my favorite time of my life. It was such an amazing introduction to realistically living in America, because I'd been in and out. I'd been in New York for school and lived in Argentina for a few years after that, and then came here, Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires.

[Dax Shepard]

Was that a great place you have to go?

[Aza Gonzalez]

My favorite city in the world and the hottest people I've ever seen.

[Dax Shepard]

Damn.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I like.

[Dax Shepard]

I've heard there's a lot of sexy Cokes.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Sexy everything.

[Dax Shepard]

I also heard you can buy coke there for like $10.

[Monica Padman]

You can't go.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You can't go. You should not go.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I would have to go with.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Not allow. Yeah. So I moved to Austin and I fell in love with Austin. Keep it Weird.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you, like, rent an apartment or were you staying at a hotel the entire time you shot?

[Aza Gonzalez]

The whole cast was living in a communal apartment complex. So we all lived together.

[Dax Shepard]

It was Melrose Place.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It was Melrose Place. It was like the ultimate American experience. I'd never done the dorm thing, so it was so exciting.

[Monica Padman]

It'd be like, so fun morning and.

[Aza Gonzalez]

We'D be like at the pool and we all live together.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm Jell.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It was the best. And then we would eat food trucks, go to Franklin's, Live in Barton Springs, run every day. And I'm obsessed with Robert.

[Dax Shepard]

He's incredible, right?

[Aza Gonzalez]

He's like my dad. When I started, he protected me. A lot of really horrible me too things. He really was like, no one's gonna get close to her.

[Dax Shepard]

Also the parallel, though, between Selma leaving Mexico, having been huge on telenovelas, being terrified she's not gonna make it, and then breaking out in a Rodriguez with the same role.

[Monica Padman]

He just keeps doing it.

[Dax Shepard]

So you come off of that and then you go into Baby Driver is really the next big thing in your career.

[Monica Padman]

Huge.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a humongous success. Makes $220 million. Edgar Wright.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I die for Edgar. I just really ride for the people that supported me at the beginning.

[Dax Shepard]

Took gambles on you or fought for you.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's like first English speaking movie ever. I was so scared. I remember walking into that set and it was like Jamie Foxx and John Hannah and Kevin Spacey and Ansel and John Bernthal. And I was the only woman on my first day. Lily James was in the movie, but we never really worked together. There's no warmup. You're with heavy hitters. And I was really scared. And Edgar was just so kind and let me create and gave me so much openness. And I felt so inspired in that room. But I was fucking shitting myself. I'm not gonna lie. I was so nervous. I'm very shy. It doesn't look like I am, but I am.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's an intimidating group to step into then. Hobbs and Shaw. This is a fast and furious spin off. This is another enormous movie. Hobbs and Shaw.

[Aza Gonzalez]

We've got the Rock and Jason Statham.

[Dax Shepard]

How long does that movie take to make?

[Aza Gonzalez]

The movie took a long time to shoot. I was in and out. I shot in a week. David Leach called me. He's like, would you come in with shooting Godzilla vs Kong in Australia? And I had a week off between location and location. And so they fixed my schedule so I could go and shoot Wrote that role. And so they popped me in to be part of the franchise. Whatever was going to happen, nothing happened.

[Dax Shepard]

David Leach, I did his first 20 minute short when I was a ground lean. Yes. And he was still doubling Brad Pitt or somebody huge as a stuntman.

[Aza Gonzalez]

The best.

[Dax Shepard]

And then to see Fall Guy, which I think was the best movie of last year, I just couldn't be happier for that guy.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And Kelly, his producing partner and his wife, by the way, talking about stunts new to be honored at the Oscars like yesterday. The amount of work. I've done a fair share of stunt work in my career. I've had a horrific accident. I broke my collarbones and my ribs on a set. A stunt that went wrong.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, God.

[Aza Gonzalez]

These people are like risking their lives. A lot of stunties die in these movies. And we're still not honoring one of.

[Dax Shepard]

My best friends driven over by Tom Sizemore. He was not supposed to drive the car. And he drove the fucking car over to Castro and drug his body.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It's gnarly. And they don't get enough recognition.

[Dax Shepard]

They just do it over and over again. Like your story about getting hurt. They have like 35.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's what I mean. I was going to say that's literally one out of.

[Monica Padman]

That's their day to day and they.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Recover and they go back into it.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. It's a mindset.

[Monica Padman]

Daniel Radcliffe, stunt double, was paralyzed during one of the Harry Potter.

[Dax Shepard]

There's a doc about it.

[Monica Padman]

He has a memoir or something that's supposed to be amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Godzilla versus Kong. Another enormous hit. I was looking at Godzilla versus Kong and I was like, I think that one movie would put your lifetime box office above my like 25 movies. You just get in one of those fucking movies that makes it billion dollars.

[Aza Gonzalez]

People love those movies.

[Dax Shepard]

It's wild. And then Three Body problem. You work with David Benioff and Weiss.

[Monica Padman]

Game of Thrones for people who don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Oh, I wanted to mention I care a lot because that's huge. This is what's weird about movies now. So 56 million households watch this movie. I Care a Lot on Netflix. And if each household has just bought a $10 ticket, it's bigger than Kong. It's like a billion dollar movie if you think about it that way.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What's better? Do you think I'm now out of it? Where I would have to worry about whether it coming out on streaming or in box office. Like there's this pride of having a winning movie. It's so rare and exciting. To be a part of. But then don't you just want the maximum amount of people to see the thing you do?

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's how I feel. I mean, I guess some people get paid for those things. They get back end. I really haven't had the beauty of.

[Dax Shepard]

That first dollar gross deal.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I've never heard of that in my life. I don't know if I will. And so I just care about the work and people watching the work and the work that I feel proud of. And sometimes I'm like, hoping that never gets seen, too.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, sure.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, God. So I care a lot. Was an amazing experience because it was also in the COVID era. Everyone was in their homes watching tv, so so many people watched it more than probably would have now. And I love that movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Where'd you shoot at?

[Aza Gonzalez]

We shot in Boston.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Your co star was from New Zealand.

[Aza Gonzalez]

In I Care Lost Roseman Pike. No, she's English. Yeah, she's an English Rose, baby.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm so sorry.

[Aza Gonzalez]

How dare you?

[Dax Shepard]

She's English. Wait, it's fair.

[Monica Padman]

You're thinking of not the right person.

[Dax Shepard]

Another Roseman. Yeah, he's got a different friend. Rose.

[Monica Padman]

That's kiwi Rose MacGyver.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's Rose MacGyver?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Roseman pike is gone girl.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Gone girl. Dax.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I love her. My apologies to everybody. I was picturing David's friend who's a Kiwi.

[Aza Gonzalez]

She's great, too.

[Monica Padman]

She is great, too.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I like her, too. I don't know her, but I like her.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Rosen and Pike. She's incredible.

[Dax Shepard]

You guys are bros now, right? Bros. She interviewed you for Interview magazine.

[Aza Gonzalez]

She's my wife. We're wifing up. I spend a lot of time. She sends me raunchy photos. I send her raunchy photos.

[Dax Shepard]

Not of yourselves, but of other people?

[Aza Gonzalez]

No, of us. We play lovers in the movie. We had a scene originally in that movie where I pegged a man with her.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And what did you use to peg the young or old man?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Really big black dildo.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Not a. Oh, okay.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It was pretty big. And I could find it, though.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What, have you had it in your purse?

[Aza Gonzalez]

No, no. So basically we have this scene, which was incredible. The movie starts with her sort of going on a date with Scoot McNair. It's totally scrapped out of the movie, which is a bummer because it was so good. Anyway, we would go into the scene where she's sort of saying how much she realized she doesn't like men and she's really into women. And so she's like, but you should try it. It's fun. I'm like, maybe we should try it together. And there's a scene where we would go on a date, the three of us. We would go back to the house and you would see from the reflection on a microwave, three bodies having a threesome. But I was pet pegging a man with a strap on. And then we'd come out and then be like, yeah, it's not really my thing. And then we'd go back to being full on lesbians. And so that got scrapped out. I don't know if it was too raunchy, maybe just a little too early in the film, it would have been a win. Cause it was funny, it was great. But since then, we just have photos of each other just with raunchy things. And so she sent me for my wrap gift, a ginormous strap on.

[Monica Padman]

Whoa.

[Dax Shepard]

How wonderful. Does the intimacy coordinator know about moments?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah. We would get in trouble. We would get.

[Monica Padman]

No, you both consented. You're both good about you.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And then this is me sending her my rap gift.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you're wearing it.

[Monica Padman]

Wow, this is really something.

[Dax Shepard]

This is too personal. But in that filming of that, were you like, maybe I would want to do this to somebody? Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Did it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I was kind of fascinated by it. I'm not going to lie. I don't know if it is my kink.

[Monica Padman]

Well, we know cannibalism isn't your.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Definitely not mine.

[Monica Padman]

This one's more.

[Dax Shepard]

I just imagine there could be a moment where you're like, that doesn't appeal to me at all. Now I've put this thing on.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I definitely was fascinated by it.

[Dax Shepard]

There's something about your hips hitting someone else's and you are the business end.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I can imagine a gal doing that and going like, oh, I get it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I see how that is powerful. I get the psychology behind it and how that could be. Yeah, a fetish. I'm never a no to things. I'm always a yes to trying things and discover it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Not done yet. Just fictionally.

[Monica Padman]

You have the apparatus also.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It sticks on the walls. I have it like on a window.

[Dax Shepard]

But what could be really terrifying to a man is if on his third date with you, he was going to the bathroom and he saw this and he's like, oh, it's happening.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It's happened because I had it in my house. So one time I did this movie. Like, it's a lot of explaining. Six years ago, if I was a dude, I wouldn't believe picture. Yeah. Let me show you wife.

[Monica Padman]

See.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you know Rosamund Pike? Not from New Zealand.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Is very English. Very English. You should have her here. You would laugh alive, by the way. She's awesome.

[Monica Padman]

She seems awesome.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

So you did one movie with Guy Ritchie and now you've done. I imagine you already shot it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I've done three, so I've done the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Then I did a movie called in the Gray that comes out later this year.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Aza Gonzalez]

With Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill. And then I did the third one which comes out later ish this year.

[Dax Shepard]

How quickly is he shooting movies back to back. Does he grill on set and you eat the grilled food?

[Aza Gonzalez]

We went carnivore on Fountain of Youth. Krasinski tried it. He was successful for a minute. I think he did it. And then Natalie is vegetarian, so she did not do that. It has to be the biggest nightmare for a vegetarian to be surrounded by people that are just eating red meat because he was losing weight. I was sort of into the whole biohacking of it all, Fascinated by it. And so we would grill just steak and steak and steak and more steak with butter every day.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. How's your heart?

[Dax Shepard]

My cholesterol's good and I.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You have to kind of get tested.

[Dax Shepard]

Almost exclusively red meat. Mine's lower than yours.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but that's genetic.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, that's genetic.

[Monica Padman]

So that's the whole thing. So your genetically predisposition. Probably not the diet.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not for you money.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But I loved it. So we would grill on set every day.

[Dax Shepard]

Natalie Portman is in the Fountain of Youth.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Forget those dudes. On the set of Baby Driver.

[Aza Gonzalez]

The dream.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm so intimidated if I'm like, if I've got to do a two hander with Bill Murray, who I idolize. For me, Natalie Portman was. Was the only ingenue I bought in 100%, period.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I became an actress because of Natalie Portman. So it was pretty wild. I was trying really hard to be cool. I was just like, hi. So like, I'm like, you and I like, know everything in a creepy, like, probably she could sue me kind of way. I was so uncool.

[Dax Shepard]

But did you penetrate? Did you? Eventually, yes.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It's easy because she's the nicest person ever. I couldn't stop staring at her. It's only happened to me twice with her and Marianne Cotilla when I did a show with her.

[Monica Padman]

You're like, how do you look like this.

[Dax Shepard]

Transfixed.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Totally. And she was so fun to work with. Really challenging, physically. Water tanks for hours. Freezing cold in the air of the uk and we were laughing all the time. We would always be like, joking about it. She has the best humor. Krasinski obviously has the best humor. And it was good vibes all day long. And it was a dream job. And I. I couldn't believe it.

[Dax Shepard]

Where'd you see that?

[Aza Gonzalez]

We shot everywhere. We went to Thailand, then we went to Vienna, then we went to Egypt.

[Dax Shepard]

It was like a dream vacation.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but not the water baths. That's.

[Dax Shepard]

That's how you pay for the trip.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But it's cool, though. Like, how many times can you say, oh, I was in some weird water tank for hours with Port Natalie Portman.

[Monica Padman]

You're right, you're right.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'll take it.

[Monica Padman]

It's worth it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It was an amazing experience. So, yeah, I've become quite tight with Guy Ritchie.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so Ash, which I watched last night.

[Monica Padman]

What about Mr. And Mrs. Smith? Really quick? He did a little cameo.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I love that.

[Monica Padman]

I loved that show.

[Aza Gonzalez]

How good is that show? So how good? Hero. The director did such an amazing job. And yeah, he called Skarsgard and me. We had already worked together in Godzilla. He was like, would you guys come and play for like a few days? And we want your stereotypical couple of what you would think Mr. And Smith is going to be. And then turn it on its head. And it was fun. You think we're going to be in it, like dead?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Hopefully we'll make it back. Maybe it could be another. You never know.

[Dax Shepard]

So, Ash, I would say it's got two really great parallels. It really reminded me of Moon. Did you ever watch Moon?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes, Moon.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. Did you ever see Moon?

[Monica Padman]

I don't know.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Moon. You should watch it. That's incredible. That's a huge reference.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's someone's kid director. That David Bowie's kid or something. Is that what it is?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Duncan Jones.

[Monica Padman]

But is Duncan Jones.

[Dax Shepard]

Is Duncan Jones the child of David Bowie? Yes, but does not share the Bowie.

[Monica Padman]

Last just wanted to separate. It's kind of like Nick Cage. Nope. Well, he was Colson Cooper.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. You know, Nicolas Cage is really Coppola.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, really?

[Monica Padman]

He's in the Coppola family.

[Dax Shepard]

He wanted to make it on his own, so he gave himself Cage.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You blow my mind.

[Monica Padman]

And do you know about Anderson Cooper? He's a Vanderbilt. The journalist.

[Dax Shepard]

The mother is Gloria Vanderbilt.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

And also Emilio Estevez. Not using Sheen.

[Monica Padman]

You're right. That was a good move.

[Dax Shepard]

Sheen. Martin Sheen.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, Martin Sheen.

[Dax Shepard]

Charlie Sheen. Martin Sheen, Emilio Westeves. They're a family. But look at this.

[Monica Padman]

Some people need their own path.

[Aza Gonzalez]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

We're really giving you a message.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Maybe this is a moment to tell you that I've changed my last name.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Can you imagine?

[Monica Padman]

I was.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah. Barbara Streisand. Yes. I couldn't be more like her.

[Dax Shepard]

And then of course, Alien. Yes, Alien is obvious.

[Aza Gonzalez]

So who made this Flying Lotus is an artist. So he's a musical prodigy. He's incredible. He's a producer. And I was a humongous fan of his music. And I had seen this insane, crazy movie called Kuso that he did before this. There's really, really not a plot. It's just a crazy, brutal, gory, insane movie. It feels like you're watching back in the day, late night mtv. Just weird. And I was obsessed with him and the script came across my table and I was really yearning for something that was in the horror space. Bizarre and creepy and I like a psychological thriller. This felt really in the vein. And he showed me his visuals. I mean, we made that movie for no money.

[Dax Shepard]

It's very impressive. Okay, so it's set in the future. You are a group of earthlings that is trying to explore and find another planet that would be habitable. And you touch down on this planet in this pod and when we meet you, you have amnesia. You don't know what the gone on your head is damaged and everyone on the crew is dead. And we're kind of piecing together mento style. What happened, happened feels like psychosis.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It's a discombobulating movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You're dealing with like amnesia, but also kind of madness. Like we're not quite sure is this person insane or not.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

We don't know why everyone's dead.

[Monica Padman]

Creepy and good.

[Dax Shepard]

And then we have Aaron Paul pops in and he ostensibly is trying to figure out what happened as well. But in classic movie like these, we don't know who's friend and who's foe.

[Monica Padman]

Twisties.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, lots of twisties. But visually really, really original. It had a tension and a chaos. That substance. Oh, kind of unsettling.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That's how I describe. You're doing a perfect job of describing substance in space. Yes. Because when we got this movie was a wild card. Everyone was like, are you sure you want to do this? And I was like, yeah, it's insane. I don't even know what's going to turn out to be because it's like when you think you know, you don't know. And it gets crazier. And it gets crazier.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, a lot of them, you go like, they're going to be in incredible or it's going to suck. And that's fun.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'm willing to take the risk. This is fun. I can see his vision because he had, like, a very strong point of view. And I trust people that have strong points of view when it comes to creative. In my experience, Edgar Wright, Guy Ritchie, Bob Sebek has, like, work with people that have points of views. You're in it. And when the substance sort of took a life of its own, I was like, oh, I'm glad people are open to crazy films. And it is slightly camp, but also uncomfortable and weird and dark and brutal. It goes from psychological thriller to really gory, really bloody and back and forth. It's dark. It's a crazy movie.

[Dax Shepard]

And it has this element of Oxygen, which is always fun. So, like, you're watching, you're kind of holding your breath a lot of the time. Is she going to run out of oxygen? I think this is a very, like, Angelina Jolie role.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. If this movie was made in 97, I think Angelina Jolie would do this.

[Aza Gonzalez]

She was quite a risk taker, I think, with her choices.

[Dax Shepard]

I think she had similar. The bad word would be hang ups. She had a similar fear of only being hot.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Needing to prove herself.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And I think she did a lot of things that were unflattering intentionally to break out of that. And so this very much mirrored, I think, that experience she's had.

[Aza Gonzalez]

That makes me happy to hear that you felt that way.

[Dax Shepard]

But I'm going to really applaud you as an actor. You have almost no lines in this movie. Most of the movie is you processing flashbacks. You have to react to all this stuff that you're not seeing. You're in a scene by yourself, you sit at a desk and they go, okay, cameras. And now you got to take us through these flashbacks. You have to take us through the anxiety and the tension of trying to figure out how the fuck you are, where you are at. Anything we're going to learn from you, we just have to see. And you did an incredible job. I was quite blown away.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Thank you. That means a lot because you just nailed it in the head. Why I picked this role. I've always craved, I guess, coming from soap operas. And I talk a lot too, as you can tell.

[Monica Padman]

We love talkers.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, I'm a heavy talker and I fill space, my anxiety with speaking. I've always, I think, secretly wanted to experience what that was like, to be able to feel comfortable in that space. Because I don't think that people see me as that type of actress ever. Because the roles that have flashed into the have been quite the dynamic ones. And I personally like these performances way more. And so I really enjoyed it. And I was really scared. And I had come off of a run of doing like 3 body problem was one of the most challenging jobs I've ever had. Because while everyone was sort of rooted on factual things, I had to be creating this anxiety building moments with like nothing in the show. I'm watching numbers coming and I'm becoming suicidal and I'm going through a really hard time where I'm seeing this boat get sliced completely that I never saw. So a lot of my performance came to childlike imagination. That's a scary place to be as an actor. As you know, you came from lunch.

[Dax Shepard]

You have a real life, you walked over, you can't even connect with another actor in the scene.

[Aza Gonzalez]

You're only on imagination and then gauging how much is too much, how little, what is over the top, what is not over the top. You're not giving enough. You don't have a real gauge when you're in a scene. You're bouncing off of each other here. You're just like free falling. I had done that back to back. I went from that to Three Body Problem. And that was scary. Some people can call it a success and people will be like, I don't love it. But at least I felt, I felt really proud. Have you seen Three Body Problem? So there's an episode in Three Body Problem. Something really major happens. It's like the Red Wedding on Game of Thrones. Like, it's like a crazy episode. Thousands of people get killed and we're seeing it sort of unravel in front of our eyes, but we're seeing it on screens. But nothing was happening. So you're just seeing this ginormous sort of tragic moment happening. But we're seeing nothing. And we have no idea what the effects gonna look like, how severe, how not severe. You really rely on your director and if you're lucky, you have an amazing. Unlucky. You don't have an amazing director.

[Dax Shepard]

You're just scared for three months.

[Aza Gonzalez]

For Three Body Problem. I scared for two years. Two years of like bracing. Because my whole performance on that show, I'm the only one that is relying on nothing. Because I'm talking to Myself, I'm looking at things.

[Dax Shepard]

Talking to yourself so hard on camera. Like a mirror scene where you got to look in the mirror.

[Monica Padman]

You're like, oh my God, guys, believable.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it looking at myself, but I've never spoke to myself.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Never. Not once.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but some people do if they're not well.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I've seen like a conversation with a second party that's in the mirror.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Hopefully that's not me and hopefully I'm never there.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, let's hope I'm gonna not.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Pretending that you can do it is terrifying. But yeah. So anyway, it's challenging and I appreciate you.

[Dax Shepard]

We have many scenes where lights up, she is leaking tears, processing this thing. Yeah. I was like, God bless.

[Aza Gonzalez]

To kind of build an arc is where it becomes scary. That's where I find hard in the psychological thriller type of like discombust, ovulating films. Because same on three body problem. You have to build an arc.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You have to be your craziest at the end of the second act.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But you don't know because especially on ash Flying Lotus was sort of like, I can move scenes around. And I was like, wait, wait, what do you mean?

[Dax Shepard]

It's not a super linear story.

[Aza Gonzalez]

No, but actually it's the most fun because then I would play every scene differently and then he had like an array of things to pick from. So that's kind of the dream. I can be quite type A and I used to have gotten better at it because I came from a school of. There are certain directors that want a very specific type of performance. And I had worked in a row with a lot of the. So it was very healing for me to go into plays where like just go for it. And I was like, like, what do you mean? What do you mean? Yeah, they're like, go for it. And that felt scary for me for a while and so it was great. And so we played a lot of different things.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by Claude, the AI assistant that it just feels different, you know, we're curious about the ol artificial intelligence here on the pod. We are curious and we always want to give our arm cherries the if you know, you know tips.

[Monica Padman]

We sure do.

[Dax Shepard]

So they need to meet our new pal, Claude. While other AIs sound like robots, Claude just gets it with the emotional intelligence. Whether I'm researching gas or refining my latest meal plan to get Brad Pitt's abs or looking for the best dating advice to give Monica, Claude is the fact checker in Your pocket while you're in the armchair.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's exciting for us. I like having an extra companion.

[Dax Shepard]

Welcome to the team, Claude. You can try Claude for free [e-mail]. that's C L-A-U D E dot com.

[Monica Padman]

Imagine this. You help your little brother land a great job abroad. Boy. But when he arrives, the job doesn't exist. Instead, he's trapped in a heavily guarded compound, forced to sit at a computer and scam innocent victims. All while armed guards stand by with shoot to kill orders. Scam Factory, the explosive new true crime podcast from Wondery, exposes a multi billion dollar criminal empire operating in plain sight. Told through one family's harrowing account of sleepless nights, desperate phone calls, and dangerous rescue attempts, Scam Factory reveals a brutal truth. The only way out is to scam their way out. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Monica Padman]

You can binge all episodes of Scam Factory early and ad free right now by Joining Wondery.

[Aza Gonzalez]

At 24, I lost my narrative. Or rather it was stolen from me. And the Monica Lewinsky that my friends and family knew was usurped by false narratives, callous jokes, and politics. I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours. Something you possess is lost or stolen, and ultimately you triumph in finding it again. So I think listeners can expect me to be chatting with folks both recognizable and unrecognizable names about the way that people have navigated roads to triumph. My hope is that people will finish an episode of Reclaiming and feel like they filled their tank up, they connected with the people that I'm talking to and leave with maybe some nuggets that help them feel a little more hopeful. Follow Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Reclaiming early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm sure that movie made you better.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Good challenge.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I hope so.

[Dax Shepard]

That was a big exercise. That was like heavy weight, heavy reps.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'm really scared of this movie.

[Dax Shepard]

You did such a good job.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

I hadn't seen many of these movies.

[Aza Gonzalez]

So I know you're going to be watching. I care a lot now for sure.

[Monica Padman]

You really sold it.

[Dax Shepard]

Wait, didn't you cut the pegging scene?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, boring.

[Dax Shepard]

See, now I don't need to see it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

There's little heavy makeouts here and there, but no pegging.

[Dax Shepard]

Where do people see it?

[Aza Gonzalez]

It comes out March 21st and movies. It's wide release. Why? I'm also really scared. Awesome. We need a lot of love. Please go watch it.

[Monica Padman]

Go to the movies. The movies are fun. I miss the movies.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And it's a horror movie. I love going to the movie theaters for a horror movie.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. Or like substance, as you said, was such a good movie to see in the movie theater. I loved it because everyone's into it and laughing and kind of screaming and it's that communal thing we just don't get anymore.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Exactly. Wait, did you work with Josh? Now that I think of it, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

We did a movie called when in Rome. You don't need to see it. Kristen's the lead. Josh is her love interest. I'm one of three suitors trying to get Kristen.

[Monica Padman]

We're a long time ago.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. This was within the first three months of us dating. 18 years ago we made this movie.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Wait, so you were dating before? Before you did the movie?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, which is a wonderful story because Disney did not want to hire us. We've been dating for three months. They're like, we're not hiring a three month boyfriend and girlfriend. Then they break up in three weeks.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And then, by the way, that's very smart.

[Dax Shepard]

One of my best friends, Andrew Panay, Yorgo was the producer and I was like, george, I promise you, no matter what, I will not break up with her.

[Aza Gonzalez]

At least while I'm filming the movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. We barely made it. We were living together. It was a disaster for us, living together three months in and shooting a movie.

[Monica Padman]

They were in Italy only for a week.

[Dax Shepard]

Mostly it was this dark apartment in New York where we were.

[Monica Padman]

You just weren't here. So you had to live together.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. We were shooting in New York and then in Italy.

[Aza Gonzalez]

So you said, let's just jump in and straight up live together while making a movie. That sounds insane.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm like, so frugal. Well, let's combine our living thing and then we'll pocket the thing. We get home and the relationship is in a state of total disrepair. We decide to go to a couple's therapists. Her therapist.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Three months.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, now we've shut up. So now we're four or five months. Yeah, I'm out. We took a motorcycle trip home to Michigan. It was a disaster. I left. Like, I hope I never see this person again as long as I lived. I'm sure she felt the same way. We get home, we go to couples therapy, and I say to the therapist, I go, you know, I made this promise to not break up with her during the movie because of my friend. But now we're back in real life, and I don't know that we're going to make it. And he goes, well, it's really interesting you're saying you're back in real life because actually, that was real life. You commit. We're not breaking up. And I was like, oh, my God, so stupid. But I honestly was like, oh, wow, that is it. You go, no, no. Under no circumstances. So we must figure out how to make this work, because we're not breaking up. So weirdly, it was a kind of a breakthrough.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And how many years are we in now?

[Dax Shepard]

18Th year.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Wow. Frozen is my favorite movie of all time.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, good news. You'll have three and coming your way.

[Aza Gonzalez]

I don't think any adult that has no children has watched Frozen as much as I have.

[Monica Padman]

That's the first time I've heard that.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, if you like musical theater and.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Singing, I would go on dates with guys and I'd have my Spotify Shuffle.

[Dax Shepard]

And your strap on. In the back seat?

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah, in the back seat. And then all of a sudden was like, do you want to build a snowman? And I'm singing. They're like, this is so weird. Yeah, you can totally tell. I had no childhood, and I was like a child star who got completely ripped away from having a childhood. So now I'm living it.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you love Wicked too?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I went to the movie theaters. I watch it 17 times. I cried. I was blown away by it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, the one line got me to well up. It's right before. What's the last song they sing as they're on the Defying Gravity. Defying.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Defying Gravity.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like a stanza before that.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Anywhere of anywhere of everywhere. Oh, unlimited.

[Dax Shepard]

Unlimited. Together we're unlimited.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It got you.

[Dax Shepard]

I was like, oh, yes, you are.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Girls.

[Monica Padman]

Did you watch those girls last night?

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Did they rip it up?

[Monica Padman]

Ariana came out and sang a song from the wizard of Oz. She's saying Somewhere over the Rainbow. And then Cynthia came out and sang a song from the Wiz.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my gosh.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And then they sang together.

[Monica Padman]

They sang together. That together were unlimited.

[Aza Gonzalez]

It gave me chill. Just repeating it gave me chills.

[Monica Padman]

Also, what it was saying, because the Wiz is an African American wizard of Oz and it's bringing these together.

[Aza Gonzalez]

But it was very powerful, and it makes me really happy for John Chu. Random. John Chu was the first person to actually cast me in a movie.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, really?

[Aza Gonzalez]

He did a movie that Was not successful at all. And we always laugh about it. Called Jem and the Hologram.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Ryan Hansen was in there.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes. Are you guys friends with Ryan? I love Ryan. He's hilarious.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. He's the most charismatic man in America.

[Aza Gonzalez]

The most charismatic man ever.

[Dax Shepard]

Can do backflips.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And will at any chance with little provocation.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And he cast me as the misfits, which was the bad girls. And we had little tiny scene. I remember it was Kesha me. And we had two lines at the end of the gem in the Hollywoods, because supposedly we're gonna do another one. Never happened. But it was my first role, actually, before baby driver, now that I think of it. Wow. And we've been friends ever since. Two and a half.

[Monica Padman]

He is.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. Well, Iza, this was so fun.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Thank you, guys.

[Dax Shepard]

Really great job on Ash. Everyone watch Ash go to the movie theater. It's scary. And you'll have that communal experience where you're screaming and maybe throwing up a little.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh, you grab your titties out of fear. You grab your titties. You're like. That's a good.

[Monica Padman]

That's a good sign.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Thank you so much for having me. I'm such a fan of the podcast. I'm really happy to be here. I hope people don't think that I'm insane. I'm not insane.

[Monica Padman]

You're not insane.

[Dax Shepard]

No one thinks that. No one thinks that. It's time to let all that go.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Anxiety go.

[Dax Shepard]

It's all behind us. All right. Adore you. Thank you.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Thank you, guys. Bye.

[Dax Shepard]

He is an arpair expert, but he makes mistakes all the time. Thank God Monica's here. She's got to let him have the facts.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. No, she her all time. Her like my Matt and Ben.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Is Mr. Tumnus. Who is. What's his name? James McAvoy. Who?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, great pick.

[Monica Padman]

I know. But she picked him while he was Mr. Thompson. Tumnus in Mr. Tum in, like Lion Witch in the Wardrobe. So he's like h. He's like a centaur or something.

[Aza Gonzalez]

And we.

[Monica Padman]

We were seeing in the movie theater, and she was like, is he hot? And I was like, no.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

And he's turned out to be quite hot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so charismatic.

[Monica Padman]

I guess I've never met him.

[Dax Shepard]

What did that just make me think? Oh, we. I rename named Whiskey, and I feel like it's such a good name for him.

[Monica Padman]

What is it?

[Dax Shepard]

First of all, conjure him in your head.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

A little mogwai rat. Right. Three legs. We decided he's tiny Trump.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

So his new name is Trump. I love picture his face and picture trim.

[Monica Padman]

That's exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

This is my dog Trim. Ew. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's really accurate in a gross way.

[Dax Shepard]

Trim.

[Monica Padman]

Because it's kind of like shrimp. Which he. Shrimpy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Then.

[Dax Shepard]

And then what's the rat from Charlotte's Web? Templeton.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

So his name is Trump Templeton something. I've forgotten his last name. But now he's got a whole new three names.

[Monica Padman]

I like that. He really looks like a trip. Who do you think is the perfect name to face and body? Like name to person match.

[Dax Shepard]

Brad Pitt.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

I guess then that just those words symbolize now. Hotness.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But I don't know. That's like chicken or the egg.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

I mean more like.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that reminds me. As I alerted you on my bus trip home from Nashville, I was watching all kinds of stuff. Mostly I can just listen to Great Wreck if you're just driving and you want to listen turning point. That 10.

[Monica Padman]

What's that?

[Dax Shepard]

It's on Netflix. It's 10 episodes, but really the history of the arms nuclear arms race and all the twists and turns. I wrote down stuff in my notes I want to bring up.

[Monica Padman]

Thank God.

[Dax Shepard]

You're going to like it. No, you're going to like one part.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

But anyways, I gave Love Island, Temptation Island a cheat.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

I've never done that.

[Dax Shepard]

I couldn't do it. I'll blame it on driving and needing to look at probably hot coeds.

[Monica Padman]

I assume that's the whole point of. And it's very visual and the most.

[Dax Shepard]

Alarming thing's happening to me, which is like hot coeds are starting to do less and less for me.

[Monica Padman]

That's great.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, is it. I mean it's like on a self actualized spectrum. It's good. That's a bummer to miss.

[Monica Padman]

I'm sorry.

[Dax Shepard]

I understand something that has been a source of like titillation and enjoyment my whole life. It's just one less thing I enjoy.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. I have a question. Answer honestly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Is it that just like overall the titillation in seeing like women on screen or. Yeah, we'll see.

[Dax Shepard]

Even RIP dudes. You know how I like ripped dudes as well.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. So it's all going downhill or is it just the age has changed?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. How do I. How do I know? But everyone's pretty young on the show. What I think is happening is there's some sliding Ratio in my head, that used to be at 13 looks was a 20. Like, my body was just responding to.

[Monica Padman]

What you see, of course.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I just feel like personality always ratcheted up, and then looks priority went down. And I think that was at a really nice even keel for a long time. Long enough that I could at least look at a hot person with a repugnant personality and think that'd be tolerable for 40 minutes.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I see. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I can't even enjoy now. I'm turning into a woman.

[Monica Padman]

That's what I was literally just about to say.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm finally starting to understand how you happening is.

[Monica Padman]

You're becoming your. It doesn't matter if someone's feminine side is coming out finally.

[Dax Shepard]

I must be in menopause.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah, but that's how it feels.

[Dax Shepard]

They introduce themselves, right. It's like, you know the premise. There's like 10 couples or eight couples.

[Monica Padman]

And they come in as a couple.

[Dax Shepard]

It's the weakest premise imaginable, which is like, we want to make sure we can take our relationship to the next. The next level. So we're gonna see. We're gonna really tempt each other. It's like, that's not what people looking to take their relationship to the next level. Dude. Conventionally.

[Monica Padman]

Conventionally.

[Dax Shepard]

But anyway, so it's. You're sitting down. It's this weird mix of jealousy and then bravado of that they. They don't care.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then the temptresses and tempters come out. If that's the male of temp.

[Monica Padman]

Oh. They bring in new people.

[Dax Shepard]

They break up the couples, and the girls live in one house, the boys live in another house. And then they send and temptresses. And so, like, all these women come out, and they're in. And they're in bathing suits. This whole thing is really fascinating because. What is the line like, if you set it up. Yeah, these are very vague lines.

[Monica Padman]

You mean like sex worker?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, like you're hiring hot people to tempt other people, and then hopefully they'll hook up with. It's very. It's very blurry.

[Monica Padman]

And I mean, I guess, who cares? Temptresses want to date. It's not right.

[Dax Shepard]

They're claiming they do, but they were cast for being hot.

[Monica Padman]

They're not.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not like they were like, I need to find love, and I'm looking for someone already in a committed relationship that's claiming they want to go. That doesn't exist.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

So. And you know, they're like, These aren't real names. Right. I'm just making them. It's like, I'm Tiara and I put all the back up front, like all these weird sayings. And then they show their butt and stuff.

[Monica Padman]

They put all the back up front. That means they have a huge vagina.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, no, I'm not mixing metaphors and just saying words anyways. Yeah, they say these things.

[Monica Padman]

Y.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, this guy's like, I'm a chef and I'm going to cook you hot. You know, like all these. They got a one line.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm just like. You know, every time they say one.

[Monica Padman]

Of these, of course, is so cringy.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a bummer. Yeah, it's a bummer, people. Yeah. Like you're already hot and then have to say something hot on top of it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But I'm saying all this same. I know 10 years ago, I would have. I would have made a look right through most of that stuff. Although the one I always loved was with Ryan Devlin. What was that? Are you the one?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, we loved that because they really.

[Dax Shepard]

Did want to fall in love. And be on tv.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And be on tv.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But they were like. They thought they. People were, like, bawling and stuff.

[Monica Padman]

That was a bachelor.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But, like, here's hot models that are going to tempt you. I just don't know how I feel about it. Anyways, I gave that a shot and then I didn't. I didn't make it. Why did I bring that up? Just to tell you. Oh, because we were talking about names.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Names and whose name matches.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And did you. Why did I think of.

[Monica Padman]

We talk about Brad Pitt being hot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, Hot. That's it.

[Monica Padman]

That's how we got there. Yeah. I mean, look, I, I. And I used to get it.

[Dax Shepard]

I used to be able to name, like, 10 actor female actors that I was, like, into. Coveted.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And we're down to a couple.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, I'm saying really in, like, it's.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm dying.

[Monica Padman]

No, no, really. Like, I would assume that you don't have any anymore.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, like. Like, why would I have many? Like, when would there be a day where you go, like, brad Pitt's not hot?

[Monica Padman]

No, it's not that. It's just things do change. Like, even for me, you know? Today an article came out in GQ about my boyfriend, one of my original boyfriends, Ben.

[Dax Shepard]

Ben. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And, you know, my friend said, you have to read this article about Ben.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was like, it's A must read.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And actually she said, I know you're more of a Mac girl, but you have to read this. And then I got like old defensive. Right. I was like, it's not one or the other. That's they're the same. Yeah. But I know at some point in my life the idea that there was like new info about Ben or that he would have participated in thing and I, and I would have been, I would have been so excited. I would have read it immediately. I would have canceled all my plans.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes, of course.

[Monica Padman]

And I was like, oh, I gotta read that. Like, it like felt like a chore similar. I loved it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you did?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it was. It's really good.

[Dax Shepard]

What makes it so good?

[Monica Padman]

He's very open in it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, like to what degree?

[Monica Padman]

Well, I also give a lot of credit to the interviewer. He's not going for low hanging fruit.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Like every interviewer.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. And so in, in doing that, Ben says a lot of stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Because he's not on the defensive.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly, exactly. And I mean, he's just a couple that a lot of things he talks about, he. I mean, I mean there's nothing like majorly juicy, but he does talk about his relationship with Jen Lopez and he's basically like, yeah, everyone wants like a juicy headline. He's like, it's. It's just, it'd be so boring if you knew the details. It's just a relationship. It's just like she has things, I have things and it ultimately doesn't work. Yeah. He's very like reflective of this thing about him that like, people love to watch him spill coffee on the street. And you know, and he said, I could have been more strategic. I, I should be more strategic. I shouldn't like go out and fix the mail or go out in. In crappy clothes. I know people are going to do a thing, but I just don't get. I don't give a.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And I liked that. And then. And he said when he looks back on older.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm so grateful I'm not him.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

I am so grateful.

[Monica Padman]

No, it's so unfair.

[Dax Shepard]

Every now and then I see photos of me from out in front of my house. So I'm like, oh, they sit there, you know, that's it there. That's a bummer. But it's not like if I go to the store, there's ever.

[Monica Padman]

And that people are waiting for you to do something very silly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And by the way, just make it through an entire walk to Starbucks from your Car without looking goofy at one point.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly, exactly. And. And he talks, like, about his kids because he has this production company with Matt and, like, the reason they started that is so he could be at home. He can, like, be with the kids when they get off the bus. And he missed a lot of chunks. He said he missed a lot of chunks, and he regrets that, and he doesn't like that. And, yeah, it was. It was great. It was great. I loved it. But also, all to say, like, you had.

[Dax Shepard]

Your interest had waned a bit.

[Monica Padman]

Just my perimenopause is kicking in.

[Dax Shepard]

Same.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah, it makes sense because I'm Indian.

[Dax Shepard]

Atrophy or something. Testicular Indian.

[Monica Padman]

And you're white. So we would be hitting it hard around the same time.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I'm white.

[Monica Padman]

Yay.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm 12 years. You're 12 years old.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Can I tell you the thing that really interested me about Turning Point?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Oh, wait. Come on. Can we do one more thing?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, of course.

[Monica Padman]

This is still sort of on subject.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Hotness. So I say that, right?

[Dax Shepard]

You were shocked that I have two still.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah. Who are they?

[Dax Shepard]

I probably have more. You know, it was re. Reinvigorated. I went and saw Black Bag.

[Monica Padman]

I was just about to bring it up.

[Dax Shepard]

You saw it?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. You know what's great? I went solely because I saw Fassbender was in it. I had, like, an afternoon off and I went. I didn't know anything about it.

[Monica Padman]

Yep, me either.

[Dax Shepard]

I enjoyed it so much.

[Monica Padman]

Me too.

[Dax Shepard]

The score was so good, and I was angry at myself when I saw the titles. Like, oh, Soderbergh directed it, of course. And that's. Of course, that's his signature kind of music and the style. I almost wanted to rewatch it again.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

You know, to the end, it was him.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's why I saw it. I was like.

[Dax Shepard]

It was almost a blessing because I was trying to figure out the tone of it quite a bit. If I knew it was so. I knew it would be a lot more out of sight.

[Monica Padman]

Playful.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And I was more like, oh, this is hardcore British espionage shit. But I loved it. But I was reminded how much I love Alicia Vikander.

[Monica Padman]

I didn't even realize it was her.

[Dax Shepard]

When he's interviewing her and she's passing the polygraph and they're talking about her anal sphincter.

[Monica Padman]

I realize it was her the whole movie until you just said that.

[Dax Shepard]

Am I right on that, Rob?

[Aza Gonzalez]

I'm literally looking.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. That would Be really embarrassing if I have the wrong.

[Monica Padman]

She looks like her now in retro.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you like that actor?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, she was great, but I. Fassbender, who's your. Well, this is. It's crazy that you said it because what I was about to say is, you know, we're saying this lusty thing, but I saw a black bag and I thought it was so sexy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And he's so sexy in it, which.

[Dax Shepard]

Is interesting because he's so reserved.

[Monica Padman]

But it's like.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Controlled. His level of control is hot. Right?

[Monica Padman]

He loves her so much.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Fucking. He'll betray his country for her.

[Monica Padman]

And she's so beautiful in it.

[Dax Shepard]

Cate Blanchett.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. And also, like, I'm really upset because her outfits are so cute in it. And then I just want all the outfits.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Really bad.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Anyway, I think that was her.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I think we could probably.

[Dax Shepard]

I think you're in front of a computer. She's not listed on the IMDb. You just go to Cass. Black bag. Well, she's not listed there, but it's not her.

[Aza Gonzalez]

The AI.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not her.

[Monica Padman]

Marissa. No, wait. Yep. Marissa Abuela.

[Dax Shepard]

Wait, what? Does that not look like her?

[Monica Padman]

It does look like her.

[Dax Shepard]

They're a couple.

[Monica Padman]

This girl is Marissa Abuela.

[Dax Shepard]

She's.

[Monica Padman]

She was great.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, great.

[Dax Shepard]

You can add her.

[Monica Padman]

But you can add her to your list now.

[Dax Shepard]

Although she's 20. Oh, that's a little dicey. Wow, man, I'm embarrassed.

[Monica Padman]

This is actually why you're liking young people less. Because I do think whether you are conscious of it or not, you know, that you wouldn't really want to make that decision.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I couldn't date any of these people. Is that not abundantly clear?

[Monica Padman]

No, no, it is clear. But I think. I think when you're like watching Temptation island and it's like, God, it's just like not doing it for me. I think it's because there's a subconscious streak now going. Going through. Like, as you've said before, there has to be some reality to your fantasy.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, okay, let's back up for one second. Just go. Like, societally, it's disgusting to have to be. You know, when you're 50 years old and you're dating 25 year old.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not here to judge, but I'm.

[Dax Shepard]

Just saying, societally, yeah, it's embarrassing if you're out at a dinner with all your. Your peers and they all have wives. As peers as I do.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And you've brought a 20 year old.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's embarrassing.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not saying people shouldn't do it or. I'm just saying I would be embarrassed. Yeah. To be at a dinner with all 50 year olds and I brought my 20 year old girlfriend.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I think that's what's happening genetically, evolutionarily. No, there's no, there's no reason a man would ever stop seeing fertile women as attractive. That's just that it would be my culture on top of it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but your culture's a. Oh, it is, it is. Obviously we are. Have also evolved out status. Like status. Status now doesn't just necessarily mean having as many kids as like you're done having kids, right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Like, yes, physically you are done having kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Unless I got a reversal of my vasectomy. Right.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So. So you have also told.

[Dax Shepard]

But my, my genetics doesn't know I got a vasectomy.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it doesn't. It can't take info in.

[Monica Padman]

But the whole point that the reason that we have those genetics is still for status. It's for spreading as your seed wide as you can.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's just to spread your seed. So genetically who I'm supposed to spread my seed. That's the pole.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Inside.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then on top of my biology is culture that's affecting a bunch of my behaviors.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

All I'm pointing out is that there is no mother nature rule that I would not be attracted to someone. That's.

[Monica Padman]

No, I'm not saying there's a mother nature rule. But I'm. But it's. It's still. Culture's still subconscious.

[Dax Shepard]

Culture's huge. Yes, it's totally subconscious.

[Monica Padman]

That's what I was saying. I was like, subconsciously there is something in you that's like, that's not a reality anymore.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Well, I go to. Mine's very complicated. I go to. I can't talk to the. What would I talk to this person about? How would I spend hours with this person?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to be talking about, you know, the time Prince was dead in 1983. We all fought.

[Monica Padman]

You did talk about that recently.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I also continue to because that's when I grew up with. Anyways, man. But I see, I see folks my age just out doing it, I guess. I guess I, I don't know. I. I want to say applaud them but I'm just like, I. We just have different levels. I guess it's. I guess it's a signal of confidence. Seems like a signal of insecurity Yours. When I see 50 plus year old actors with 20 year old actresses, it's.

[Monica Padman]

Either insecurity and they need this like woman to raise their status because they're beautiful.

[Dax Shepard]

They want a reflection of themselves.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Exactly.

[Monica Padman]

If this person likes me, then you guys should all like me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Right. Which I. I can relate to that in some cases.

[Dax Shepard]

Not all. In some cases, I think it could be evidence of a lack of emotional maturity from the male. Which is like they've never gone past what relationships are in your 20s.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

They don't want to.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And they want someone that also wants a three year ordeal.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And nothing more. Because that's the phase they're in.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. They. They don't want it to be that serious. The older you get. Most women want something a little more serious. So there's that.

[Dax Shepard]

And I would imagine the percentage of three year relationships in your 20s that turn into lifetime versus three year relationships in your 30s that turn into lifetime. I think that's a dramatic difference.

[Monica Padman]

Probably. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Guessing.

[Monica Padman]

I would guess too. Yeah. Any who.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that was. Do you want to add any guys to your list? I know a lot of them. Idris Elba. The guy from.

[Monica Padman]

Such a random one to say.

[Dax Shepard]

The guy from heist. Matt. Ben. Sean Pen.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, see, this is why it's so. Honey. I know I'm sort of an outlier.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Like.

[Monica Padman]

Or. I've always liked older men.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

Which is so opposite from what men. You know. And I still do. I know from my female peers and friends that I. On the scale you track more attracted to older men than they are.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you have an explanation for that?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's a maturity thing.

[Monica Padman]

No. I think because I spent so much of my young life feeling like I had to protect everyone in the family. I like the idea of not having to do that.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And having a protector.

[Dax Shepard]

Relax.

[Monica Padman]

So in my head, the protector has to be older.

[Dax Shepard]

Patriarchal. A little bit.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. Interesting. Because I was going to hark and guess that there's also some parties. You an insecure part.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

That says older men value personality more.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, no.

[Dax Shepard]

And young men are just looking for like whatever Instagram model to inflate their own status.

[Monica Padman]

No, because this is. Even when I was really young. Like when I was really young, this whole. Yeah. I didn't like. I. I wasn't like. I mean, I guess I did like Leonardo DiCaprio and Titan. I liked him, but I really liked David Boreanaz.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I don't know who that is.

[Monica Padman]

Angel on Buffy.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Monica Padman]

And he Was older, way older than me at the time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So I was still even then attracted to like an older thing.

[Dax Shepard]

This is where it does get tricky, is like I trust you and your desires.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So if you want to date a 62 year old man.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Well, we've talked about this. You don't want me to.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't want you to.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But it's interesting that I have two conflicting ideas in my head which is like, yeah, you should be able to be with a 62 year old man. And then kind of the inverse of that is like I have to be able to not be judgmental of the 62 year old man that's with you.

[Monica Padman]

Right. But you are and I get it.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Although there is a threshold, but I bet it's kind of just because I'm 50. So to me a threshold is a. Around 35.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Oh God, that's so sad. But true.

[Dax Shepard]

Like I don't mind a 50 year old dating a 35 year old.

[Monica Padman]

No, me either. Yeah, I don't mind a 60 year old dating a 35 year old. I know we are a little, we're a little different on this, on this page, Ted.

[Dax Shepard]

And again, I don't, I don't give a. I just have questions.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I don't have that many questions. It's like if it, the 60 year old is, is finally at the point in his life where he is ready to have some fun, travel, settle down. I mean there is something about feeling, being with a young person that makes you feel youthful and energized and not like your age, but also I think a six year. Some of these six year old men who are hot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Like have had all these women coming in and out of their life. They liked that and now they're like, oh no. Like I do wish I had someone to watch TV with. I don't. I guess I got to go to the people who do and those are 35 year olds.

[Dax Shepard]

Who like to watch TV.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I love to watch TV. I watched all of Adolescence this weekend. Great, great show.

[Dax Shepard]

Great show.

[Monica Padman]

Really intense. Beautifully done. Impressive. Holy that boy. New brand new, brand new.

[Dax Shepard]

Talk about for people who haven't seen it. We have mentioned it before but all of it is in very long takes. I don't know if they bridged some together or not.

[Monica Padman]

They might have, but it's sold as a one up.

[Dax Shepard]

They apparently didn't.

[Monica Padman]

So for people who don't know, although I do think we said it. But just in case it's the story of A boy who's accused of murdering a 13 year old boy who's accused of murdering a girl that age.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And it's four episodes, they're hour long songs, they're oners and it's really heartbreaking. It's intense but like intense in the reality of life.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. I certainly don't want to re debate this. I did want to just point out post our debate about men and women that we had recently.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And in reading comments I noticed there's a, a total lack of compassion for young men.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And particularly young white men. Totally get it. It's so white, well grounded. White men have been in power. They've had all the power and all the opportunity. So I'm asking you to feel bad for the group who's had all the power and all the opportunity and held all the wealth. But what occurred to me, and I think it's a distinction people need to make in their mind. The 12 year old wasn't a CEO of a company. He was not the patriarchy. He did not have the power.

[Monica Padman]

I agree.

[Dax Shepard]

I think we graft on the sins of previous generations under these young boys who are like 10 years old. They just arrived. They don't have any status or power or control. And you gotta make the distinction in your head if you hope to have any compassion for this group that is by all metrics struggling.

[Monica Padman]

I think anyone who's really thinking about it does recognize and for 30 and.

[Dax Shepard]

Above, go ahead and keep feeling that way. I don't mind that you think, oh, poor white men that are 30 and above.

[Monica Padman]

Right. But I, I think most people who know what's going on do have compassion. And even if you don't have compassion, you, you, you have to have some fear and some level of like this is a huge problem that has to, we have to look at.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a tinderbox.

[Monica Padman]

It is, it is. But I guess what's like the show depicts in I think a great way is the outside influence on a lot of these boys. It gets into incel culture which it was funny because I was like, I don't know so much about it. Like I don't know barely anything. They were, they're explaining a lot of stuff that I was like, oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

My understanding of incel was like it's a very fringe part of the Internet. Or these guys who are like I'm never going to have sex and then they hate women. And then I saw this clip that went around which is incredible. Is one of the very popular vlogging incel guys saying it was gay to have sex with women. I mean that's how fucking twisted. Yeah, but I didn't realize it was like super common knowledge among young people or at least in English, if this shows to be believed.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And there's a whole culture around it. There's emojis that mean things and it's a whole. And there's this like 80, 20 rule where 80% of the women. It's part of like what incels say. Which is I think true on social.

[Dax Shepard]

Or rather on dating apps. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That 80% of women are interested in 20% of men. But then they take it to this level. That's so because of that we have to hurt them. I just think it's like the least thought out fucking thing in the world to be like. So the answer to that is like hurt them and kill them. That means then 0% of you. But that doesn't have to be like the, the reason is because a woman will be with a man who's not like that. Like the. It's like it's dragging all these boys in to increase the chance that that will happen.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, they're. Yeah. They have to figure out what the 20% on dating apps are doing and replicate it right again because the college graduation rates are dropping. And if you got to be a college grad to get that 20%, I mean, hopefully that'll disincentivize these dudes to go to college. They got to figure out what are the things.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And go get those things so you can get those mates. Also, I would hope women will start dating laterally if that's the real dynamic on planet earth is that 80% of women are getting plowed by the same 20% of dudes. Like, that's not advantageous to them either. It's not good for women to all be fighting over 20% of the. The pool.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I think what's really happening is that women go dormant and they don't. Yeah. They're like, I don't need that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And the unfortunate reality is that's more and more true.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I don't. I mean, I'm not saying that's good, but it is more true that like you can.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, yeah. You can be an independent. Yeah. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And live like a happy good life. That's the. But I, I would say I don't.

[Dax Shepard]

Think boys are as capable of.

[Monica Padman]

I agree. And so I think. Think most women would prefer to be in a partnership A good partnership.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Than be alone. But also I think what's starting to happen, obviously, I can fully attest to this. We're also not going to be in a partnership that isn't equal. Like, that isn't good. It's preferred to be single.

[Dax Shepard]

I would say both are going to suffer.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I think people should do what they've always done and form partnerships and that.

[Monica Padman]

Are health, you know, like, that's the whole.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't want anyone to be in a bad relationship, but I want everyone to have a partner and feel fulfilled and have children and keep the population.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I agree. I agree. I just think it's getting. It's. It's getting harder. Like it just is. It's for everyone.

[Dax Shepard]

I just think way more people are losing now than ever have.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But Even because these 20% of dudes, you think any of them are settling down if they have access to 80% of all women?

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

That's for them. It's not good for them.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's certainly not good for the 80% of boys that are left out.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not good for the 80% of women trying to go after 20% of. I guess the only people that are maybe thriving are the 20% of women who are with the. I don't know. I don't fucking know. It seems. It seems.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know. But we also, like. There's also the reality at play here. Even though we're saying. We're saying this 80, 20 rule, but there is a real truth. We talked about it on here all the time. I see it everywhere that men are not that attracted to highly independent, accomplished women. Most men, they're. They're threatened by it and it's uncomfortable.

[Dax Shepard]

I think they're all attracted to it. I think they don't know how to handle it when they get it.

[Monica Padman]

I also think a part of it is, like, for many men, I don't know, I think they think there's something masculine about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, like that. Well, maybe for some. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

There's like a role reversal. They don't like. They don't like the idea their dad.

[Dax Shepard]

Was the breadwinner and their mom was.

[Monica Padman]

So that's not attractive. I mean, I just. There's so many women I know that are. Are single and like beautiful and thriving and real catches.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And they cannot. And they are dating. Like, they're out there. They are dating and it is not working.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not good. I guess what's interesting to think of is I have two Daughters that will date. And what do I want for them?

[Monica Padman]

Well, yeah, I also think knowing you, you definitely want them to be with an equal part partner.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

They deserve that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I want them to be with an ambitious go getter protector.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Who's confident.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And we'll let them shine.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

If they don't, I'll break their necks.

[Monica Padman]

So right there is the reason that's 20 of men. That's the whole thing. Like the expectation you have for your daughters is the expectation at this point. Point that most. Not most, but a lot of women have for themselves.

[Dax Shepard]

If one of my daughters dated a dude who wasn't ambitious. Yeah. Who wanted to keep a really clean house and be a super involved dad.

[Monica Padman]

And was nice and I wouldn't be.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, you shouldn't be with that guy. He's not a man.

[Monica Padman]

I think a lot of woman, women would be fine with that if they had their own thing going on. This is where we get into some weird sort of tricky dynamics. We had people write in distinct about this a lot and there'd be like some tricky dynamics then because they'd come home and like in a reverse traditional situation, if it was a wife at home, a woman at home, they would be required to like keep up the house and do the grocery shopping, do this and do this. But a lot of men now, maybe this will change. And I actually think that's going to be the answer. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, all these. Anyone who grew up is watching a dad do that right now they're on like they're on third base.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly, exactly. And there's no shame around it or like, I'm not a man and I think, think. But a lot of a certain generation of men, I think my, my generation may be the last one. Right. Where it's like they don't want to run a house.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

So. And that feels emasculating and things like that. So this is where the whole like being with an ambitious. Not being with an ambitious woman, it just is tricky.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Now let me ask you this. This is a dangerous one. But do you think we can bump up against the limits of our biology at some point? Like society evolves, culture evolves. But I do wonder at what point do you bump up against just how much culture can override biology?

[Monica Padman]

I actually think culture can override it quite a bit over a long period of time. I don't think it's fast, but I.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I think if you plotted, you and I on this spectrum, I think we have different like inflection Points of where that would be, I think.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Probably even where this all started, where I think the culture has seeped in enough for, like, you to be. You would be embarrassed to do something that we were meant to do. Yes, that. That's an indicator enough for me that, like, over time things do change and then modeling changes. So, like, what your kids have seen is going to be different than their kids. You know, it's just, it's overall gonna shift.

[Dax Shepard]

We're highly flexible and adaptable, so maybe it'll work.

[Aza Gonzalez]

True.

[Dax Shepard]

Also, we could see it fall off.

[Monica Padman]

A cliff and go, we'll be dead by then. I think it's all right. Okay. Couple facts. Just a couple. Hot dog DNA.

[Dax Shepard]

Ah, tell me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, Hot dog DNA. I've asked a lot of people this question that me and you had about would you rather eat someone's hair? Hair. Eat their skin or eat their butt? No, eat their skin. Hair, saliva, saliva. Exactly. Well, the whole thing is, no, not all hot dogs contain human DNA, but a 2015 study by Clear Labs found human DNA in 2% of the hot dog and sausage samples they tested, with two thirds of those samples being vegetarian. I mean, it's really not that much. But then it just, it just made us ask the question, what would you rather have of those three? And I've been asking a lot of people.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, what's the consensus?

[Monica Padman]

Everyone's all over the place.

[Dax Shepard]

Skin, saliva, and hair, Those are the options. We think that's what's getting into the hot dogs. I say saliva.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you said saliva. You'd most like. You'd most rather have saliva.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't have to chew that. You're not gonna feel that in your mouth. It's best to not even know you had the DNA go through.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And I get. And like, I think a lot of people said saliva.

[Dax Shepard]

You say hair.

[Monica Padman]

I do. And that is controversial. No one's agreed with me.

[Dax Shepard]

What if it's a pubic hair? No, no. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Nope.

[Dax Shepard]

So human hair.

[Monica Padman]

Be a head hair.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Which is probably dirtier than pubic hair.

[Monica Padman]

No, No, I don't think so. I don't know. I. Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Not an ass hair or arm hair. Mons pubis hair.

[Monica Padman]

Arm.

[Dax Shepard]

Arm's fine.

[Monica Padman]

Or arm.

[Dax Shepard]

Arm.

[Monica Padman]

Arm hair is fine.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I prefer that over head hair.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, me too. Thinner. Yeah, tiny, Much thinner. But the reason I say that, I think it's out of self defense. It because my hair is all over the place. And I think it's true that if you know me, you've eaten my Hair.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Like, to know me means you've eaten my hair.

[Dax Shepard]

Unquestionably.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, undoubtedly.

[Monica Padman]

So I don't want to be gross. So I guess I'm trying to, like, I'm lobbying that hair eating is fine.

[Dax Shepard]

What are people saying? They're saying slip. No.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. A lot of people. Someone said skin, which was shocking to me. That's the worst.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I think I would say skin. No, when you're talking skin in a hot dog, it's going to be like, flakes.

[Monica Padman]

No, we're okay. This. We got. Yeah.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Not.

[Monica Padman]

No, not the whole finger, cuz.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, yeah, that's gross.

[Monica Padman]

A chunk of the skin.

[Dax Shepard]

He does make a good point that a tiny chunk of skin again would feel like the texture of the hot dog. And you largely wouldn't know.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you wouldn't know.

[Dax Shepard]

I got to put hair last. Cuz you go and then you're trying to get. Coming.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I know, I know, I know. Nobody likes that. But the reason is we've all done it.

[Dax Shepard]

What if it's like three feet of hair?

[Monica Padman]

Three foot hair. Well, this is the other thing. Often your hair is three feet long.

[Dax Shepard]

No, two and a half.

[Monica Padman]

It's really long.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

The other thing is, if there is a hair in my food, which again, has always happens a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I am always like, it's probably mine. I immediately say to myself, it's probably mine. And then I don't look at the color and I don't think about it.

[Dax Shepard]

And I don't have that luxury. Why? Because if I start pulling a hair that's longer than 3 inches out of my mouth, it's not mine.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it's not mine.

[Dax Shepard]

If it's this long, it can get up to 912 inches.

[Monica Padman]

See? Could be yours.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Look, I do think I'm in a rare group about hair. I can acknowledge that.

[Dax Shepard]

That's cool. We're punk rock.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, now the toothbrushing scene. And bring it on. Just gonna play that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. She's brushing her teeth. He's putting the paste on Colgate. I think now he's brushing. They're like. It's kind of like, meet Cutie.

[Aza Gonzalez]

Still going.

[Dax Shepard]

Do we know why they're sharing a bathroom right now?

[Monica Padman]

No, I forget. Okay, he spit. Still brushing.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you have any more volume you can give us?

[Monica Padman]

She's fit again.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, spitting and rebrushing. Now. I don't do this. I do it once. Okay. Spit, Spit. They're also not. They don't have toothpaste. All right. Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I don't know them drops.

[Monica Padman]

It spit. Spit.

[Dax Shepard]

So it's kind of an aggressive back and forth. It's more of like a tit for tat. Like a war.

[Monica Padman]

Anywho. Well, that's that.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, well, thank you for those facts.

[Monica Padman]

You're welcome.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. I love you.

[Monica Padman]

Love you.

[Dax Shepard]

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