‘Jane The Virgin’ Star Gina Rodriguez Talks Masturbation, ‘Extreme Guilt’ Doing It

“Jane the Virgin” star Gina Rodriguez may now be a proud feminist, but she used to have insecurities over fully embracing her womanhood. Since she was raised in a culture that puts importance on purity, Rodriguez confessed she used to feel very guilty and embarrassed about masturbating.

During her interview with Bust Magazine for the August/September 2017 issue, Rodriguez said self-pleasure used to be a taboo topic so she always felt bad doing it. “In all honesty, I used to feel guilty for masturbating. Oh my God, this extreme guilt! And that lasted way too long. Or maybe I masturbated too much,” she said. “It’s okay to look back in retrospect and be like, it wasn’t good that I felt bad about touching myself.”

READ: Gina Rodriguez says her boyfriend is more important to her than money and fame

Rodriguez also discussed her relationship with fellow actor Joe LoCicero and said that it isn’t a bad thing either to “share my love with my boyfriend.” They first met when LoCicero made a brief appearance in the “Jane the Virgin” episode, “Chapter Thirty-Nine.” LoCicero played a stripper who was hired to surprise Rodriguez’s character, Jane Gloriana Villanueva, prior to her wedding day. Of course, things did not go well because Jane was giving a talk in school when “Don Quijote” appeared. It was a hilarious moment in the show, and Rodriguez did not think she would be meeting LoCicero again. But she was wrong.

The two actors bumped into each other again at the gym, and it really surprised Rodriguez. “The second time I saw him, I didn’t recognize who he was. He came in through the door and I was like ‘Good God!’ and I fell into his eyeballs. On the fourth day [that we saw each other at the gym], he asked me out, and I have been dating him ever since. Now I know what it means to date your best friend,” she gushed.

The two started their romance in late 2016. Prior to dating LoCicero, Rodriguez was rumored to be dating actor Ben Schwartz in early 2016, and before that, Henry Esteve of “Revenge.”