America Ferrera said she spent two straight days reciting and memorizing the empowering speech from the Barbie movie. Read the full speech here and hear how it's inspiring women all over the world.
If you've seen the Barbie movie, there are likely many scenes that stick out in your head, seeing as the whole movie was truly unforgettable. From Ken's (Ryan Gosling) "mojo dojo casa house," to "depression Barbies," and yes, that crazy ending, there were so many amazing moments sprinkled throughout the movie that kept viewers on the edge of their seats.
One of the most memorable moments of the movie was America Ferrera's epic monologue that her character, Gloria, gives towards the end of the movie. In fact, the monologue was so memorable, that fans who attended the Los Angeles premiere of the movie gave that scene a wild standing ovation as soon as America said her last word.
"To be able to hear audiences connecting to it in that way with a response like that is amazing," America said.
"It worked on the page, and so I definitely wanted to give that feeling to the audience as the person performing it—to make it resonate the way that it did with me when I read the words on the page," she said of the impactful speech.
America Ferrera's full Barbie monologue
You can read the entirety of the empowering and impactful monologue here.
It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas. You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It's too hard! It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault. I'm just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don't even know.
The Barbie Movie
Give us just one moment while we wipe away some excess tears.
Greta imagined America saying the monologue before she actually said it out loud
"I wrote this monologue for Gloria, and I've always imagined you saying this," Greta said to America upon casting her in the role, according to Vanity Fair.
In a speech that perfectly strikes the chord for the scene, America recalled that she wanted to make sure delivered it perfectly so it would come off to the audience as powerful as she read it to be initially.
"I had to do it many, many times for other people's coverage and to get through the whole scene and over the course of two days," America said. "But she gave me so much freedom with it. There were moments in shooting the movie where Greta really had written something in a very specific way that she heard a very specific way in her head with particular cadence in a particular speed or a particular inflection. I thought maybe this would be like that, but it was the opposite."
America also said that, all in all, the monologue took almost 50 times to shoot in full. To be exact, there were "30 to 50 full runs of it, top to bottom."
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