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Its how I attracted men.
Its where most of my confidence came from.
Its how I defined myself.
And its hard to let those pieces of me go, because it feels like Im giving up myself.
But then I realized, none of what defined me before defines me now.
Last year when we spoke, Xo had anabortionand was pursuing her dance school dream.
Now shes facing something much harder.
I have a cousin who, at age 36, passed away from cancer and she left three girls.
Its kind of a big deal, in my opinion.
Which can be tough becauseJaneis a comedy, or has a lot of it.For sure.
Or the tears or whatever.
Theres so much humor in serious things sometimes.
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How did you approach it as an actor?
Were you thinking about your cousin?I rely on my imagination a lot.
Im not so method, you know.
What has been the most challenging part of the cancer story line?Its draining.
Its very energy draining.
Gina [Rodriguez], the other day says to me: Oh my god, Andrea.
Every time youre in this makeup, youre so slow!
She realizes the effect that it has on me.
When they call us to set, Im walking slowly.
Im not doing it on purpose!
My shoulders slouch, my head goes down a little, and I just have less energy.
And then we also had to work on physical impediments.
So, if you have a limp or a pain, or something.
I feel like all that training came into play really well.
Its a completely new side of Xiomara.
Like she says to Rogelio, shes been body-first for most of her life.
And now she cant be.And I can totally relate to that.
I really tapped into that very easily because Im a woman of a certain age.
Im getting older, seeing things are shifting.
You look at your body and youre like, What the hell?
Where did that come from?
So, theres that.
It is what it is, but just having an awareness of it.
Ive seen other actresses refuse to be ugly.
I was like,nah, I wanna go for this.
I even normally haveeyelash extensions, which, you know, are life for me.
I love eyelash extensions!
When I discoveredeyelash extensions, it was like, the sea has parted, the sun came out.
It would have been unrealistic to have these beautiful baby-doe eyelashes and then have this chemo look.
Because I got so used to seeing myself with the eyelash extensions.
It really helped to make it look convincing with the chemo look.
Everyone was quiet and understood.
We have a bomb-ass crew too.
These are like blue-collar guys, but theyve been on set for over 20 years.
They gave me the room to do my thing.
Justin was great about not invading too much of my space or not overdirecting me.
And then I asked for my close-up right away.
I saw an interview with Justin where he said he was crying watching you.Yes.
Yes, yes, yes, he was.
After the take, he came up to me and I could see the tears in his eyes.
He was such a sweetheart.
What about Jaime Camil?Super supportive!
He calls me Andreita.
So hes like, Andreita!
Oh my god, that was so good!
So, just very present, very calm and open and receiving to me.
She was perfect, the best delivery too.
And that ended up being so sweet.
The audience thinks its gonna be like what Jane thinks a party with cake and balloons.
How did you prepare for the scenes in tonights episode?
Xiomaras already had the surgery and is recovering from the mastectomy.
Shes in pain.Costume and makeup really inform.
We had to make it look like I had a single mastectomy.
I cant even help it.
The power of suggestion, thats what it is for me.
I imagine: What would this be like?
Im very sensitive in that way.
Without me even trying, my body language changes.
You actually have an idea of the horror of going through that.And I mean, I like my boobs!
In real life, Andrea likes her boobs.
Ive always had a nice set of tatas.Its true.
Ive even heard people whispering when Im walking down the street.
Somebody will say, Oh, boob job.
And I want to turn around and go, These are fucking real, okay?
As a female, there is so much identity in that.
At least, for me.
I dont have your typical derriere, but I have a nice set of tatas.
I mean, I even nursed my children with these things.
Ginas beendropping some hintsthat next season will be the last.
Has that been confirmed recently?No.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
