Carmen Aguirre is much more than Mexican Hooker #1
Actress and author Carmen Aguirre shares a powerful account of past traumas, and how she's reclaimed them to tell her own story.
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Q4:10LETTERS Your reactions to Carmen Aguirre
q web producer Fabiola Carletti joins Shad to read some reaction to Carmen Aguirre's Tuesday interview.
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Q23:30Carmen Aguirre confronts her traumas in Mexican Hooker #1
Carmen Aguirre wasn't like other theatre students. The actress and writer was pulled aside for so many reasons.
Because they suspected she had post-traumatic stress disorder. Because her work was too personal. Because they said she'd only land roles as sex workers or maids.
All those things ended up being true, says the writer and actress, who counts Mexican Hooker #1 among her acting credits.
"It's so reductive, this character doesn't even have a name," she said of the role. "The only way to deal with the situation was to create my own work."
Mexican Hooker #1: And My Other Roles Since The Revolutionpicks up where her celebrated memoir Something Fierce left off. Loaded with hard lessons and painful memories, the book revisits everything from broken oaths of silence to a face-to-face conversation with the man who raped her.
Aguirre joins Shad to discuss her powerful account of past traumas, how she's reclaimed them to tell her own story, and why she didn't grow up thinking that breaking down was an option.
Carmen Aguirre says she comes from a long line-up of strong women and resilient people who didn't have "the privilege of laying down and sobbing". (Fabiola Carletti/CBC)
WEB EXTRA | Aguirre and Shad have a special history. You might remember that he defended her memoir Something Fierce for Canada Reads in 2012. And they won!
