Years ago, when Eva Longoria was starring in Desperate Housewives as the impulsive and outrageous Gabrielle Solis, a skeptic wondered whether she risked getting pigeonholed for choosing roles that so overtly emphasized sex and romance. She was too beautiful, too sexy, too much. No actor could sustain that level of heat forever. In the parlance of our current moment, it would behoove her to be a little more demure. Best if she covered up.
But Longoria isn’t one to take direction from detractors. Recalling the criticism now, Longoria arches a brow: Was she not supposed to want to be hot? She swerved in the other direction. Riding her particular wave of fame “to the beach,” she accepted offers to pose for men’s magazines with zeal, even as she became a respected powerbroker in liberal political circles. She preened in bikinis and fundraised for the causes she believed in. She concealed the bare minimum with well-placed props. She made the most of it.
