Zoe Saldana and husband Marco Perego want their sons to grow up in a 'gender-neutral household'
Zoe Saldana and her husband Marco Perego are raising their three sons in a gender-neutral household with 'female and male toys' in order to discourage any gender-stereotypes.
In a conversation with Us Weekly, the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' actress opened up about what it takes to create a gender-neutral environment at home.
Even as she spoke about the importance of raising children without stereotypes, she discussed the challenges it brings — especially when raising young boys. "I'm always gonna be honest and that is always the best way to welcome health and truthful discourse, especially around parenthood... [The twins made a health comment two weeks ago like, 'Boys are stronger than girls," because they're in that stage of comparisons," she said.
"And [here], you have to take a moment and kind of put together an answer that they will understand," she said. The couple is parents to three boys — four-year-old twins Bowie Ezio and Cy Aridio, and two-year-old Zen.
"[To] not bring all this charge that you have as an adult and as a woman into their lives. They're a blank slate," she says, adding that it is important to inform children about gender norms such as not believing the 'boys are stronger than girls' narrative.
It was in 2018 that Saldana first spoke about her gender-neutral household. "We have a very gender-neutral environment where my husband participates in a lot of tasks that were normally given to women and vice versa," she had said back then.
What makes the couple's relationship a one-of-a-kind is that, during their marriage in 2013, they decided to exchange their last names — Marco would take Zoe's last name and she would take his, which means she technically is Zoe Saldana Perego and he is Marco Perego Saldana.
"I get to do a lot of male things, which is, I don't know, put the TV together, fix things that break. We're sort of a very gender-fluid household. I think it's important to raise boys in that environment, and girls as well."
The reason that the couple work towards this fluidly is because they share the same vision. "I have the most perfect partner in my life. I've never met a male like my husband, who [believes] any woman is naturally his equal," she had said to Women's Health.
They follow this through when disciplining their kids as well. "That 'Mom's the boss' thing is not going to happen in our family, because that means he's [husband Marco Perego] the fun one, the good guys, while I'm the disciplinarian. I don't want my kids to look at women like 'Og god, they're so annoying! They always come with structure."