The secrets of Rachel McAdams: her sports dream as a child, the explicit harassment she suffered in a casting and the actor she hated and then loved

Rachel McAdams at the premiere of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in May 2022 in Los Angeles (Reuters)

Rachel McAdams is a talented actress whose latest movie, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, brought attention back to her. She will always be remembered for her roles as the popular girl Regina George in “Mean Girls”and, of course, like the sweet Allie in “Diary of a passion”. But in addition to those two iconic films, he has also participated in popular productions such as “Wedding Crashers”, “Sherlock Holmes” and “A matter of time”, among many others.

Throughout her career, the Ontario, Canada-born actress has displayed a unique charisma and skillful versatility in playing across multiple genres, which is why she has earned a well-deserved place in Hollywood. Her passion for acting was sparked when she was winning regional championships as a figure skater. The pressure that she suffered before going out on the ice made her abandon the skates and dedicate all her time to acting.

It was in 2004 when he rose to fame and won the affection of a whole generation of teenagers for his performance in the comedy “Mean Girl”, shifting from prominence to Lindsay Lohan, Disney girl and movie star who, while not entirely forgotten, is often not even remembered her character’s name.

As he explained to The New York Times in a 2018 article, McAdams likes “keeping things unpredictable in an industry that can only imagine you as the last character you played.” As a result, it has been able to defy typecasting, seamlessly jumping between genres. Off the screen and off the set, the movie star has lent her voice to the world of audiobook narration.

Her life before being famous

Before being an Oscar-nominated actress, Rachel McAdams worked at a McDonald's (Getty Images)
Before being an Oscar-nominated actress, Rachel McAdams worked at a McDonald’s (Getty Images)

Rachel McAdams He has been part of numerous hits such as “Mean Girls”, “The Notebook” or “Midnight in Paris”. In addition, she was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress in 2015 for her role in “Spotlight”. While she enjoyed the success of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, The Canadian actress revealed an unknown fact about her life before becoming a Hollywood star.

To begin with, Rachel’s path to fame in the cinema was not easy, since as a child she did not imagined being an actress but an ice figure skater. She trained to become the best from the age of four to 18. When she was seven years old, she saw a group of children in a school play, something that quickly caught her attention. “I told my mom that I had to be there or I was going to die”once declared to the newspaper New York Times. A few years later, in 2004, the role that would give her entry into pop culture would arrive: Regina George in “Mean Girls”.

There are many actors who have had to work for anything while spending long hours of their lives between casting and casting trying to get an opportunity. That was the case of Rachel, who in an interview with the magazine Glamor He said that he worked in a McDonald’s when I was 16 and living in Canada. At that time, he was directing a theater for boys and the money was not enough, so it was his plan B to be able to pay all his bills.

“I worked at McDonald’s for a good three years. My sister and brother also worked there. She was my manager!”said the actress, who was in charge of taking orders. “She was not a great employee. I once broke the orange juice machine.” he admitted between laughs. His performance was not good at all and on top of that he discovered that he had a habit that harmed the rest of his co-workers. “It was a great place to work, but I had OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) with hand washing.”

The actress ended up quitting and her path in acting was opened.

Hate, love and friendship with Ryan Gosling

The story of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. They starred in
The story of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. They starred in “Diary of a Passion” and hated each other, but two years later, they fell in love. (The Grosby Group)

Director Nick Cassavetes had a budget of USD 30 million to film “The Notebook” (“Diary of a Passion”), a film based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. In her hands he had the task of telling a beautiful love story and to star in it he hired Ryan Gosling Y Rachel McAdams. On the set he encountered a big problem that made filming impossible: the actors he had chosen to charm the public hated each other.

Like Allie and Noah, Gosling and McAdams started off on the wrong foot. The actors had to love each other, but they couldn’t stand each other. On the set they spent time arguing. Things got so tense that the actor wanted McAdams to be replaced and asked the director to please change the actress because her partner was unbearable.

The relationship between the actors did not flow. One day she had to rehearse a scene in front of 150 people. He approached the director, without dissimulation and loudly asked him to get the actress out.

In an interview, Cassavetes acknowledged the bad relationship between them and recalled that moment: “They really didn’t get along. One day on set Ryan came up to me and said, ‘Nick, come over here.’ ‘Could you get her out of here and bring in another actress to read off-camera with me? ‘I told him? ‘He said, ‘I can’t do it with her. I just don’t get anything positive.”

The bad relationship had reached a point of no return. Cassavetes proposed a play that could have cost everyone their jobs. He locked himself in a room with them and a producer and told them: “Rachel, Ryan, please talk.”. Ryan and Rachel did catharsis and told each other everything. When they left the room, they were both relieved. Filming resumed. The actors did not become great friends, but at least they put their differences aside.

Finally The film was released and was a complete success.

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams split in 2007 (Photo by J. Vespa/WireImage)
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams split in 2007 (Photo by J. Vespa/WireImage)

Over time, the actors ended up falling in love in real life. Two years after “The Notebook” premiered, Gosling and McAdams met in New York. Away from the set, they discovered that you had more things in common than they thought. In 2005, at the MTV Awards, They confirmed their relationship by recreating the famous kiss from their movie.

Gosling and McAdams were together for four years, until 2007. Shortly after breaking up in an interview with GQ magazine, the actor confessed that thanks to the film he met “to one of the great loves” of his life and that his courtship was even better than the one in the movie:”My love story with Rachel was much more romantic than that.”

It was a few years later, when he began an affair with Eve Mendes, when he made his most affectionate statement in reference to Rachel McAdams. Then, Gosling said that he had not met anyone who could surpass her, neither her nor Sandra Bullock, another one of his famous ex-girlfriends. “Business is the villain. It takes away all the light so nothing else can grow.”confessed to the newspaper The Times about the failure of both relationships.

Rachel, for her part, never made big statements but always says that she would work with her ex again. Today, she enjoys a great personal present. In 2016 she started dating the screenwriter Jamie Linden. At 40 she was a mother for the first time. “People tell me that with the arrival of a child, life no longer belongs to you. But I spent 39 years with myself, I was sick of myself, so now I’m happy to take care of someone else”, he confessed happily. She never revealed the name of her son. In 2020 she became a mother for the second time.

A traumatic casting

Rachel McAdams denounced the abuse she suffered in Hollywood (Getty Images)
Rachel McAdams denounced the abuse she suffered in Hollywood (Getty Images)

She was one of the many actresses harassed in Hollywood and when the #MeToo movement exploded as a result of the abuses committed by producer Harvey Weinstein, she was encouraged to denounce the director and screenwriter james tobackwhich was pointed out by others 300 women.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress revealed her terrible and traumatic experience with the filmmaker, nominated for an Oscar for writing the film “Bugsy” starring Warren Beatty. It all happened in 2001 -he was just 21 years old-, when Toback wanted to meet with Mcadams for a possible participation in “Harvard man”.

“I did the casting and he said, ‘I think you’re very, very talented. I actually think you’re a great fit for this, but I’d like to work it out with you a little bit and maybe rehearse it some more and see if we can get you to where you need to be,'” McAdams told the publication. That same night, Toback phoned her to ask her to meet him in a hotel room. Suspecting nothing, she agreed and went to the meeting.

When she arrived at the scene, the actress found the director sitting on the ground and told her: “I have to tell you. I have masturbated countless times today thinking of you since we met at your casting”. Then he went to the bathroom and when he came back he told her: “I just masturbated in the bathroom thinking of you. Would you show me your pubic hair?

McAdams did not take two minutes to escape when he saw the situation.

The next day, confused about what had happened, she called her agent, who ended up apologizing because it wasn’t the first time it had happened. “That’s when I got angry, because I felt like I was thrown to the lions without anyone telling me that he was a sexual predator. It was something they knew I’d done before”, she explained, assuring that she was very lucky to be able to leave the room without trying to physically attack her.

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The secrets of Rachel McAdams: her sports dream as a child, the explicit harassment she suffered in a casting and the actor she hated and then loved