El Chapo interview has cost me acting jobs, says actress
MEXICAN actress Kate del Castillo said that her involvement in actor Sean Penn’s interview with drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has cost her acting jobs and a “macho” Mexican government is persecuting her only because she’s a woman.
Del Castillo had to shoot her upcoming Netflix series Ingobernable – or Ungovernable – in the United States because she fears she’ll be detained if she returns to Mexico.
The actress still faces government accusations of obstruction of justice and money laundering related to the 2015 meeting with the Sinaloa cartel leader, who was on the run after his second escape from a Mexican prison.
In an interview on Monday, del Castillo said she’s grateful to Netflix for standing by her.
“It’s not been a good year,” she said.
“I couldn’t work because people didn’t want me, because they were afraid.”
Now living in Los Angeles, de Castillo said she won’t let her exile from Mexico dampen her PETA activism, though she does worry about her parents’ security in Mexico.
Del Castillo laughed at the irony of starring in Ingobernable as the first lady of Mexico and she cautioned her fans and critics to remember the political series is fictional.
“The timing is no bueno (good) for me,” she said.
“I’ve done nothing wrong. Probably it was a little too risky. You can like it or not, but it’s nothing illegal,” she added.
“Why am I the only one who is being persecuted? Because I’m a woman.
“If I was a man, this would never have happened. I get it, especially in Mexico – we’re very macho.”
Guzman was recaptured in January 2016 and is fighting extradition to the US, where he faces drug trafficking and other charges.
Del Castillo said she still plans to make a movie about him once her legal dispute with Mexico’s government has ended. — AP