Wonder Woman Gal Gadot Talks Growing Up, Being a Soldier with ‘Marie Claire’

Gal Gadot landed the highly-coveted role of DC Comics superhero Wonder Woman back in 2014 and now the star is opening up to Marie Claire about her real life fighting experience, that time she won the Miss Israel pageant and more.

The actress may be known as Wonder Woman at the moment, but there was a period of time where she lived a far more serious life as a soldier for the Israel Defense Forces. “To become a fight-training instructor in the Israeli Defense Forces, I did a four-month boot camp where I had to go for seven-mile runs every morning at 6:30AM,” said the actress who’s no stranger to kicking-butt.

As if being a former soldier and the current Wonder Woman weren’t badass enough, Gadot also took home the crown from the Miss Israel pageant in 2004. “Before my army service, I thought, Why not try out for the Miss Israel pageant? I could tell my grandkids that Grandma competed! I did it to have fun, and made friends because I wasn’t competitive. I had no idea I would win.”

Gadot prefers stronger roles for women, a quality that made her the perfect candidate for the role of Wonder Woman. “I prefer to portray the stronger, more independent, inspiring woman than the heartbroken, sad one. Because in real life, women do it all,” she told the mag.

Gadot makes her first Wonder Woman appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, heading to theaters in March 2016. The film Wonder Woman is now in pre-production and comes out 2017.

You can read the rest of Gadot’s interview in the September issue of Marie Claire.

Photo Credit: Clarke Tolton/Marie Claire