Nia Vardalos Rebounds From 'Karmic Slap'
Nia Vardalos stars in new film, sheds 40 pounds and adopts a daughter.
June 1, 2009 — -- In the past year Nia Vardalos dropped 40 pounds, adopted a daughter and now is starring in a new film. The movie might be called "My Life in Ruins," but her life seems just the opposite.
In an interview with "Good Morning America," Vardalos, 46, said she "got her mojo back" after some devastating news she received in 2004 about the battle with infertility she had been waging for years.
"[The doctors] said, 'This is not for you. Really ask yourself why you're doing this to your body,'" she said. "I felt like, well anybody can have a baby, why isn't this happening for me?"
It was, as she said, a "karmic slap" that caused her to step back from acting.
"I lost my mojo a little bit and I was keeping it private. ... I just retreated," she said.
Nia Vardalos Gets Her Mojo Back
But now Vardalos is back, starring in the new movie "My Life in Ruins," which opens Friday, and directing and starring in another, "I Hate Valentine's Day," which debuts this summer.
And she has an answer to a question that had plagued her since 2004.
"Now I know. I'm supposed to use my big mouth to talk about American foster care," she said.
Vardalos, along with her husband of 15 years, actor Ian Gomez, recently adopted a girl and has been championing the cause ever since.
"Our daughter, at 3 years old, walked into our house and turned our house into a home," she said. "There are 129,000 angels just like her legally free for adoption."
Her real-life struggles also served as a basis for a lot of her "Ruins" character's motivation in the movie that she helped write.
Living the 'Ruined' Life
"I found this movie written by Mike Reiss and I added a couple things to it," she explained. "The thing about the woman losing her mojo. And I was layering and layering it, and why? Because I was living it."
In addition to the new family member, whose name has not been released, Vardalos said getting her mojo back also got her in shape. The "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" star shed 40 pounds in recent months.
She credits the change mostly to eating better.
"It's so funny because I had this incredible year ... [but] right away everyone's like 'how'd you lose the weight,'" she said. "I started walking, I started lowering my food intake. I broke up with cheese."