Interview

DC: Here in New York, everybody's like, "Did you call a car?" I'm always like, "You mean a limo?" People sort of wince, as though a stretch limo with mauve-tinted windows were going to come up with some guy sticking out of it in a prom tuxedo.

EM: I actually had somebody send me a white stretch once, and I started laughing. I was like, "No. No-no-no."

DC: How about this? I know somebody who got a white stretch with clear windows, so she was trapped, and everybody could see in. It was really the ultimate-in-humiliation limo.

EM: There's no hiding.

DC: What about food? Where would I take you to sweep you off your feet, food-wise?

EM: I like the assumption you've made that I eat. When the bread basket comes to the table and I have a bite, people are like, "Oh, you eat bread?" I say, "Oh, my God, of course I eat bread. I'm human."

DC: People are always surprised when women eat.

EM: I always shock people with the bread -basket. Now I think I do it for shock value because it's so fun.

DC: Where do you live?

EM: I live in the Hollywood Hills. I grew up in
L.A., so I'm an L.A. girl.

DC: You grew up where exactly?

EM: Silver Lake-before it was really cool. I mean, it still has a little edge to it, but it had a lot of edge back then. There's this rumor that maybe you can help me dispel-that I'm from Texas. I'll read certain things that come out, like, "Houston-born Mendes," and I'm like, "What?!" It was on IMDb.com forever. IMDb has a lot of misinformation. I think they've finally changed it, because I've given them so much heat for it. I've never been to Houston. I like being a native of L.A. It's all the other people that make it crazy, who come in dying for their 15 minutes. People always ask me, "Oh, my God, was it weird being raised in L.A.?" I say, "No. I wasn't raised at the Chateau Marmont. I was raised in a little -apartment in a normal family."

DC: But you weren't born in Los Angeles or in Houston. You were born in Miami. How old were you when you left?

EM: One month. But I have my grandma over there and I have family over there.

DC: Did you grow up spending any time there?

EM: None. My immediate family-I have two sisters and a brother-were all very close, but to be quite honest, we weren't a family that could afford trips every summer. We kind of entertained ourselves here in L.A.

DC: That's what's so nice about L.A.-the weather is great. In New York, people are dying to leave in the summer. In L.A., they stay put.

EM: Of course, when I was straight out of high school, I would bash L.A. all the time. You know what I mean? It was just something you have to do.

DC: I think that's true for every teenager everywhere straight out of high school . . .

EM: Then, when I first went to Europe, I thought I was going to move there. I was making plans to move to the south of Spain. It's such a cute, innocent thought. I think we all go through it. And I hated being in L.A. then. But I have to say, it's a comfortable lifestyle.