Zoe Saldana Covers April Issue of ESSENCE & Talks Sex & Her Boyfriend Keith

S is for sex: “Love it, love it, love it—can’t live without it!” Saldana exults. “I love sex. I love skin. I don’t believe the body is something to hide. I think in American society we’re messing up our kids by taking away the education on and awareness of our sexuality and replacing it with violence, guns and video games—and we’re breeding little criminals.”

B is for boyfriend: When it comes to intimate relationships, Saldana, who currently lives with her longtime boyfriend, Keith Britton, likes to be knocked off her feet. “I’m more of a punch-drunk-love kind of girl,” she admits. “I mean punch as in that pow, that jolt, that kick in the gut. I like things that are severe, passionate and extreme.”

“Power can be an amazing tool or a deadly weapon…”
—Zoe Saldana

She garnered tons of attention with her star turn in the Oscar-nominated blockbuster Avatar. And sure, she’s got a string of hot films coming soon—opposite everyone from Chris Rock to Idris Elba. But who is Zoe Saldana, really? ESSENCE talks to Hollywood’s screen gem as she gets real on power, sex and her guilty pleasures.

Bonus: The issue also has a “Confessions of an NBA wife–Shaunie O’Neal” feature.

Shaquille and Shaunie O’Neal were the ultimate NBA couple. Yet for years they were plagued by rumors of infidelity. Now with her new reality show, Basketball Wives, about to air, Shaunie dishes to ESSENCE about gaining the strength to leave her marriage and find herself.

- YBF