Eiza Gonzalez discusses 'character assassination' during Josh Duhamel romance

Eiza Gonzalez has revealed she endured a "complete character assassination" when she dated Josh Duhamel.

The Mexican actress had a brief romance with the star after moving to the US in 2018, and at the time, detractors accused her of using Duhamel to further her own career. During an appearance on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, Gonzalez hit back at claims she was more interested in fame than love.

"I felt injustice; (a) complete character assassination of who I am. You're selling someone that I'm not," Eiza explained as she also discussed rumours she had tipped paparazzi off about her public outings with Duhamel.

"I worked really hard. I didn't let that define me, and I cried in silence for many days to not let it become who I was because it was really prevalent at the beginning of my career. I also was dating and I didn't want to stop dating life because I was looking for love."

She added, "But because people here didn't know who I was, they were like, 'Who is this weird b**tch that came out of nowhere?'"

The Baby Driver actress went on to insist she had already enjoyed success in Mexico before she met Duhamel, who had recently split from his wife Fergie, so hadn't needed to invent a romance.

As she recalled the rumours circulating at the time, the 35-year-old star explained the negative speculation was tough to deal with because she was in her 20s.

"I always felt like I had to defend myself constantly about something that I hadn't done. That's how I felt here (in America) too for many years," she recalled. "There was this underlying (narrative that) I always needed (or) wanted to be here through a man because I was dating someone, disregarding my 10-year career in Mexico because for people, that was irrelevant."

Elsewhere in the interview, Gonzalez revealed that she only now feels able to talk about the criticism, after previously failing to find a "safe space" to publicly defend herself.

"When I started dating Josh, they would write (that) I was using him," she shared. "I've always wanted to talk about this publicly but I've never found where to do it in a safe space. They sort of tied this desperation to me as a Latin woman, like I was coming and wanting to cross over when I already had a career."