Zoe Saldana’s friendship woe

Zoe Saldana “gave up” on having female friends when she was young.

The 36-year-old actress is now happily married and pregnant with twin boys, but being a woman wasn’t always easy for her. She felt alienated by a female bullying culture and tended to have only a few girlfriends because of it.

"It was really hard, because I love women,” Zoe told The Queen Latifah Show on Tuesday. “There was for a long time in my life when I was younger, I sort of gave up on trying to find female friends.”

The Avatar star worries that women have a common tendency to be negative towards each other. She confessed this played a big part in her upbringing.

“Girls can sometimes be a little too mean with each other. And I don't know where it comes from, as opposed to us uniting, we tend to pick each other apart,” she mused. “It was very, very difficult. I remember my mom always stood by us”.

Zoe’s mom’s philosophy was to explain to her daughter that a bully is only nasty because there is something difficult going on in their own life. And this advice stuck with the actress.

"Once you understand that reality about a bully, you have won already,” Zoe declared. “And you stick to the people that make you feel really good about yourself.

Perhaps this influenced her decision to rebel and be “stunty” when it came to dress-up times like Halloween. The actress laughed that her costume of choice was never girly and always fun.

"Every year I was a ninja," said Zoe, adding that her sisters kept things feminine. She, on the other hand, opted for outfits that would not restrict her from running around.

Zoe is about to enter into parenthood herself. She and her husband Marco Perego announced in July that she is pregnant and they are expecting twin boys.