Rodriguez Bristles over Bracelet

Former Lost star sounds off about her legal problems stemming from DUI convictions, says alcohol-detecting ankle bracelet is faulty

By Josh Grossberg Feb 22, 2007 1:35 AMTags

Forget the Others, Michelle Rodiguez really doesn't like Big Brother.

The former Lost star is sounding off about her DUI-related legal problems, especially the alcohol-detecting ankle bracelet she must wear to fulfill the terms of her probation.

In a spell check-challenged post on her official Website, Rodriguez recounted the night in December 2005 when she was arrested for drunken driving in Oahu, shortly after she began her stint as disgraced cop Ana-Lucia on Lost.

The 28-year-old actor explained the she and the cast attended an episode screening at the home of costar Evangeline Lilly.

Rodriguez, who admits to having had a few glasses of champagne, says that Lilly invited her to stay over. Instead, Rodriguez opted to drive "five minutes" to another castmate's place.

"I thought to myself, I feel comfortable around her, she wouldn't be surprised by anything I do.  So, I decided, five minutes away, at 15 miles an hour, never killed a pot head," The Fast and the Furious star wrote.  "So, my dumb ass followed her home. I guess a drink or two can make you reason like a teenager or an insecure dork."

(Presumably the cast mate, unnamed in Rodriguez's post, was Cynthia Watros, who was also busted for DUI that night.)

Rodriguez laments that after posing for pictures with officers at the police precinct, taking a Breathalyzer test and shelling out big bucks for a Hawaii-based lawyer ("I realized my payday in movies was way better than T.V. at that moment"), she returned to L.A. and entered rehab (" 'cause it's the Right thing to do"), before getting "bitch slapped by Uncle Sam again in Hollywood," when she was sentenced to 60 days behind bars for a probation violation for an earlier drunken driving conviction in Los Angeles.

But due to overcrowding and because she was a nonviolent offender, Rodriguez only spent four hours and 27 minutes in a lockup on May 25. But she was ordered by the court to perform community service, which she has since completed, and wear an electronic anklet.

"The bracelet is to detect liquor content in your sweat every half hour it takes a reading using some split fuel cell type technology. I go to get this thing put on and I realize this thing is like a freaking VCR, and why do they care if I drink, what am I gonna do, drink and walk over someone, I have no license," the New Jersey native ranted about the unbecoming jewelry.

Rodriguez continued: "Anyway, I put this contraption on and the second day the guy calls me and says you've got an alcohol reading. I was like, I haven't had any liquor. He's like, well you can't use Listerine, no shampoo, or soap, or lotion, or perfume, with alcohol in it. I tried to get them to put me in jail but they had their mind set on this bracelet."

After three more alleged false readings for alcohol, the Girlfighter said she began to feel "like a guinea pig" for a new technology. Asserting "this level of control just isn't necessary," Rodriguez decided to fight back—with an ironic fashion statement.

"I decided on my trip to New York's fashion week to make a statement that I felt was necessary to express my truth. Hence the Orwell 1984 reference in white out on the 'Vigil Net Government Dog Tag.' What show better than Marc Jacobs," she said.

"I feel good knowing that some people out there know what's really going on and maybe then at least have an idea where my insanity stems from. Life's a bitch and then I laugh. I just don't like being toyed with," Rodriguez concluded. "One thing's for sure I'll take FBI approved truth serum over a VCR Dog Tag any day of the week. I've got nothing to hide."

Rodriguez next appears in theaters opposite Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson and Ray Liotta (himself  arrested last weekend in Los Angeles for a DUI) in Battle in Seattle, a drama chronicling the riots that rocked the World Trade Organization gathering in that city in 1999.