Appearing as wrestler Mildred Burke in the feature film Queen of the Ring, fan-favorite Emily Bett Rickards is back on the big screen. Premiering in Canada this week (her hometown), the film follows the extraordinary true-life story of Burke (Rickards), the first ever million-dollar athlete, champion pro-wrestler and single mom who pioneered the sport in a time when all-girl wrestling was banned in most of America. Praised for bringing “spunk and raw energy to her performance,” Rickards—best known for her breakout role as quick-witted IT expert/hacker Felicity Smoak on the CW’s long-running series Arrow—is also a bit of a wellness guru, launching her organic matcha company Paradise Matcha last year. In between chatting about the “green goodness,” Rickards shared the fitness and diet steps that got her into character and all her favorite beauty products from her home country of Canada.
I’d love to hear a little bit about Paradise Matcha. I haven’t tried it, but it looks beautiful, and I know you’re a big wellness person.
I am! I’m all those things. I’m a huge matcha drinker. About ten or so years ago, I stopped drinking coffee. I was drinking so much coffee a day. We were working on a show that was crazy hours, six days a week, 10 months out of the year, and I was using coffee to fuel. I was in my 20s. I thought that’s what was going on, but my cortisol levels were crazy. I also have food allergies and that kind of thing, so I already have a history of knowing that I have to cut out certain things. When that started to slow down, I was like, “Oh, coffee seems like something that’s a habit. I should challenge it,” so I cut it out.
I was using coffee kind of like creative fuel as well, so I was like, “Well, I want to see what happens if I just try to switch it.” Obviously, I like caffeine. Caffeine was working for me, but I found myself some green goodness, some matcha, and I loved the whole process. I drank my coffee black, so I was like, “I’ll drink my matcha green; we’ll see if this works.” I loved the way it made me feel. It made me alert and feel creative. I loved how it looked inside the cup—that vibrant green also ignited my heart. I was like, “Oh, this is health, this is fuel.”
I didn’t know much about it at the time, but then I realized that matcha has L-theanine in it, which is the amino acid that promotes calming. It pairs up with the caffeine and kind of takes you on this caffeine hill. If you picture coffee as a big peak mountain, like Everest, it brings you up and then brings you down sometimes. Matcha and L-theanine and the caffeine kind of buddy up, and they go on this like rolling hike, so you get this sort of chill alertness.
I loved what that represented; I loved how that made me feel. Then, years later, I was drinking so much of it. My partner was like, “You know, you’re so passionate about it. Why don’t you start a company?” So, we sourced organic matcha from Japan. It’s hard to grow matcha organically because it is a plant grown in the shade, but organic is really important to me. So we found a farm in Japan that does a great job, and I just love this matcha. I really do. We have two types. One’s a little more umami, a little more subtle, a little more bright, and then one that’s more rich and creamy.
You’re very passionate about it. I’m assuming that for your role in Queen of the Ring, you had to do a lot with fitness to get into character since it’s so sports-driven. How did that all work?
Well, I didn’t have the muscle that she needed. I wasn’t unfamiliar with weights, but I was very unfamiliar with putting that type of muscle on, so I needed a team of people. Without a team of people, it wouldn’t have been possible. So, my trainer, Thomas Taylor, at T3 Athletics, and my nutritionist, Dr. Diego Botezelli, created a program that was sort of macros, counting nutrition and high protein. They designed it so that it was no cardio, heavy weights and weights that would grow with me as I got stronger.
Even when I went to set, I went to Louisville to film; the workouts were changing, and that created this muscular body without fail. It was incredible to see how fast and how much further I could have gone as well. We had three months before we went to camera. Then really, when we started going to camera, it was about maintaining that muscle, so not getting too stressed with the hours and that kind of thing where your body would start taking your muscle away. So much of that bodybuilding, putting on muscle and being healthy are what you put into your body. Of course, I was drinking a ton of matcha at the time as well, but it was a lot of chicken breasts and eating more food than I’d ever eaten.
I think we’re so used to thinking: “Oh, we’re going on a diet; we’re going to lose what we love,” but it’s not true. I mean, my brain and my body were so happy because it was so fueled in the way that it needed to be. I was taking amino acids as well, which help with rebuilding muscle growth and that kind of thing, and taking some supplements like omega-3 to make sure my hormones stayed in check and my cholesterol didn’t get out of whack with that type of diet. I really encourage people to take a healthier path and not do it alone. If you can, get a professional who really has spent their time. I think we can learn a lot from YouTube and that kind of thing, but it’s nice to have somebody to talk to about what’s going on with your body and how you can move forward with what your goals are because everyone’s goals are different.
The true-life story of Mildred is pretty fascinating. What did you have to learn to get into it?
To start off, I didn’t really realize that women’s wrestling was illegal. I guess I had this blanket knowledge that women were restricted in so many ways and still fighting the good fight, but Mildred really was this person who, kind of against all odds, was striving for something that she wasn’t not only allowed to do but had really no basis or understanding. Like, she never wrestled. She goes to one match, sees two men wrestle, and says, “Well, that’s what I want to do.” I think it was this awakening in the spirit of, “I want to use my body in that way. I want to be free, I want to be liberated. I want to break through boundaries,” and she took that on. She wanted to perform; she wanted to be a storyteller.
I guess one thing that I really did take with me is that the platform that they created, those women created back then, is the platform I get to stand on now. Something my grandmother fought for, something that my mother fought for, and that we’re still continuing, and I think the importance of this movie is really about: Mildred really believed that we’re stronger together and that the more that we divide each other, we’re just divided across all platforms, and so lifting each other up is really how we move forward together. I hope that’s what people take away from it. Not only have a really entertaining and inspiring story but also take away how they can put that into their lives.
Since we’re a beauty magazine, was there anything you used on set or anything you used off set? Any beauty products you are currently loving?
I had a cold plunge on set, which was helpful for muscle inflammation, a little collapsible one. You know, there’s new research out about how effective cold plunging is for women, just to put that out there. I don’t know a ton about that right now, but I wasn’t in there for very long, and it was really good for inflammation. That really helped moving forward, especially in the heat.
Product-wise, we were using little under-eye patches on set. And you know what I’m into right now? Living Libations is a sort of cult following in Canada. I love her oil pulling, I love her gum drops, I use her facial cleanser, and I use my Gua Sha. I have a stainless steel one. I know that the rock ones are supposed to have more energy, but for some reason, I just love that stainless steel Gua Sha.
Also, there’s a Vancouver company called The SkinGirls, which has a SkinEdition brand. Their retinol is amazing, their sunscreen is amazing, so yes, you can definitely put them in there. They’re such a strong company.
I’ve never heard of them, so I’ll definitely look them up. I love hearing about new brands. My last question: What is on tap for you as we get into spring?
Well, the movie run is still going. My stepdad turned 70, so that’s exciting, and my brother just had a baby, which feels really sweet and lovely. Then I have some creative projects on the go where I’m sort of exploring all avenues with writing and creating, so I’m very excited about this year. It feels, I don’t know, different. I wonder if it’s just the place in life, but I feel whole in a way I hadn’t before and…I don’t know; life looks bright. Everyone’s having babies. It’s fantastic.
