Gal Gadot on the cover of InStyle magazine’s February 2022 issue. Photo: Giampaolo Sgura/Provided.

Israeli actress Gal Gadot graced the cover of InStyle‘s February “Badass Women” issue, and talked to the magazine about her service in the Israel Defense Forces, the “advantage” of being a foreigner in Hollywood, and how her Israeli mentality helped keep her sane in the business.

While participating in a questionnaire for InStyle, the “Wonder Woman 1984” star said the biggest lesson she learned while serving in the IDF as a combat trainer was, “that it’s not about me. I’m not the center of the world. When you’re 18, you feel like the world surrounds you. The army shows you that it actually doesn’t.”

She also shared that her favorite Hebrew word is “Sababa,” which translates to “cool.”

In her cover story interview for the magazine, which hits newsstands on Jan. 14, the mother-of-three revealed that she used the English-Hebrew language barrier to deliberately lose the Miss Universe competition when she was a contestant in 2004, and still turns to it as an excuse when she wants to get out of doing something.

“I always blame the language,” the “Red Notice” star explained. “In Hebrew, I’m so eloquent with the way I speak and the words I choose. I love language, and sometimes it’s frustrating that I live my life in English now. I dream in English but still don’t have the language completely embedded within me. Whenever I get frustrated, I’m like, ‘I’m still an immigrant.'”

Gadot, who stars this month in the murder mystery “Death on the Nile,” also opened up about adjusting to Hollywood and learning how to “understand the behavior, read people, [and] to be more polite and eloquent.”

“I come from a culture where we don’t have filters,” she said. “We say what we think, good and bad. My parents didn’t raise me to be the star of the family or to become famous. I didn’t think I was going to be an actress. That helped me keep my sanity [in the industry].”

Gadot said Israeli culture taught her to speak her mind, explaining, “I was always, ‘F–k it, I’m going to talk now.’ I was never shy about my voice. That could have something to do with the culture I’m coming from, the directness and cut-the-bulls–t.”

She recalled always being ambitious, even while growing up in Israel, and said her parents taught her to always stay focused and “be like a horse,” because “horses are only focusing on their lane, so [my parents] were like, ‘Just focus on your own path.'”

Discussing her career, she said, “I feel privileged and grateful and lucky, coming from a tiny place in the Middle East and getting to work with amazing people. I feel like, ‘F–k that, just be grateful and shut up.’ It takes a lot of hard work, which I’m happy to give. We’re very family-oriented, so being away from our families in Israel is a price you pay.”

Among her many upcoming projects, Gadot will direct and star in a biopic about the legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra. “I can’t reveal a lot,” Gadot told InStyle, “but I can tell you that we’re going to celebrate the Cleopatra story. We’re going to show not just how sexy and appealing she was, but how strategic and smart, and how much impact she had and still has on the world we’re living in today. I’ve watched all the Cleopatra movies throughout history, but I feel like we’re telling the story the world needs to hear now.”