Gal Gadot breaks silence after outrage over her ‘whitewashed’ Cleopatra casting

Hollywood's celebrated actor Gal Gadot has addressed the controversy stirred over her casting as Cleopatra. 

During a chat with BBC Arabic, the Wonder Woman star spoke about the immense backlash she received after being cast as the Egyptian Queen.

Asked how she feels about her casting being an example of Hollywood whitewashing, Gadot said: "First of all, if you want to be true to the facts, then Cleopatra was Macedonian.”

"First of all, if you want to be true to the facts, then Cleopatra was Macedonian,” she said.

“To me, as a people's lover, and I have friends from across the globe, whether they're Muslims or Christian or Catholic or atheist or Buddhist or Jewish, of course. People are people,” she continued.

“And with me, I want to celebrate the legacy of Cleopatra and honor this amazing historic icon that I admire so much. But, you know, anybody can make this movie, and anybody can go ahead and do it. I'm very passionate that I'm going to do my own, too,” she went on to say.