Cynthia Erivo Reveals the ‘Last Thing’ She Does Before Any Performance to ‘Feel Really Fresh’ (Exclusive) ArticlePure

Cynthia Erivo is all about showing off her megawatt smile.

The Wicked star also proudly flaunts the gap in her teeth. And that means she’s always taking care of her mouth, and she has been since she was a child.

“I’m the geeky kid who was like, ‘I’m brushing my teeth.’ I don’t think mom ever had to fight me to brush my teeth,” she tells PEOPLE with a chuckle about her history with hygiene.

Partnering with Listerine on the “Wash Your Mouth” campaign made sense for the Tony-winning actress, because she’s all about keeping her own mouth squeaky clean. Plus, swishing some Listerine around her mouth is actually her secret weapon.

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“Strangely enough, brushing my teeth and using mouthwash — Listerine specifically — for some reason, really opens me up,” she says. “It means that I can breathe really well. It’s the last thing I do before I go on stage. I just want to make sure that I feel really fresh. It sort of gives me a restart before I go on and sing or speak.”

Erivo’s oral health is top priority because her smile — which is so often plastered on her face — is usually the first thing people see when they look at her. She jokes that sometimes it takes her “way too long” to brush her teeth because she wants them to be “sparkly.”

“I take good pride in [my mouth] because of my gap,” she says, adding that using alcohol-free Listerine gets into all the nooks and crannies in her mouth that not even a toothbrush or floss can reach. “I think what we tend to do is pick our outfits, put the makeup on or do our nails, which are wonderful, great ways to show who you are externally, but cleaning your mouth adds to that. It also adds to the confidence you might not even be able to see unless you smile.”

Listerine cares about Erivo’s smile almost as much as she does. In fact, the brand is helping keep it in top condition with a $2M insurance policy as part of this new campaign.

“We’re ecstatic to collaborate with the iconic Cynthia Erivo to help consumers recognize the importance of mouthwash,” said Kamran Shahzad, U.S. head of commercial, oral care at Kenvue. “Our new Wash Your Mouth campaign seeks to educate consumers that while brushing and flossing start the oral care routine, Listerine mouthwash completes it. Together with Cynthia, we’re making a bold move to help protect one of the most recognizable mouths in Hollywood because we’re confident that Listerine guarantees a healthier mouth.”

The Grammy winner’s teeth-brushing habits are only one part of her self-care routine, though. She tells PEOPLE that she makes time for wellness every day, because, quite simply, she has to.

“It’s the very first thing I do when I wake up, it’s the very last thing I do before I go to bed,” she says of her self-care. Rather than viewing self-care as “the thing you do at the end of everything,” she looks at it as “the thing you do before everything that sets you up to do the tasks in the best possible way.”

Erivo, who will be returning to the big screen as Elphaba in Wicked: For Good in November, also said that her beauty routine hinges on self-care because it’s meditative in the way she approaches it all. Her long nails, which she has become known for, can take hours to do. She says she tries to do a new set between “two weeks and a month” apart since they take so many hours to complete. But while her go-to nail artist Mycah Dior is working on her hands, Erivo can check out and be zen. She also has a “particular color red” that she uses for her toenail polish — and nothing else!

She also indulges in lymphatic massage when she travels to reduce water retention, as well as cupping to “get rid of any toxins.”

“It’s an arduous thing to do, but I love doing it because it always aids the end result, which is what you’ve seen when I’m in front of people singing or performing,” she says. “It all goes hand in hand. Everything adds to the next to make sure that all the parts make the whole, and I can actually be present and do the work the way I want to do it.”