1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Couric, and welcome to next question 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: on today's summer book tour, A conversation with Julianna Margalie's or, 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: as you may know her, Alicia Floric from The Good Wife. 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: Poetry is easy as the parent teacher conferences that are 5 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: heart or maybe you're more of a nurse Carol Hathaway 6 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: e er fan. Sometimes I think I should be going 7 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,120 Speaker 1: out with the patients instead of the doctor. I really 8 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:28,479 Speaker 1: really like Julianna Margalie's. She's an actress and producer and 9 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: now she's an author. Her memoir is called Sunshine Girl, 10 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: An Unexpected Life, and I have the pleasure of interviewing 11 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: her back in May on a virtual stop on her 12 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: book tour. We talked about her writing process, what the 13 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: book was first intended to be, that impressive TV career, 14 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: and we even check in on some of her famous friends, 15 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: George Clooney, Damn Her. So enjoy everybody. Let's start with 16 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: the genesis of this book. I remember interviewing you from 17 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: my podcast. I believe it was in two thousand eighteen, 18 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: and we knew each other, we were friendly. We've since become, 19 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: you know, gotten to know each other better. But I 20 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: remember hearing a little bit about your childhood and thinking, 21 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,039 Speaker 1: my god, you need to write a book. And you 22 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: kind of said, you know, I thought about writing a book. 23 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: So my question is why, now, what was the impetus 24 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: for you wanting to write this book? And and then 25 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: I'd like to ask you a little bit selfishly about 26 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: your writing process. Sure, the genesis of the book started 27 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,199 Speaker 1: right after I finished The Good Wife, my very um 28 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: last day of The Good Wife. I came home and 29 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: I write about this in the preface of the book, 30 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: where I felt so sick and I woke up at 31 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: three in the morning and I had the chicken pox 32 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: and I was so sick that I ended up in 33 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: bed for three weeks. And um, I get I think 34 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: it was my body after in fifty six episode seven 35 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: years of just spinning plates and go go, go, go go, um, 36 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: trying to get it all in and do it right, 37 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: my body just said that's it, You've let go. And 38 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: so this book came out, um from me trying to 39 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: shed Alicia because I was thinking, trying to think like her, 40 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: and um, I wonder what she was always thinking for 41 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: seven years? She was so so embedded under my skin 42 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: that I, UM. I started writing notes down and wondering 43 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: why seven years before, when I had shot the pilot, why, 44 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: which for those I mean and most people understand, the 45 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: pilot is the very first episode. Why that one scene 46 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: in the hallway hit me so hard? Right? And what 47 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: it was to me? UM that I hadn't dug deep 48 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 1: enough to find out why. I still when I would 49 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: see that scene or think of that scene, tear up. 50 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: And I just started writing about it because I wanted 51 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: to shed her from me. I wanted to start exploring 52 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: who I was and not just this person running in 53 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: circles trying to make it everything work. UM. And the 54 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: book really, I mean, if I'm gonna have to be 55 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:25,920 Speaker 1: very honest, the book started out to be a handbook 56 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: UM on set etiquette. Originally, so Michael J. Fox and 57 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: I used to sit on set and we would talk 58 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: about how all these incredible actors we shot in New 59 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: York and we would get the most incredible actors right 60 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: out of Juilliard and Yale and all these beautiful, beautiful actors, artists, 61 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: but none of them really understood set etiquette that you 62 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: might have to wait thirteen hours before you're close up, 63 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: that it's not always UM about you, It's actually about 64 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: the crew. And without the crew, we are enough. And 65 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: so he and I used to joke about wanting to 66 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: write a book about set etiquette. And while I was 67 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: lying there in bed once I wasn't in pain from 68 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: the chicken pox, and I just looked crazy and couldn't 69 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: um show my face outside. UM, I started jotting down notes. 70 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: UM that turned into chapters, and in between the handbooks, 71 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: part of it was sort of my childhood story. And 72 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: I finished nine chapters and I got better and I 73 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: submitted them to my agent and she politely wrote back 74 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 1: handbooks for acting don't really sell. However, in between, you 75 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: have a really interesting story. I want that story. Can 76 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 1: you write me that story? And UM, that was sort 77 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,600 Speaker 1: of the beginning of it. And then I started to 78 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: unravel everything and um, and now we have a book. 79 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: It was so moving in the prologue about that scene 80 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: that you talk about and do you think you were 81 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds to me that you never really 82 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: had time. You became so consumed with the characters you 83 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,840 Speaker 1: were playing most recently before you wrote the book, Alicia Floric, 84 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: and it seems like you didn't have a minute to 85 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 1: be introspective at all, and it just it was something 86 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: perhaps you were even avoiding. You're absolutely right, I mean 87 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: I think so. There was a confluence of things, which 88 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: was I was a new mommy and a new wife. 89 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: I mean Karen was born two months after we got married, um, 90 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: and he was thirteen months old when I started The 91 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: Good Wife, So it was more about trying to be 92 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 1: a mother. This was a new title for me, A 93 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: wife another new title for me, and the lead of 94 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: a very the show was so it was wonderful, but 95 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: it was so demanding in terms of learning dialogue and 96 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: always being there and and also when you're number one 97 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: on a call sheet, you want to take well. My 98 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: nature is to take care of everybody who's there. So 99 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: between the baby, the husband, the show, the learning, the lines, 100 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: the character, I never really thought of about me and 101 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,160 Speaker 1: the other side of it. And this isn't a sob story, 102 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: it's just the truth, which is because it was a hit, 103 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: there was a lot of publicity, so any spare time 104 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: I had, I was running off to do photo shoots, 105 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: which is so great, um, that I would just ignore 106 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: my own exhaustion, ignore my own needs. And I remember 107 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 1: being it was Vanity Fair did a cover of the 108 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: Women of Television and it was four of us on 109 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: the cover, and I had shot all night and then 110 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: had two hours sleep and ran to this photo shoot 111 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 1: uh in Chelsea in New York City cover of Vanity Fair. 112 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: I should only be excited. And I remember running into 113 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 1: the bathroom and sobbing. I was just so tired. And 114 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: I was texting my girlfriend Nancy, who's in the book 115 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: a lot, because she was always the voice of reason 116 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: for me, and saying, I should be on cloud nine 117 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: and all I want to do is hide under a rock. 118 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: I'm so tired. And I realized, like it just wasn't 119 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: It just kept going um for seven years and I 120 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: never had a minute to take stock in myself, and 121 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: so I think the end of it um. And and 122 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: by no means was I sad during it. I just 123 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: wasn't conscious enough about myself. And clearly your immune system 124 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: went to put and that's why you've got chicken pots 125 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: and were so exhausted you could barely move. I think 126 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: your your body was just giving out. So you regained 127 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: your strength, you got over the chicken pots. Hoey even 128 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: scratch them and get scars like I did. When I 129 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: was five years old. But you know, so you got 130 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: you got strong enough, and so how tell me a 131 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 1: little bit about the writing process, Julianne, did you get 132 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: up in the morning, How disciplined were you? How did 133 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: you kind of retrieve some of these memories from your childhood, 134 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: which we're going to talk about in a moment, But 135 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: you know, you write about when you were four, five 136 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: years old, even younger, I think maybe even three, And 137 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: I'm just curious how you were able to, as I said, 138 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,680 Speaker 1: retrieve those memories. Well, a lot of it had Well, 139 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: first of all, Um, I kept a journal since I 140 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: was nine, and I have them all, so that was 141 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: very helpful. Of course I couldn't write when I was 142 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: three or four and five, but um, I had journals. 143 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:52,559 Speaker 1: And I also because my um circumstance where um, I know, 144 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 1: I didn't live with my father, so I had written 145 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 1: him letters and he had saved every single letter I 146 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,559 Speaker 1: ever wrote to him. Um, and I so I had 147 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: certain things that were actually I could read and remember 148 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: from that. But also, UM, what you discover when you 149 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: have a traumatic change in your life, that's what you remember. 150 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: I remember certain smells of airplanes I got on when 151 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:27,960 Speaker 1: I was seven. I remember distinct um, you know, uh, pictures, 152 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: images of things when I was three in Paris, and 153 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: I think because I never stayed stationary, everything seemed to 154 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: be an event. So those events, I don't remember what 155 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: I ate yesterday, but I can remember clearly the liquorice 156 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: I had in my hand and in the tuilerie in 157 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: Paris when I was three. Um, And it's because everything 158 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: is new and different. So you remember that, and you 159 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,720 Speaker 1: remember anxiety, and you remember it wasn't true, it wasn't trauma, 160 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,559 Speaker 1: but it was drama. I was gonna say, maybe borderline 161 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: trauma because her childhood was so you you described I 162 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 1: know your your childhood is complicated, and your parents is complicated. 163 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:18,439 Speaker 1: I would describe it. Your childhood is nomadic, parapatetic, and unconventional. 164 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: I think I remember even talking to you about that 165 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: a few years ago. And and so for people who 166 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 1: haven't read the book yet, um, and I know some 167 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: have and some haven't, but but give us a quick 168 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:34,679 Speaker 1: description if you can. I don't know how you can 169 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:36,840 Speaker 1: do it quickly, because so much of the book is 170 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: very vivid memories of two very different lives that you 171 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: lead when your parents got divorced. But can you just 172 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: spend a little bit of time talking about what that 173 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: was like? Yeah, so you know, because it happened so young. 174 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,200 Speaker 1: I was a year old when my parents separated, um, 175 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: and their their marriage was pretty much over when I 176 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 1: was born. UM. I think they tried for a year, 177 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: but right when I was a year old, my father 178 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: moved to Paris, and then my mother took me when 179 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: I was two, with my two sisters, also to Paris 180 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 1: after a year apart um, so we lived on the 181 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: left bank. My father lived on the right bank. Two 182 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: years after that, my father moved to London. My mother 183 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: took me and my sisters to Sussex, which is thirty 184 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: miles south of London, um where she went to school. 185 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: And then after five years in Europe, we moved back 186 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: to New York, where I I actually felt like I 187 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: finally had some sort of normalcy because we lived in 188 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: the house I had gone to straight from the hospital 189 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: when I was a baby in Spring Valley, New York. 190 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: And my father lived in Manhattan, and I would see 191 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:46,559 Speaker 1: him on weekends, and I had a school, and and 192 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: and I got to know people, and I felt like 193 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: I finally belonged somewhere, and five years into that, when 194 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: I was eleven, I had just turned eleven, my mother 195 00:11:56,520 --> 00:12:02,439 Speaker 1: decided to move us to Nuremberg, Germany, UM, which didn't 196 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: really work out for her there um. So just the 197 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: day before we were supposed to move to Nuremberg, she 198 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 1: changed and called my father and said send the kids 199 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 1: back to England. So it was a lot of backwards. 200 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: So we went to England and then came back to 201 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: the States, and finally, when I was in the States, 202 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: my father a year later moved to England. So I 203 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 1: was traversing the Atlantic Ocean pretty much since I was 204 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: a baby and never quite understood the difference. Um. When 205 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: I was with my father, I always felt like we 206 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 1: had money, and when I was with my mother, I 207 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: always felt like we were broke. Um. There was It's 208 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: not in the book now, it's gone through so many iterations, 209 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: but there there was a chapter in the book where 210 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: I talked about that. I remember walking in when I 211 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:52,319 Speaker 1: was eleven, into this lopsided apartment, UM, one bedroom apartment 212 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: that my mother had found us to live in, and 213 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:58,319 Speaker 1: she was ringing out um paper towels and hanging them 214 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: to dry, and I burst into tea years and said, 215 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: we we can't be this poor? Are we this poor? 216 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: Because when I was with my father in New York, 217 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: we were going to see Annie on Broadway and eating 218 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 1: at Tavern on the Green in the Russian team room. 219 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: I just didn't understand how we could be so destitute 220 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: with my mother and lived this incredible life with my father, 221 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 1: even though I only saw my father twice a year. 222 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,240 Speaker 1: So it was the going back and forth and the 223 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: constant up and down and surfing this very strange landscape 224 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,720 Speaker 1: that didn't quite connect in the middle for me. So 225 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:39,040 Speaker 1: I was always trying to connect everything and make sense 226 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: of everything. UM and I think, And the title of 227 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: the book, Um Sunshine Girl was was the nickname my 228 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 1: mother gave me when I was little, because she she said, 229 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: I was always a ray of sunshine. When I walked 230 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: in a room, I was I made people happy, I smiled, 231 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: I never cried as a baby. I was easy and 232 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,319 Speaker 1: I and I wore that like a badge of honor 233 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: because I realized I needed to lighten up situations that 234 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: felt very heavy and beyond my grasp. UM And while 235 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,079 Speaker 1: writing the book UM, I talked about how that actually 236 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: crippled me as an adult, Because when you grow up 237 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 1: with a name like Sunshine Girl, how are you ever 238 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: going to say, no, I don't like that, No, that 239 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: doesn't work for me. When you get older or this 240 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 1: doesn't feel good, you just sort of learned to grin 241 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: and bear it and pray that everyone else is happy. 242 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: Coming up. How Julianna was able to write so honestly 243 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: about her pretty complicated mother and what her mom's reaction was. 244 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: That's right after this. Both my parents were anthroposophists, which 245 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: really just means the knowledge of man. And it's a 246 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 1: philosophy that um Rudolph Steiner Um developed when he started 247 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 1: his first school in Stuttgart, Germany. UM and this was 248 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 1: in World War One when he realized children were not 249 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: being educated and he turned a tobacco factory into a 250 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 1: school to help the children. And he was quite an 251 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 1: interesting man, very esoteric. Your dad was a philosophy major 252 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: at Dartmouth, so maybe, and that's one of the reasons 253 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: he gravitated to him, and your mom did too, absolutely well, 254 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: I think my so my father introduced my mother to anthroposophy. 255 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,880 Speaker 1: My father wasn't a philosophy major at Dartmouth, and um, 256 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: really that's all he ever wanted to do was just 257 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: read philosophy books, write a few papers. He wrote a 258 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: beautiful paper comparing Victor Frankel and Rudolf Steiner that actually, 259 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: and it was the one paper where I thought, oh, 260 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: he my father was an anthroposcopist for the people. In 261 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: other words, he tried to really translate Steiner's works, whereas 262 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:58,960 Speaker 1: my mother just sort of floated around in the ideology 263 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: of it. And that really was a big backdrop for 264 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: me as a child growing up, because I grew up 265 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: around a lot of her searching to find a true 266 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 1: meaning for herself in this world, and that didn't necessarily 267 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: always include the best interest for her children. That's yes, definitely, 268 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: although I want to talk about that in a moment, 269 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: but you know, it was interesting. Your dad became sort 270 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 1: of a madman and was a copy copywriter, very very 271 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: successful in advertising. And just a little known fact that 272 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: maybe we can include in the new updated version of 273 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: Trivial Pursuit is he wrote PLoP plot fiz this, Oh 274 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: what a relief it is. He wrote that jingle PLoP 275 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: PLoP biz, Oh what a relief it is? Both speedy bubbles, 276 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: relieve you're upset and look and hit it. Then that's right. 277 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: It was actually Katie, it was a Jeopardy question once 278 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: it was it was that's so funny. But your mom, 279 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 1: you're right, I think, you know. And I actually had 280 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: a lot of sympathy for your mom reading the book 281 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 1: because of her era. And you know, I think I've 282 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,360 Speaker 1: been thinking a lot about, you know, in the process 283 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,440 Speaker 1: of writing my own memoir and just generationally how things 284 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,159 Speaker 1: have changed for women. And your mom was born in 285 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: a period of time and was even different from my 286 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:24,199 Speaker 1: oldest sister, who was ten years older than I. She 287 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: just didn't really have an outlet or very many options, 288 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:31,800 Speaker 1: and you could kind of understand why she was always 289 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:37,959 Speaker 1: searching for herself, her true self, her purpose. And um 290 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,119 Speaker 1: that I think is very much kind of a theme 291 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: of the book, at least when it comes to your 292 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 1: your mom, who then changed her name. She was Janice 293 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: and then she became Francesca. She was really searching Julianne, right, 294 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,719 Speaker 1: she was. And also it was the seventies, you know, 295 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 1: it was hippie. She was a hippie, and self searching 296 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: was in, you know, it was it was the time. 297 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:06,439 Speaker 1: It wasn't so strange to bring your kids to a 298 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: commune like camp in the middle of Canada. I had 299 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:11,880 Speaker 1: a chapter about that, but that's not in the book, 300 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:14,719 Speaker 1: but that did happen, um, and just say, you know, 301 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: figure it out, honey, I'm going to go meditate. You know, 302 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 1: even though I was six, like that was kind of 303 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: normal then. And it's sort of also why the cover 304 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:25,679 Speaker 1: of the book, I wanted to feel like a seventies poster. 305 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: That's true with the writing and the kind of the 306 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,920 Speaker 1: sunshine and very it's kind of poppy, isn't it. Yeah? 307 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,879 Speaker 1: And it and it it was you know. Um. I 308 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:40,720 Speaker 1: write about my mother very honestly, but also with tremendous 309 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: love in my heart because because I love her, and 310 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:49,920 Speaker 1: because as hard as it was growing up, I'm so 311 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,359 Speaker 1: grateful as an adult my mother. My mother's eighty six 312 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: now and she's still searching. And she understood my need 313 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,120 Speaker 1: to write this book, and she gave me her blessing 314 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: to write it and said, I own my stuff, honey, 315 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: feel free. I don't know how many people of her 316 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 1: generation would be able to do that without this self 317 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:17,880 Speaker 1: searching quality of their of their being, because, um, it's 318 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: hard to admit that you put your kids through a lot, right, Um, 319 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: but I want to just preface it by saying I 320 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 1: was always loved. I was maybe not chaperoned enough and 321 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: maybe jostled around too much, um and not maybe thought 322 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: of it as the the first priority. But there was 323 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:47,919 Speaker 1: only love and tremendous respect for who I was as 324 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: a human being. Um and And so that was also 325 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: a little tricky. It's a little tricky to navigate as 326 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:56,399 Speaker 1: a kid because then you're like, but you're putting me 327 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:59,440 Speaker 1: in this terrible situation. How am I supposed to handle that? 328 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: So that's what I try to write about in the book, 329 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: and then to be able to say, as an adult, 330 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,200 Speaker 1: I can change that narrative. I don't have to carry 331 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: the anger all the time. I can now change that, 332 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: and I did. I feel very grateful that I was 333 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 1: able to confront both my parents at different times in 334 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:21,679 Speaker 1: my life and say, I, I know you love me, 335 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,680 Speaker 1: and I love you, but I need I need acknowledgement 336 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: that what you did wasn't okay. I need an apology. 337 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: And I got that. Yeah, because your dad, I now 338 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:39,280 Speaker 1: died in two thousand fourteen, but you have talked to 339 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,920 Speaker 1: your mom since, and she's very proud of the book. 340 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:46,880 Speaker 1: Despite the fact that you are pretty open about about 341 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 1: her words and all, and I did feel that she 342 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,800 Speaker 1: loved you deeply throughout it, but that she was just 343 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: kind of self centered and uh, you know. But anyway, 344 00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:58,919 Speaker 1: I thought that I was going to ask you to 345 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 1: read a passage. I know a lot of people want 346 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 1: to hear more about your roles on e Er. I'm 347 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: getting questions from the audience about that, But I loved 348 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: the passage on twenty four, which page twenty four, which 349 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:15,880 Speaker 1: made me understand how your childhood experiences informed you and 350 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: actually me to choose acting as a profession. Yeah, sure, 351 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: I have it right here. Um when I dig deep 352 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,480 Speaker 1: to try to understand why acting became my profession even 353 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: though I had much bigger plans for myself when as 354 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: a teenager I was plotting out my adult life, I 355 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: see now that nothing else would have made sense. What 356 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: else could I do? I was always trying to be 357 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:46,360 Speaker 1: another person as a child, whether it was changing my accent, 358 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,679 Speaker 1: speaking in a different language, living the high life, or 359 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: just getting by. I was constantly changing who I was 360 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: or trying to become someone I thought I was supposed 361 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,480 Speaker 1: to be. I wanted to fit into whatever since suation 362 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: was thrown at me. I became very good at determining 363 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 1: which direction I needed to follow depending on where I 364 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:12,159 Speaker 1: was or who I was with, which I think really 365 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 1: shows how your need to morph into different surroundings. You'd 366 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: get an English accent, you'd lose your English to accent, 367 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: you'd moved back to London, you'd have to get an 368 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 1: English accent again, always desperately trying to fit in. And 369 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: it must have, you know, as you've talked about, you 370 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: know already trying to square these two very different worlds 371 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: and often very different cultures, um, which very difficult for especially, 372 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: I would think for a pre pubescent, you know, adolescent 373 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: girl who's probably full of angst and um, you know, 374 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: identity issues already. So you had this overlay of these 375 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:56,159 Speaker 1: two different worlds. And I wonder if you would have 376 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,720 Speaker 1: become an actor had it not been for this kind 377 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:05,360 Speaker 1: of strange childhood you experienced. I'm wondering, do you think 378 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 1: you would have been I don't. I mean, I always 379 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: assumed I would follow in my grandmother Henrietta's footsteps and 380 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: be a lawyer. To be honest with you, that was 381 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:19,200 Speaker 1: sort of what I thought was a noble profession. Um 382 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 1: and I I. I just I couldn't have done it. 383 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: I wasn't good at reading the fine print. I don't 384 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,679 Speaker 1: think I would have um been able to. I was 385 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: studying character and and body behavior, I remember distinctly at 386 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: the age of six, and I talked about it in 387 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: a chapter called Jesus in the Van where we were 388 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: living in a VW camper and my mother and her 389 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: boyfriend who we called Jesus Christ behind his back because 390 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: that's what he looked like. Um, they picked up two 391 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: hitchhiker's somewhere along the coast of Spain, and UM, I 392 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,400 Speaker 1: just remember seeing this. The woman had a twitch and 393 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,119 Speaker 1: I was sitting in that my my place in the 394 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,160 Speaker 1: van was the very back and just watching her neck. 395 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:10,119 Speaker 1: And I remember distinctly thinking can I mimic that? Can 396 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: I do that? And just being very aware of of 397 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: um people and what they wear and body and how 398 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,479 Speaker 1: you walk and how you talk. UM. So it was 399 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: like it was it was it was like going to 400 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 1: drama school really without me knowing it, you know, Yeah, 401 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: I remember that, and and how you made that that 402 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,479 Speaker 1: Bulkswagen band your little home as you guys went on 403 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,400 Speaker 1: the road. Very different childhood than mine. That's for sure, 404 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a short break. But when we come back, 405 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: how Nurse Halfway almost never was Let's talk about sort 406 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 1: of when you really burst on the scene. I remember 407 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: it so well when you were Nurse out the Way 408 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:04,199 Speaker 1: on E R. And you know, just tell us a 409 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: little bit about what that was like getting that role 410 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: and being part of that really true phenomenon. You know, 411 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,679 Speaker 1: the first year, I don't think any of us really 412 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:21,680 Speaker 1: could grasp the enormity of the show because we were 413 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: working all the time. A first year of any series, 414 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,439 Speaker 1: especially a drama series here were it isn't an oiled, 415 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: well oiled machine yet, um, And it's a lot of 416 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: learning curves. So we were at work sometimes eighteen hours 417 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: a day and living literally at home to the studio 418 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: and back. There was no sort of outside understanding, even 419 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 1: though two months into that show we were on the 420 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: cover of Newsweek. It was such a huge phenomenon. That's 421 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: in the insert by the way, that cover. Yeah. Um, 422 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,720 Speaker 1: So so in the beginning I didn't really I couldn't 423 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: grasp it, um. And I also think I probably I 424 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,560 Speaker 1: went from zero to a hundred in such a short 425 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: amount of time to go from being a struggling actress. 426 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: Two being all over the world on a show everyone's 427 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: talking about. Is I still have a hard time believing it. 428 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,199 Speaker 1: Even though I know what happened and I know I 429 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,440 Speaker 1: was a part of it, I'm still in awe that 430 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: I was a part of it. Um. It was an 431 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:30,679 Speaker 1: amazing time, and it was an amazing group of people 432 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: to be with. And you know, I felt like I 433 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,359 Speaker 1: was a real newbie. So I learned from the best 434 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: and I watched and I listened and I learned. And UM, 435 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,439 Speaker 1: I am so grateful for the discipline of that show, 436 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 1: because ah, it taught me how to really work hard 437 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 1: and and not ever complain again. Because once you've done 438 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: a medical show like we Are, everything else is a 439 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 1: piece of cake, really, And and it was such an 440 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:07,600 Speaker 1: incredible ensemble past and I know that that George Clooney 441 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: called you after you had shot the pilot to tell 442 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: you that you got the job, right, I mean, is that? 443 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: So in the pilot of the show, I died, Um, 444 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,120 Speaker 1: And I was only hired for the pilot, And then 445 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: I died. My character comes in oded on a gurney, 446 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: and so I flew back to New York and UM 447 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: said goodbye to everyone, and Um, I had had such 448 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,399 Speaker 1: a great time with them all. And then I h 449 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: was looking for another job and I was offered another job, 450 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,200 Speaker 1: and that same day George left me a message and said, 451 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,680 Speaker 1: I don't know if you're thinking of taking another job, 452 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 1: but I wouldn't if I were you, because I think 453 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: they're going to keep you on and they're going to 454 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:55,639 Speaker 1: offer you a series regular role. And that was that 455 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,679 Speaker 1: was a hard gamble for me because I didn't know 456 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 1: if it was true, you know, was it gonna happen. 457 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: I needed and Tom Fontana, who is a writer and 458 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,679 Speaker 1: a dear friend of mine. UM, he had offered me 459 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:10,720 Speaker 1: the job on Homicide Life on the Street and I 460 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,119 Speaker 1: called him and he and I said, I don't know 461 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,400 Speaker 1: what to do, and he said, take the gamble. I'll 462 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,719 Speaker 1: always have a job here for you. And that George 463 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 1: and Tom changed, They've changed my life. And do you 464 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: stay in touch with the whole e Er crew, Anthony 465 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: Edwards and all of them today literally just got off 466 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,560 Speaker 1: the phone two minutes before I came in here with 467 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: Eric Leasow. Yeah, it's a really um and Tony's daughter, Um, 468 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: I think she just graduated, but Um, goes to the 469 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 1: same school. My son goes to a New York City, 470 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: so I'd see Tony in the hallway of my son's school. 471 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,720 Speaker 1: I mean, it's just, uh, it's been It's it's a 472 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: gift that keeps on giving. And George and I have 473 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: always always, um stayed in touch, you know, we've we 474 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,080 Speaker 1: I don't know what it was about our relationship on 475 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: that show, but there was something I think that we 476 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,920 Speaker 1: both had a way of working together that just um, 477 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,200 Speaker 1: I don't even think we realized it. You know, every 478 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 1: now and then we'll write to each other. Remember when 479 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: we did that scene. Um, it just was a real 480 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 1: that happens. You know, I'm lucky. I feel like I 481 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: got it with Josh Charles to it. So for me, 482 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: it happens twice in a lifetime. You know, when two 483 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,920 Speaker 1: characters you can finish each other's sentences. I mean that 484 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: I've just been so so lucky with my leading men. 485 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: I have to say, you know, George and I have 486 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:38,080 Speaker 1: that same thing going Julianna. I mean, I'm actually feeling 487 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: really quite jealous of you right now, but I'm sorry. 488 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: That's okay. My husband is here rolling his eyes. He's awesome. 489 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 1: Are you right there, John, he's listening to this whole thing. Uh. Anyway, 490 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,000 Speaker 1: but would you guys ever do a reunion show it all? Or? 491 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: I thought would be so fun, but maybe not what 492 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: we do? I mean we we just did this reunion 493 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: that on, you know, for to raise money for the 494 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 1: Waterkeeper's Alliance. But um, and someone asked that that was 495 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 1: one of the questions, And I mean, I think we 496 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 1: all feel the same way, which is lightning. You can't 497 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,080 Speaker 1: catch lightning in a bottle twice. That show was on 498 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,959 Speaker 1: for fifteen years, and um, I got to be a 499 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,160 Speaker 1: part of the first six. I just don't know how 500 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,600 Speaker 1: you would reboot something that was that good. And we're 501 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: all so much older now, and you know, I feel like, 502 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: leave well enough alone and find something else that's great. 503 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 1: You know, I think you're probably right. You you speaking 504 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: of the end of your run on e ER. You 505 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,959 Speaker 1: write about after six years you decided that you were 506 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: going to turn down a twenty seven million dollar two 507 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: year contract and people thought you were insane, and you 508 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,320 Speaker 1: write about being at the gym, I believe, and turning 509 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 1: on the view. Now I'm kind of mad at Barbara 510 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: Walters and Joy Behart because they weren't being very nice 511 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: about your decision, and they were talking some serious smack 512 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,640 Speaker 1: about you. And it must have been like an out 513 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,680 Speaker 1: of body experience, and you were really really upset about it. 514 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,959 Speaker 1: So why don't you tell us why you you wanted 515 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:21,000 Speaker 1: to turn down, uh, that that big chunk of change, missy, 516 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 1: and why you know, and and how you dealt with 517 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: some of the backlacks you got. Oh you know, I 518 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: feel like because I turned down that amount of money, 519 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: it's it's definitely defined me to a certain point in 520 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: this business. She's the girl that turned down that kind 521 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 1: of money. Sorry, there's sirens. I hope no one's hearing it. Um, 522 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: And I write about it because I want to just 523 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 1: let people hear my side of the story, which was 524 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:52,400 Speaker 1: it wasn't a light decision. I was very methodical about 525 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:57,760 Speaker 1: um my decision. I asked everyone I respected what they 526 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: would do. Um. Every single person said, take the money. 527 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: You'll never have to work again. No one gets offered 528 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: this kind of money, especially a woman. This was quite 529 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:09,720 Speaker 1: a while ago. What year was this? This was a 530 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 1: two thousand? Yeah, yeah, so this is twenty one years ago, right, 531 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 1: maybe twenty yeah, so whatever, twenty one years ago so. Um. 532 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:23,880 Speaker 1: But but before all of the money came into the picture, Um, 533 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 1: I had work secured for a year, so I was 534 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,120 Speaker 1: gonna do my six years on your happily I had signed, 535 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 1: I had signed for five, and then I happily signed 536 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:35,320 Speaker 1: on for another one, and then I was going to 537 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:37,960 Speaker 1: be done and moved back to New York where my 538 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,440 Speaker 1: my family was back east. I'm I'm an East Coaster. 539 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,040 Speaker 1: I loved l A, but it's just not my jam. 540 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 1: I need a season to move forward. I need people 541 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 1: around me. I felt a little isolated out there in 542 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:56,160 Speaker 1: a car all the time. And I had been privileged 543 00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: to have been given a play by John Robin Bates, 544 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 1: who I was huge admirer of. He had written apart 545 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,239 Speaker 1: for me in a new play that I was going 546 00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 1: to do at Lincoln Center with Jason Robarts. I'm who 547 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:13,080 Speaker 1: gets that dangled in front of them when you're thirty one, 548 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: thirty two years old? And um, so I had that 549 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 1: I was going to and then I was going to 550 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 1: go off and do my dream job, which was a 551 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: four part mini series for T and T called The 552 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: Miss of Avalon. I grew up reading all the um 553 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: Arthur legends, you know, King Arthur and the round the 554 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: and the Holy Grail and the round Table and the 555 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: Knights of the round Table. And that was I was 556 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:36,200 Speaker 1: going to get to ride horses. I was a horseback 557 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: rider as a kid, and quite a serious one, and 558 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 1: here they were, they were paying me a lot of 559 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,040 Speaker 1: money to do it. And on top of everything, I 560 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: was going to get to use my English accent ride 561 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 1: my horses. I mean it was to me I had everything. 562 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 1: I couldn't believe my life like that was incredible. And 563 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 1: then the money came in, right, well, we'd love you 564 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:00,840 Speaker 1: to stay for two more years. We'll pay twenty seven 565 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:04,480 Speaker 1: million dollars. Um. So I had to dig deep and 566 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,360 Speaker 1: I did and um and ultimately I knew and I 567 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 1: write about this sort of divine intervention moment for me 568 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:15,640 Speaker 1: in the book UM on that on top of my 569 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 1: father giving me really great advice, which was, when is 570 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:24,000 Speaker 1: enough enough? I know a lot of unhappy rich people, Honey, 571 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 1: what if you got hit by a bus tomorrow? You 572 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,839 Speaker 1: said yes, you'll take the money, and you're living this 573 00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 1: life and you get hit by a bus before the 574 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 1: two years is up, and you're lying there on the 575 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:41,120 Speaker 1: street as you're dying and you say, did I live 576 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:44,640 Speaker 1: my truest life? It was I true to myself? Or 577 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 1: was I just waiting to get rich and not living 578 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:52,759 Speaker 1: in the moment? And that rang so true to me 579 00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:58,479 Speaker 1: and who I am, UM, that I opted to say, 580 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 1: thank you so much, but I'm going to not stay um. 581 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:07,719 Speaker 1: And then when the backlash happened, Um, I think for me, 582 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,760 Speaker 1: when I saw the view as I was on the treadmill, 583 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,719 Speaker 1: I literally stopped and my heart started pounding because the 584 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,400 Speaker 1: way these women were speaking about me was as if, 585 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 1: just to be clear, I was going off to do 586 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 1: a play for two hundred and thirty five dollars a 587 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: week off Broadway at Lincoln Center, like it's not um, 588 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: you know. I remember Barbara Watching said, well she she said, 589 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: she's no spring chicken. Who does she think she is? 590 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:40,680 Speaker 1: And then joy Beyhart getting in there and saying, well, 591 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:42,880 Speaker 1: she'll never work again. She I'm gonna be waving to 592 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,399 Speaker 1: her on my way out the door because she's gonna 593 00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:48,120 Speaker 1: be my dormant. I mean, the way they spoke about 594 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:57,320 Speaker 1: me was so um, cruel and uh and untrue. UM. 595 00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,960 Speaker 1: And so for all you fans that keep asking me, 596 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,879 Speaker 1: why don't I go on that show? Now you know, um, 597 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,799 Speaker 1: I've never been on the show, but um, but the 598 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: truth is I'd be happy to go on and now 599 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: because I don't care any like, I could talk about 600 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:12,680 Speaker 1: it now and it doesn't matter. But I know I 601 00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: never went on the show because I felt they showed 602 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:18,440 Speaker 1: such disrespect because no one bothered to ask me. They 603 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:23,360 Speaker 1: just made assumptions. And when I felt horrible, I called 604 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 1: my father and I said, Dad, everyone's laughing at me 605 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,319 Speaker 1: and making jokes and I just want to disappear. This 606 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,920 Speaker 1: is horrible and he said, well, honey, you turned down 607 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:39,239 Speaker 1: the American Dream. So what they're really upset about is 608 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,279 Speaker 1: they know that that wouldn't have been their choice, and 609 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,480 Speaker 1: it makes them angry that that is your choice. Really, 610 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,439 Speaker 1: it's about them, it's not about you who doesn't take 611 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:51,600 Speaker 1: that money? How could she possibly be happy if she 612 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:53,920 Speaker 1: doesn't have that kind of money or whatever it was. 613 00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 1: And I realized I was like, right, this isn't really 614 00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:00,120 Speaker 1: about me at all. This is about their reaction and 615 00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:04,480 Speaker 1: to a choice I made. And uh, And you know 616 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: it wasn't easy at first, but in time I really 617 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:11,520 Speaker 1: stopped caring what anyone thought. It's my life and um, 618 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,759 Speaker 1: and I've had some amazing things come out of it. 619 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:19,440 Speaker 1: Because I'll say, yeah, I want to talk to you 620 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,920 Speaker 1: about The Good Wife, which, as you know, my husband 621 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:27,759 Speaker 1: John consumed voraciously. A couple of years ago. He was like, 622 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:29,960 Speaker 1: I'm not watching this show, and then he like, I 623 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,600 Speaker 1: couldn't stop watching the show. And a lot of men 624 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:34,520 Speaker 1: felt that way about the show I think because of 625 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:37,359 Speaker 1: because it was called The Good Wife. I think they 626 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: thought it was gonna be too girly or something. But 627 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,120 Speaker 1: most men who watched it, they all come up to 628 00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:43,399 Speaker 1: me on this y they go, you know, I never 629 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:45,920 Speaker 1: watched it, and then I started watching it and I 630 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,239 Speaker 1: love it. So yeah, he's your number one fan. But 631 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:53,880 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you're so fortunate to have you know, 632 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:55,680 Speaker 1: you know, I mean there are a lot of fine 633 00:37:55,719 --> 00:38:01,279 Speaker 1: actors out there who don't have these incredible opportunities. I 634 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:03,840 Speaker 1: mean not that you haven't earned every bit of it. 635 00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:07,239 Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting that, but wow, to be on a 636 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:12,080 Speaker 1: show like The Good Wife, which um clearly you were 637 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,880 Speaker 1: consumed by Alicia's character and you gave it your all. 638 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: But what was it about that show that made it 639 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:24,200 Speaker 1: really work in a similar way that e Er did? 640 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,200 Speaker 1: I think was it the ensemble. Was it the topicality 641 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:32,760 Speaker 1: the Silda Switzer Spitzer, Sorry, not Switzer Spitzer. I dated 642 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:36,840 Speaker 1: a boy in college named Switzer, but not Switzer Spitzer 643 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:41,680 Speaker 1: and he was from the liquorice company. But anyway, Selda Spitzer. 644 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 1: So it was very weirdly timely. But when you look 645 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:49,120 Speaker 1: back at that whole experience, what was the key to 646 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 1: the success of that show? So I think, what what 647 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:56,040 Speaker 1: what everyone has to remember is, um, when you sign 648 00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 1: on to do a show, you're only given the only 649 00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:01,600 Speaker 1: thing that's written is the pilot. Is that first episode. 650 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:05,360 Speaker 1: And that first episode I had I was a little 651 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:09,000 Speaker 1: obsessed with Silda Spitzer and Elliot Spitzer. I watched that 652 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:14,239 Speaker 1: press conference where you see her standing behind him, and 653 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:17,560 Speaker 1: I remember screaming at the television. I mean, like, why 654 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:22,400 Speaker 1: are you there? Don't leave? Walk away. I didn't understand 655 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:24,840 Speaker 1: why she was there, and she looked like she wanted 656 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,200 Speaker 1: a sinkhole to happen, you know, like she just wanted 657 00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:31,400 Speaker 1: something to take her away. Um. And what I found 658 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,440 Speaker 1: so fascinating in the pilot when I was reading the pilot, 659 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:38,760 Speaker 1: what really got me was what happens after that press 660 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:42,040 Speaker 1: conference when they go into the Green room what happens. 661 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,680 Speaker 1: And so there's this pilot and I'm reading it and 662 00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:48,120 Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, I want to play 663 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,880 Speaker 1: that woman. I need to know who she is because 664 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:56,600 Speaker 1: like Silda Spit you know, my Mike Alicia Flora graduated 665 00:39:56,600 --> 00:40:02,000 Speaker 1: topping her class at Georgetown Law School. Higher then then uh, 666 00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:06,360 Speaker 1: Peter Floric Chris notes character higher than Josh Charles's character 667 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:10,880 Speaker 1: Will Garden. She was number one. Silda Spitzer, such a 668 00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,920 Speaker 1: smart woman. Who are these women? I got? I was 669 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,520 Speaker 1: so excitement to play her. Then of course you make 670 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:19,080 Speaker 1: the pilot and you don't know what the show is 671 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:21,359 Speaker 1: going to be because you don't know if it's picked 672 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:25,399 Speaker 1: up or not. So nothing's written and then they say 673 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,600 Speaker 1: it's a go. And then the first script comes in 674 00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:34,280 Speaker 1: after the pilot, and it's where I do think, Um, 675 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:37,440 Speaker 1: I am truly one of the luckiest people on the 676 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:42,000 Speaker 1: planet because that that this script fell into my lap. 677 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:47,320 Speaker 1: Robert and Michelle king Um wrote such a complex, interesting character. 678 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,440 Speaker 1: And yes, it's about the cast, it's about the writing. 679 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:56,000 Speaker 1: I mean, ultimately, the first thing it's about is the writing. Really, um. 680 00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 1: But then, as Robert and Michelle said to me so 681 00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:01,520 Speaker 1: many times in dailies. They would watch my character and 682 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:03,640 Speaker 1: I would wait for a minute before I answered, because 683 00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:07,160 Speaker 1: I always felt like Alicia really balance things out in 684 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,760 Speaker 1: her head and thought things through. I noticed my husband, 685 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,560 Speaker 1: who calls himself a recovering lawyer, he always looks at 686 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:16,440 Speaker 1: two sides of each argument before he has an answer. 687 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:20,800 Speaker 1: And I'm I'm an actress, I'm cleric, I'm like, I'm emotional. Everything. 688 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,759 Speaker 1: I answer like, you know, way too fast everything. And 689 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:28,520 Speaker 1: I loved the idea of being more. Let me wait, 690 00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:30,759 Speaker 1: let me weigh out two sides. And they would then 691 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:34,400 Speaker 1: start writing to what I was doing. That's the luxury 692 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:37,560 Speaker 1: of television. It's like a novel. You know, the writer 693 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:40,959 Speaker 1: gets to also see the the actor up there every 694 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:42,880 Speaker 1: day and then they say, wait, she's really good at 695 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: that weight. I'm going to write to that strength and 696 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 1: and that dance that you get to do with writers. 697 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,719 Speaker 1: There's just nothing that e Er was the same. You know, 698 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:54,600 Speaker 1: we just had great writers. So it's the writing first, 699 00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:57,960 Speaker 1: and then hopefully you see what you can do with 700 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:00,680 Speaker 1: the actors in it. And I I mean, I was 701 00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:04,120 Speaker 1: blessed to do that show. And also the character development, 702 00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:07,640 Speaker 1: you know, the evolution of all the characters, I think, 703 00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:13,640 Speaker 1: you know, absolutely, they kept growing and changing and surprising us. Yeah, 704 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:17,560 Speaker 1: and it's you know, TV, UM, TV is like reading 705 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:20,600 Speaker 1: a really good novel. You know, you get to turn 706 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:22,960 Speaker 1: each page, you get to live inside the characters. They 707 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,719 Speaker 1: stay with you week after week. It's very different than 708 00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:27,959 Speaker 1: a movie, which is two hours of beginning, the middle 709 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:31,080 Speaker 1: and an end. With TV, it's ongoing, so it's sort 710 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:35,319 Speaker 1: of this just guilty pleasure all the time. And I 711 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:38,240 Speaker 1: couldn't wait to read each script that not all television 712 00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:41,839 Speaker 1: shows are like that, you know, So, um, listen, we're 713 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,080 Speaker 1: almost out of time. But I was just gonna close 714 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:48,680 Speaker 1: by a question that someone asked, which was in writing 715 00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:51,200 Speaker 1: this book, what did you what did you learn about 716 00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:54,319 Speaker 1: yourself in the process? You know, what did you come 717 00:42:54,360 --> 00:43:01,239 Speaker 1: away recognizing or realizing that perhaps you hadn't before. I 718 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:04,520 Speaker 1: think the main thing that I that that hit me 719 00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:09,920 Speaker 1: the most was while I was writing about my plates 720 00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:14,880 Speaker 1: spinning in the seven years I was working UM, I 721 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,799 Speaker 1: realized and learned about myself that if I do not 722 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:22,360 Speaker 1: take time for myself and let go of trying to 723 00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,560 Speaker 1: be the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect friend 724 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:29,560 Speaker 1: or daughter or sister, or even the perfect actor, or 725 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:32,760 Speaker 1: even the perfect actor. I will be no good to anyone, 726 00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:36,680 Speaker 1: especially myself. And that nobody wants to hang out with 727 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:41,640 Speaker 1: a martyr is so boring and so exhausting. And I 728 00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:43,480 Speaker 1: realized as I was writing it, I was like, you 729 00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:47,000 Speaker 1: better live by these words, girl, you better, you better. 730 00:43:47,239 --> 00:43:50,080 Speaker 1: It's funny because in the pandemic people were asking them 731 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,200 Speaker 1: where what did you do to find a loane time? 732 00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:56,759 Speaker 1: Because you know, when you're locked down with a kid 733 00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:00,200 Speaker 1: and a husband anyway, and I and I'm fine out 734 00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:02,400 Speaker 1: that everyone did this. I ran to the bathroom and 735 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:03,880 Speaker 1: shut the door, because no one will bother you in 736 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:07,400 Speaker 1: the bathroom. So I would sit on the floor and 737 00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:10,480 Speaker 1: maybe return some emails or just breathe, or just reading 738 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:13,440 Speaker 1: something to the newspaper because no one can bother you 739 00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:15,960 Speaker 1: in the bathroom. And I realized that I will always 740 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:19,680 Speaker 1: find time to to run to the bathroom and shut 741 00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:22,719 Speaker 1: the door and be on my own. Um, I need 742 00:44:22,719 --> 00:44:24,600 Speaker 1: to be alone. And that's what I loved about the 743 00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:28,160 Speaker 1: process of writing, was that every day I would be 744 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:31,880 Speaker 1: able to come into my office and no matter what, 745 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:35,600 Speaker 1: for two hours, make myself right every day if I 746 00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:37,480 Speaker 1: if I could. And some days were great and some 747 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:42,520 Speaker 1: days I had nothing to say, but um, I did 748 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:46,120 Speaker 1: love the alone time of that. Well. I know that 749 00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,920 Speaker 1: that people can't wait to see sort of what you 750 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:52,240 Speaker 1: do next. And as I said, you've got some people 751 00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:56,680 Speaker 1: who are serious bands, including me, and I wish you 752 00:44:56,760 --> 00:45:00,239 Speaker 1: all the best with the book. It's so exciting and 753 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:02,919 Speaker 1: it's such an accomplishment. So I hope you feel proud 754 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:09,640 Speaker 1: of yourself for your finger to keyboard and really telling 755 00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:13,040 Speaker 1: your story. And you did such a beautiful job. So congratulations, 756 00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:15,400 Speaker 1: Thank you so so so so much, and thank you 757 00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:18,279 Speaker 1: for doing this and being so supportive in the world 758 00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:22,360 Speaker 1: to me. And by the way, you can find Sunshine 759 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:26,320 Speaker 1: Girl by Julianna Margalie's wherever you buy your books. Speaking 760 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:30,480 Speaker 1: of book tours, Hello, my memoir Going There is out 761 00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:33,439 Speaker 1: October and I'll be taking the show on the road. 762 00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:36,000 Speaker 1: To find out when and where I'm headed and to 763 00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:40,520 Speaker 1: get your tickets, check out ticketmaster dot com slash Going 764 00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:45,840 Speaker 1: There and hopefully I'll see you there next week. On 765 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,400 Speaker 1: next question, I have for five seconds the control of 766 00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:55,400 Speaker 1: the narrative about me. Sharon Stone exposes Sharon Stone like 767 00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:58,279 Speaker 1: that to actually tell you something that's true about me. 768 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:02,960 Speaker 1: The Oscar nominated actress sharing her story on her own terms. 769 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:09,760 Speaker 1: That's next Thursday on Next Question. Next Question with Katie 770 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,360 Speaker 1: Kurik is a production of I Heart Media and Katie 771 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:17,040 Speaker 1: Couric Media. The executive producers Army, Katie Curic, and Courtney Litz. 772 00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 1: The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers Derek Clements, 773 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:26,560 Speaker 1: Adriana Fasio, and Emily Pinto. The show is edited and 774 00:46:26,719 --> 00:46:30,759 Speaker 1: mixed by Derrek Clements. For more information about today's episode, 775 00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,399 Speaker 1: or to sign up for my morning newsletter, wake Up Call, 776 00:46:33,719 --> 00:46:36,439 Speaker 1: go to Katie Currek dot com. You can also find 777 00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,360 Speaker 1: me at Katie Curic on Instagram and all my social 778 00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:43,400 Speaker 1: media channels. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit 779 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:46,840 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you 780 00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:48,440 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows,