Speaker 1: What do you do when life doesn't go according to
Speaker 1: plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
Speaker 1: or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
Speaker 1: is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
Speaker 1: by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down
Speaker 1: with a guest to talk about the times they were
Speaker 1: knocked off course and what they did to move forward.
Speaker 1: Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all
Speaker 1: are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and
Speaker 1: every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice
Speaker 1: answers one question, now what.
Speaker 2: I've played hundreds of shows before I had any kind
Speaker 2: of profession, all your own materials. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 2: started my very first gig. I played I Will Survive
Speaker 2: with a drum machine on my keyboard, and I don't
Speaker 2: even think I could really even play the chords properly.
Speaker 2: I think I just just banking on the charm of that.
Speaker 2: But you certainly have you learn you learn the way? Yeah,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I think you know. I pursued music not
Speaker 2: really as a choice, but it just always felt like
Speaker 2: my calling.
Speaker 1: My guest today has the voice of an angel, Sarah
Speaker 1: Brellis is a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. She's dazzled
Speaker 1: audiences on Broadway and shows like Waitress and Into the Woods.
Speaker 1: She stars in Peacock's hilarious Girls, five Eva and In
Speaker 1: Case That's Not Enough. She's also sold millions of albums
Speaker 1: and won multiple Grammys. I love learning more about her
Speaker 1: origin story and think it's badass how hard she has
Speaker 1: fought to keep her voice and career authentic to who
Speaker 1: she is. I truly don't know another or more quite
Speaker 1: like her. So here is Sarah Burrells. Sarah Burrellis. Let's
Speaker 1: just jump right in, and I want to say thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming on the show. I was
Speaker 1: just so honored when I heard that you were open
Speaker 1: to it and wanted to come on. So just thank you.
Speaker 1: I've been a fan for an incredibly long time and
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2: Thank you right back, Atcha, I adore you. I'm so
Speaker 2: happy to be talking and sorry for I'm having terrible allergies,
Speaker 2: so I sound like I have a cold, but Galin.
Speaker 1: It's the absolute worst. We were just talking about that. Now.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It's funny because sometimes I almost wish that I didn't
Speaker 1: do any research just because I like to just have
Speaker 1: like a girlfriend conversation. But one of the things that
Speaker 1: is so striking to me is the versatility of your talent,
Speaker 1: versatility of your career, the longevity of it, and how
Speaker 1: how you're still able to maintain this. It's almost like
Speaker 1: an anonymity. And I mean that in the best possible
Speaker 1: I mean it is a huge compliment.
Speaker 2: Yes, no, it's I can actually really live a very
Speaker 2: normal life. I really I would not wish fame, like
Speaker 2: real fame, like the kind of fame you have on
Speaker 2: my worst enemy. And I hope that doesn't count terrible,
Speaker 2: but it does. The same is the worst byproduct of
Speaker 2: getting to be an extraordinary artist, Like I think it's
Speaker 2: the it's so toxic and it's so distorting, and I
Speaker 2: think I'm I'm actually just literally a little too boring.
Speaker 2: I think the press is not that like I'm just
Speaker 2: not doing anything that's that interesting.
Speaker 1: So yeah, oh god, I don't agree, but I will
Speaker 1: say that, especially now, I mean social media, it's like
Speaker 1: that just was one of the worst things that could
Speaker 1: have ever happened to me. Yeah, just because it was
Speaker 1: there was no escape whatsoever. And even in say in
Speaker 1: thinking that I was going to say this to you.
Speaker 1: I thought, God, it's we live in such a different time.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Now if you ask younger people, you know, what do
Speaker 1: you want? They say, I want to be famous.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: People don't say I want to do this, or I
Speaker 1: have this vocation or practice that a part of my
Speaker 1: creative my creativity or and it's such a different cultural shift.
Speaker 2: I really feel like my fancy will tell you, like,
Speaker 2: I don't have a poker face, like I don't and
Speaker 2: this is a blessing and a curse, but I really
Speaker 2: don't have another speed like It's just it's what you
Speaker 2: see is what you get. The sort of authentic barebones
Speaker 2: route was sort of the only road for me to walk,
Speaker 2: I think, and survive.
Speaker 1: What were you like as a little girl?
Speaker 2: I was, I think, very awkward and precocious. And I've
Speaker 2: always been someone who is like very honest, not always
Speaker 2: have the most tact like honesty first, even if it's
Speaker 2: I had to learn tact much later in my life.
Speaker 2: But always very tenderhearted, really sensitive, always be very sensitive,
Speaker 2: so get my feelings very easily. And I really love
Speaker 2: people and I love I always refer to it as
Speaker 2: emotional architecture. It's like the way we the way our
Speaker 2: Psyche's workers I find to just be endlessly fascinating.
Speaker 1: Those are qualities, though, that don't make it very easy
Speaker 1: to survive in this industry. You know, I think it's
Speaker 1: painful to feel so much.
Speaker 2: I totally agree, But I do think, at least for me,
Speaker 2: especially in this decade of my life, I have come
Speaker 2: to appreciate that tenderness so much, and the fact that
Speaker 2: I was able to pursue this in some ways in
Speaker 2: spite of that tenderness, because I think we need people
Speaker 2: in positions like ours who are empathic and empathetic and
Speaker 2: compassionate people.
Speaker 1: And you're originally from California.
Speaker 2: Yes, northern California, a little tiny town called Eureka, but yeah,
Speaker 2: it's very rural and big, beautiful redwood for old growth
Speaker 2: redwood forests, and it's right on the ocean. It's an
Speaker 2: absolutely extraordinarily beautiful part of the state. And I loved
Speaker 2: to bring up in California, and my upbringing was wonderful,
Speaker 2: lots of time outside, lots of music. I was the
Speaker 2: youngest of three, so I was outside talking to myself
Speaker 2: a lot, with a big imagination.
Speaker 1: Did you now, your parents got divorced when you were
Speaker 1: quite young.
Speaker 2: Or yeah, like twelve, twelve years old, divorced and remarried.
Speaker 2: Tough time. But I will say they are like best
Speaker 2: friends now both, so it's very It is so normal
Speaker 2: for my mom and dad and their spouses to be
Speaker 2: having dinner together. They do it all the time.
Speaker 1: That's incredibly healthy. And yes, because that must have been
Speaker 1: a difficult time as a twelve year old because your
Speaker 1: siblings were already out of the house by then or
Speaker 1: it just left, so you are sort of like an
Speaker 1: only child going through divorce.
Speaker 2: Yes, when I've talked about it in therapy many times
Speaker 2: over the years, because it sort of feels like that
Speaker 2: thing if you come from a broken home, which seems
Speaker 2: melo dramatic to say it that way, but which so
Speaker 2: many people do you feel like, I don't know, I'm
Speaker 2: forty three now I should be over the fact that
Speaker 2: my parents got divorced. But it really does make an
Speaker 2: impression upon you. It's your whole worldview, and when there's
Speaker 2: a fissure there, it's hard to heal that. I just
Speaker 2: didn't see it coming at all. There was no it
Speaker 2: was not an angry household at all. It was just
Speaker 2: it was just sort of like time to go.
Speaker 1: Who did you turn to with that age? Like who
Speaker 1: are the people in your life that you could rely
Speaker 1: on at that age to process it?
Speaker 2: I think it really was when I started really processing
Speaker 2: through journaling and writing and songs and going inward. I
Speaker 2: wasn't very verbal with my emotions, which I think is
Speaker 2: something that I had to learn the vocabulary about the
Speaker 2: way I was feeling. But I didn't come to that
Speaker 2: till much later in my life, and I would have.
Speaker 2: I think I would have really thrived in a deeper
Speaker 2: way had I had those tools earlier.
Speaker 1: Did you take piano, like piano lessons or singing lessons,
Speaker 1: or have another creative life that you felt was a respite.
Speaker 2: I did play a lot of piano. I took piano
Speaker 2: lessons when I was really young, like nine, and I
Speaker 2: didn't like them very much, and so I stopped. But
Speaker 2: I never fell out of love with the piano. I
Speaker 2: said wanted to play piano all the time. And I
Speaker 2: would come home from school and play for hours and
Speaker 2: write little songs, and I sang in choirs and did
Speaker 2: community theater. I loved being on stage. Theater is really
Speaker 2: the first place where I felt wholly myself. I kind
Speaker 2: of got bullied in school, so school was always a
Speaker 2: little tricky for me, and theater was such a safe space.
Speaker 1: But that's what art really should be, you know, And
Speaker 1: if you can't connect with it, how are you going
Speaker 1: to be able to provide that outlet for someone else?
Speaker 1: And when you went to UCLA, did your world shift
Speaker 1: in a more positive way sort of socially?
Speaker 2: It did, And I mean I loved it. I loved going,
Speaker 2: I loved the independence of college. But it was really
Speaker 2: a culture shock. I never I remember going to LA
Speaker 2: for the first time. I accepted UCLA sight unseen. I
Speaker 2: just I couldn't even believe I got into that school.
Speaker 2: And I wasn't going to go because we didn't We
Speaker 2: didn't have a lot of money and it was expensive.
Speaker 2: And I had an English teacher at the time, Missus Salter,
Speaker 2: who said, you can't get into UCLA and not go
Speaker 2: to UCLA. You have to go, like this is just
Speaker 2: you have to go. And I got little scholarship and
Speaker 2: I got financial aid and I made it to school.
Speaker 2: But I remember going to LA for the first time
Speaker 2: and driving along the beaches and seeing lifeguards in red
Speaker 2: bathing suits like they did on Baywatch, and I thought
Speaker 2: my mind was just blown. It was so much the
Speaker 2: beaches where I grew up are like you put on
Speaker 2: your jeans and your sweatshirts and your boots and it's cold,
Speaker 2: and I just didn't realize how small my world had been.
Speaker 1: How do you have the balls to produce it, to
Speaker 1: self produce your own album? And were you playing gigs
Speaker 1: the whole time?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I you know, I think of that time being
Speaker 2: so sort of blindly courageous. We do things that to
Speaker 2: me now sound insane, but at the time my sort
Speaker 2: of naivete I just didn't know any better, so I
Speaker 2: didn't know enough not to like just go for it.
Speaker 2: And I was in this amazing a cappella group. I
Speaker 2: sang with these but we were a bunch of acapella nerds,
Speaker 2: had the best time. It was like the first time
Speaker 2: I felt like I found my people. And when I
Speaker 2: think about it now, I'm I realize it's so theater adjacent.
Speaker 2: It's like people who just love to collaborate and make
Speaker 2: something together and they love singing together. And it's so
Speaker 2: funny because it's so kind of deeply uncool and it's
Speaker 2: just the coolest.
Speaker 1: At the same time, I think it's the coolest thing
Speaker 1: ever to me too, hearing like singing at an arch
Speaker 1: at Princeton where were the under those arches. It was
Speaker 1: my freshman week. It was the I thought I had
Speaker 1: died and gone to heaven just listening, you know.
Speaker 2: It's just amazing. So I was a part of that group.
Speaker 2: And then I met my friend Gabriel Man, who produced
Speaker 2: that very first record with me. You know, at that times,
Speaker 2: at that time in your life, you're sort of following
Speaker 2: the breadcrumbs. You meet a producer, then you try working
Speaker 2: with them, and then you meet someone through them, and
Speaker 2: you know, someone whose uncle runs a club, and you like,
Speaker 2: can I play at your club? And somebody sees you there.
Speaker 2: You know, just it was very much one foot in
Speaker 2: front of the other.
Speaker 1: Did you have a manager or an ager and anything
Speaker 1: like that or not that early on?
Speaker 2: I played. I played hundreds of shows before I had
Speaker 2: any kind of profession.
Speaker 1: All your own material, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I started my very first gig. I played
Speaker 2: I Will Survive with the drum machine on my keyboard,
Speaker 2: and I don't even think I could really even play
Speaker 2: the chords properly. I think I just was banking on
Speaker 2: the charm of that. But you certainly have you learn,
Speaker 2: you learn the way. Yeah, but yeah, I think you know.
Speaker 2: I pursued music not really as a choice, but it
Speaker 2: just always felt like my calling.
Speaker 1: Did it help like with your confidence in self esteem?
Speaker 2: It was the safest space for me. I mean, it
Speaker 2: was the it was my refuge, it was the place
Speaker 2: I went to feel the most connected spiritually. It's church,
Speaker 2: it's God, it's.
Speaker 1: Is it approval as well?
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's there's some of that.
Speaker 1: I mean self approval, not no, but I from the people.
Speaker 2: But I actually think it's both. It's like when you're
Speaker 2: doing something that actually feels like in your soul, you
Speaker 2: can feel that sense of alignment where it's like it's
Speaker 2: not in question should I be doing this or not.
Speaker 2: It's just like I didn't need to ask someone else
Speaker 2: that I felt so myself playing music. But it is
Speaker 2: also the validation of you know, people on the outside
Speaker 2: acknowledging why you have a real gift, or I heard
Speaker 2: you once, I wanted to come back and see you again.
Speaker 2: And those are another set of breadcrumbs you follow.
Speaker 1: And how does self doubt not creep back in.
Speaker 2: Oh honey, I got it. It's in my back pocket today.
Speaker 2: It's always with I mean, I don't know, I'll mind
Speaker 2: for you. I don't. I have stopped trying to omit
Speaker 2: that sense from myself. I just it's not going to
Speaker 2: go anywhere. I just have to like make peace with it.
Speaker 2: I'm always going to doubt. When I did into the
Speaker 2: Woods most recently, I'm just like, can I do this?
Speaker 2: I put full meltdown just being like, I can't sing this,
Speaker 2: I can't do this, I can't be on. I don't
Speaker 2: know what I'm doing and got thrown in the deep end.
Speaker 2: Everybody else knows what they're doing. That just comes in
Speaker 2: the suitcase of being a human, I think, And you
Speaker 2: have to just do it anyway. You have to be
Speaker 2: feel all that fear, feel all that insecurity, and the
Speaker 2: only mistake is if you let it keep you from
Speaker 2: doing the thing you really want to be doing. And
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: I'm interested in how you got your start at Epic Records.
Speaker 1: How did that happen? They saw you were approached to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I had started working with my manager. He has
Speaker 2: since passed away. His name is Jordan Feldstein, but he
Speaker 2: also represented Maroon five at the time, and I went
Speaker 2: to college with a couple of the band members from
Speaker 2: Run five, so they've been my friends since college. And
Speaker 2: they took me on tour and Jordan started representing me,
Speaker 2: and over the next let's say year or so, I
Speaker 2: played a lot of shows in LA and he set
Speaker 2: up showcases for me with major record labels, and everybody passed.
Speaker 2: Nobody wanted to work with me. I don't think anyone
Speaker 2: knew what to do with me. And then there was
Speaker 2: a guy named Daniel Davis who worked at Epic Records
Speaker 2: at the time, who brought out my A and R.
Speaker 2: Guy who came and saw me at a show that
Speaker 2: I didn't know anybody had come to see. So I
Speaker 2: feel like he got to see myself in my at
Speaker 2: my most expanded and my most natural. And so then yeah,
Speaker 2: signed with Epic Records. So I'm still signed with Epic Records.
Speaker 2: They've been an amazing partner. We've had a huge, long history.
Speaker 2: It's like one of the crazy, rare, super positive stories
Speaker 2: of a major label just being kind of an awesome partner.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned early on and some of the articles
Speaker 1: I read that they did at one point try to
Speaker 1: sort of box you in How did you respond to
Speaker 1: that and how did you get them to come along
Speaker 1: with you on the what you wanted to do?
Speaker 2: I think it was a combination of you know, the
Speaker 2: song Love Song was written sort of as a pep
Speaker 2: talk to myself because I could feel myself trying to
Speaker 2: give them what I thought they wanted. What I knew
Speaker 2: the record label was waiting for was a song that
Speaker 2: they could go to radio with. And I felt like,
Speaker 2: I have all these songs, Let me go into the studio,
Speaker 2: let me make my record, And I wasn't really getting
Speaker 2: the green light.
Speaker 1: Does that mean more pop song?
Speaker 2: Is that that pop song something that they could I'm
Speaker 2: trying to remember the kinds of things that were on
Speaker 2: the radio at that time. But I could just feel
Speaker 2: that there was not enough excitement for like the material.
Speaker 2: And I went to my music studio, which was a
Speaker 2: storage unit that I shared with my friends in Raining
Speaker 2: Jane and other band. So we had one of those
Speaker 2: tincam like startine cam roll down garage doors with all
Speaker 2: of our stuff stored in there. And I was there
Speaker 2: and I wrote love song, and I wrote it kind
Speaker 2: of just to myself. I was like, I said a
Speaker 2: prayer I'm like, dear God, just let me remember me
Speaker 2: in all of this. There was just so much noise
Speaker 2: and so much feedback and so many opinions and love
Speaker 2: song sort of poured out of me, and I was
Speaker 2: convinced they would hate it, and they loved it, and
Speaker 2: then to everyone's surprise, including myself, it was like a
Speaker 2: big hit.
Speaker 1: I mean, every single aspect of it just sounds like
Speaker 1: it was meant to be. And thank God that they
Speaker 1: for whatever reason that they liked it. Do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean?
Speaker 2: It, yes, totally in a.
Speaker 1: Way does not matter. But you know, thank God, because
Speaker 1: you don't hear stories like that, and you know, and
Speaker 1: you talk about how sort of obliterating the process can be.
Speaker 2: How much rejection, Oh God, it's terrible.
Speaker 1: And now what you're doing, which I find really fascinating,
Speaker 1: is you have a new show which is an audio
Speaker 1: only singing competition chets, and it's called Breakthrough. Yes, can
Speaker 1: you talk a little bit more about that? Because I
Speaker 1: wish that there was a show like that that you
Speaker 1: could have gone on.
Speaker 2: A thousand percent. I mean, I wish there was a
Speaker 2: show like that I could have listened to. This audible
Speaker 2: came with this idea, myself and Kelly Rowland as mentors.
Speaker 2: We even sort of shy away a little bit from
Speaker 2: the word judge, because it really is like a mentorship
Speaker 2: program for these handful of artists who are singer songwriters,
Speaker 2: and the entire podcast, as podcasts are generally, is done
Speaker 2: with no visuals. So I met these contestants last night
Speaker 2: when we recorded our final episode, so I finally saw
Speaker 2: their faces after spending weeks and weeks and hours and
Speaker 2: hours on the phone with them and talking through their
Speaker 2: material and discussing their work and giving feedback. And I
Speaker 2: love this format because it feels very nostalgic. It's the
Speaker 2: way I used to listen to music with my headphones on.
Speaker 2: Reading the lyrics, I wasn't watching a screen, I wasn't
Speaker 2: taking anything in. It was just about what is the
Speaker 2: story I'm being told? And is emotion being conveyed through
Speaker 2: the vocal performance, through the actual craft of the song.
Speaker 1: Is there a moment that took your breath away?
Speaker 2: Yes, there's a few moments. Actually, one of our artists,
Speaker 2: he's a Southern guy, works mostly in country music, and
Speaker 2: he really kind of hit rock bottom going through this
Speaker 2: process with us, and he talked about starting therapy and
Speaker 2: starting to really do the work that he needed to do.
Speaker 2: And I found that to be so moving because it's
Speaker 2: unusual for a guy in his position to sort of
Speaker 2: admit that vulnerability and then to pour it into his work.
Speaker 2: So I was so moved by that was very emotional. Actually,
Speaker 2: I mean, we're listening to these people who have in
Speaker 2: some cases really given up on the dream that this
Speaker 2: is even possible for them, and then finding another moment
Speaker 2: where they feel like it's within their reach. It's really extraordinary,
Speaker 2: and you really come to love them. They're really lovable people.
Speaker 1: I so appreciate your vulnerability, not just in music, but
Speaker 1: in so many of the things that you do. You've
Speaker 1: spoken about being bullied and feeling not good enough, feeling
Speaker 1: insecure about your body. Yeah, all of these things that
Speaker 1: I think are so much more common than people are
Speaker 1: willing to admit, and I'm interested in how you've managed
Speaker 1: those feelings. Have you come to love yourself more and
Speaker 1: judge yourself less?
Speaker 2: Yes, I have gotten closer to self acceptance. I usually
Speaker 2: just feel, you know, I get into these very tight
Speaker 2: spaces within my own mind, and the answer is never
Speaker 2: to be tougher on yourself or more just a plan
Speaker 2: or harder consequences. It's always compassion and tenderness. It's really
Speaker 2: the thing that moves the needle. Can you just beat
Speaker 2: a little bit more your own friend? Of course we fail,
Speaker 2: and of course we come up short, but no need
Speaker 2: to pour salt in the wound. Let's just say.
Speaker 1: It's funny how I'm so quick to do that for
Speaker 1: other people.
Speaker 2: Too, But always with ourselves. It's so hard, right.
Speaker 1: Never with myself, I know. But music is such a deeply,
Speaker 1: deeply personal it's so personal to you, and it really
Speaker 1: is a safe place for you to speak your truth.
Speaker 1: And I'm curious if there's something that you perhaps haven't
Speaker 1: yet said through your music that you're hoping to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think in the sense that you're always making
Speaker 2: new discoveries about yourself and always getting to know yourself
Speaker 2: a little bit better. There's certainly things that I feel
Speaker 2: at forty three that I wasn't quite awake to in
Speaker 2: my thirties or in my twenties.
Speaker 1: Like what like an example of one of those things.
Speaker 2: The Trump presidency was really, uh, just a game changer.
Speaker 2: And in some ways it sounds insane to say, but
Speaker 2: I'm almost grateful for it because I just realized how
Speaker 2: unconscious I was about so many things. So I'm grateful
Speaker 2: to be awake in a way that I wasn't. But
Speaker 2: there's a tremendous amount of grief that comes with the
Speaker 2: realization of what feels like it's been unearthed in this
Speaker 2: new way. I know these things have always been here,
Speaker 2: but you know, the pandemic. Was really disappointed with how
Speaker 2: we showed up as a human race, really bummed, and
Speaker 2: I felt like we missed an opportunity to grow towards
Speaker 2: each other. It was like this brief moment when it
Speaker 2: first happened, like the streets were empty, and I felt
Speaker 2: like the empty streets were evidence of love, were taking
Speaker 2: care of each other, and then you know, shit hits
Speaker 2: the fan.
Speaker 1: Do you think we can get back there?
Speaker 2: I think you have to believe we can. And I
Speaker 2: think always it's like you solve the macro with the micro.
Speaker 2: We might not be able to save this entire world
Speaker 2: with one email or one song, but every action causes
Speaker 2: a ripple, even if it's to my dog, to the
Speaker 2: male person, to the you know, it's how we engage
Speaker 2: with the world. In your little whatever, your little bubble,
Speaker 2: is I think that really matters.
Speaker 1: I think it does really matter. I always love to
Speaker 1: ask my my friends that come on, because now I'm
Speaker 1: going to tell everybody. But we talk about now what moments,
Speaker 1: and I'm just curious if there have been any now
Speaker 1: what moments that resonate with you that you haven't shared
Speaker 1: or cared to share.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, so many many. I moved in with
Speaker 2: my fiance Joe, congratulations and thank you. And we were
Speaker 2: living together before, but I left Manhattan, so now we're
Speaker 2: in Brooklyn. And let me tell you, I have not
Speaker 2: dealt with this very gracefully. I'm not good at moving.
Speaker 2: I hate it. I feel totally disoriented.
Speaker 1: I hate every boxes behind.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not even a little bit unpacked. I don't
Speaker 2: know where my underwear is. It's like a whole nightmare.
Speaker 2: But I had this conversation with myself this morning. It's
Speaker 2: a little bit like I am uncomfortable right now. I'm
Speaker 2: really uncomfortable. It's a really busy time and it's all
Speaker 2: champagne problems, but it's like it's a really busy time
Speaker 2: and I'm really uncomfortable in this very fundamental way, and
Speaker 2: I just have to surrender.
Speaker 1: I mean, one of the most traumatic things. Isn't it
Speaker 1: one of them?
Speaker 2: Is I think?
Speaker 1: I mean, isn't that the most like a life stressor
Speaker 1: Growing up my mom never moved into any house that
Speaker 1: we lived in. She never fully moved in, but she
Speaker 1: kept buying houses and we bought houses everywhere with this
Speaker 1: idea that potentially we were gonna have a fire and
Speaker 1: have a meal there, and and so for me, if
Speaker 1: things are not unpacked by panic and it's such a
Speaker 1: source of stress, that makes so much sense.
Speaker 2: I say this to my sister all the time, is that,
Speaker 2: like our life, your life is happening right now. It's
Speaker 2: not out there in the future like we're not. We're
Speaker 2: not like trying to get to our lives somewhere in
Speaker 2: the future. It's like, it's this, it's this room right now,
Speaker 2: it's these boxes. So like, do your best with what's
Speaker 2: right around you. It'll be present to what's really here.
Speaker 1: And that's you know, it's easier said than done, But
Speaker 1: when you do revel in it, it's amazing how long
Speaker 1: those periods of time do feel. You know, they do
Speaker 1: feel expansive. You've mentioned that you've learned a lot about
Speaker 1: yourself just in sort of recent years. Is there a
Speaker 1: takeaway from the last decade.
Speaker 2: I think the most I have learned and the best
Speaker 2: I have ever felt was doing the things that scared
Speaker 2: me the most, Like being comfortable is just not that interesting,
Speaker 2: you know when I think about examples in the theater
Speaker 2: or like I just was on We've just finished filming
Speaker 2: our third season now of a TV show called Girls
Speaker 2: five EV. But I'd never done television before, and I
Speaker 2: was working with really seasoned, incredible actresses, and it was
Speaker 2: a huge responsibility and I didn't want to fail. I
Speaker 2: didn't want to be bad at it. But it takes time.
Speaker 2: I'm you know, I can I can see my growth
Speaker 2: from season one to season two to season three. It's
Speaker 2: like we have to be willing to still learn. Like
Speaker 2: you were saying, there's so much to learn about everything.
Speaker 2: You don't have to be perfect at everything to engage
Speaker 2: with it. It's nice. It shouldn't be enough to keep
Speaker 2: you away from it if it's something you really want
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: Did saying yes to getting engaged terrify you? Or did
Speaker 1: you was it exciting?
Speaker 2: Well, it took us a long time to get there.
Speaker 2: I actually it didn't terrify me, which was it did
Speaker 2: terrifiz if it's a long It terrified me for a
Speaker 2: long time, and then I started to realize I had
Speaker 2: this image of what it meant to be married. You know,
Speaker 2: I come from a divorced household. I come from obviously
Speaker 2: people were it wasn't they weren't fully themselves, and I
Speaker 2: didn't want to repeat those mistakes. I didn't want to
Speaker 2: feel diminished. I didn't want to feel like I had
Speaker 2: to give up independence. I'm incredible autonomous. I love being
Speaker 2: alone in the world. So building a family together we
Speaker 2: have them looking at my little dog right here at
Speaker 2: my feet, and like, building this little world together in
Speaker 2: some ways felt like I was giving something up, and yes,
Speaker 2: you are, but also you gain an incredible amount.
Speaker 1: That was the soulful Sarah Burrells. Be sure to check
Speaker 1: out her new series Breakthrough, which is available now on Audible.
Speaker 1: That's it for us today, Talk to you next week.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: What with Brooke Shields is a production of iHeartRadio. Our
Speaker 1: lead producer and wonderful showrunner is Julia Weaver. Additional research
Speaker 1: and editing by Darby Masters and Abu Zafar. Our executive
Speaker 1: producer is Christina Everett. The show is mixed by Vahid Fraser.