Speaker 1: Hey fam, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2: Today on the bright Side, we're joined by Emmy nominated actor,
Speaker 2: writer and producer Natasha Rothwell. Her new Hulu series How
Speaker 2: to Dialan is out now.
Speaker 3: I wanted to give people someone to root for because
Speaker 3: that's how I got to where I am. You know,
Speaker 3: It's being able to cheer myself on and having my
Speaker 3: friends cheer me on as I'm fuck up and make
Speaker 3: mistakes as I'm growing.
Speaker 4: All of that.
Speaker 2: Natasha is telling us how she's ready to take center
Speaker 2: stage and revealing the Steve Martin quote that guides her
Speaker 2: every single day. It's Thursday, September twenty sixth I'm Danielle Robe.
Speaker 5: And I'm Simone Boyce and this is the bright Side
Speaker 5: from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together
Speaker 5: to share women's stories, laugh, learn, and brighten your day.
Speaker 2: Okay, before we get into today's episode, we want to
Speaker 2: take a second to welcome all you new listeners that
Speaker 2: found us via Apple Podcasts monthly Spotlight Pick. We're so
Speaker 2: thrilled to be on Apple's list of the most exciting
Speaker 2: vital voices and personalities in podcasting today and super humbled.
Speaker 2: So if you're new here, dive into our feed and
Speaker 2: take a listen to our conversations that aim to inspire, educate,
Speaker 2: and empower women as we tackle life each and every day.
Speaker 5: Ay. Welcome to the party, y'all, and today's guest is
Speaker 5: the true embodiment of inspiration and empowerment. As we mentioned,
Speaker 5: Joining us today is actor, writer and director Natasha Rothwell.
Speaker 5: You all know her as Kelly Prenny in the Ray
Speaker 5: created series Insecure. Insecure did something so revolutionary. It created
Speaker 5: a cast of characters that felt so incredibly viscerally real,
Speaker 5: Like we all felt like, I know these people.
Speaker 1: I've got a Kelly in my life. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: that's so well said.
Speaker 2: Natasha was actually hired on Insecure as a writer and
Speaker 2: so she didn't come to be on the cast until
Speaker 2: later in the show, and she became a fan favorite
Speaker 2: so quickly. She was known for like her clever comebacks,
Speaker 2: her one liners.
Speaker 1: A lot of people say Kelly was the funniest character.
Speaker 2: We also can't forget Natasha's Emmy nominated performance as Belinda
Speaker 2: in The White Lotus because she's set to reprise that
Speaker 2: role in the upcoming third season of the series, which
Speaker 2: makes her one of the only actors with a recurring
Speaker 2: role on the show, so she's also a favorite of
Speaker 2: that show.
Speaker 5: It's so funny because she was one of the most
Speaker 5: colorful characters on Insecure, and then on The White Lotus
Speaker 5: she plays the straight man, which is a term in
Speaker 5: comedy to describe the person who is behaving normally when
Speaker 5: everyone else around them is chaotic.
Speaker 1: So I think that just speaks to her range.
Speaker 5: I mean, she's had some truly iconic roles throughout her career,
Speaker 5: always in a supporting role until now, because she's taking
Speaker 5: center stage.
Speaker 1: In a big way.
Speaker 2: Her new series is called How To Die Alone, and
Speaker 2: it is out now. She created it, she executive produced it,
Speaker 2: she starred in the show, and it follows her character Melissa,
Speaker 2: which is quote a broke, fat JFK airport employee who's
Speaker 2: never been in love and forgotten how to dream. But
Speaker 2: then she has an accidental brush with death and it
Speaker 2: leads her to finally taking charge of her own life.
Speaker 2: So now Natasha's here to talk to us about it all. Natasha,
Speaker 2: welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 2: Well, we're so excited, and a huge congratulations is in
Speaker 2: order because your new show just came out. Simone and
Speaker 2: I both loved it, were excited to finish the season.
Speaker 2: And you've really been a part of shows that have
Speaker 2: shaped culture in the last few years, shows that everybody's
Speaker 2: talking about. And now you're stepping into this major creative role.
Speaker 2: And Simona and I were like, she's literally the main
Speaker 2: character now, it's so exciting. And speaking of cheering you on,
Speaker 2: Gail King, she picked your show as a must watch
Speaker 2: for this fall, which I.
Speaker 1: Do not know this. No, Oh my god, we're breaking
Speaker 1: news right now.
Speaker 4: Are you serious?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 4: This is and you're not pulling my leg? Is it serious?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 5: Girl, it's an Oprah Daily. Wow, I did that. I
Speaker 5: did an interview with her and she was so kind,
Speaker 5: but I didn't know it was a I'm gonna need
Speaker 5: the vapors in a minute.
Speaker 2: What I think we have to put your Google alerts
Speaker 2: on so that you catch.
Speaker 3: I've been so this is the busiest I've been in
Speaker 3: my life in a way where I'm just like, because
Speaker 3: I don't have main character energy in real life, truly,
Speaker 3: I don't, and so having to do all of the
Speaker 3: press for all of it, and like I just haven't
Speaker 3: been on my phone, like I usually.
Speaker 4: Am, and so I love that you broke this news.
Speaker 3: I'm very excited. That means she probably told Oprah about it.
Speaker 4: Am. I this is one step closer.
Speaker 5: To you are literally one degree away, half a degree.
Speaker 1: They talk every day.
Speaker 4: Have you met Opri yet? Oh no, no I haven't.
Speaker 4: My soul would leave my body.
Speaker 5: Okay, So your soul is going to leave your body.
Speaker 5: I give I give it literally six months, you're gonna.
Speaker 4: Meet your mouth from your mouth to God's ears. Okay.
Speaker 5: Just because you haven't seen this article yet, I feel
Speaker 5: like we need to read it to her, Danielle. The
Speaker 5: headline is Gail King found the perfect solve for your
Speaker 5: end of summer scaries. Natasha Rothwell's new series How to
Speaker 5: Die Alone is part of Gail's September lineup.
Speaker 3: Wow wow wow wow wow wow. Yeah that is I Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's so funny to me being in this moment and
Speaker 3: having empathy in hindsight for Taylor Swift. Hear me out
Speaker 3: there are Okay, So you know, okay, you know she
Speaker 3: was kind of you know, lampooned for her shucks you know,
Speaker 3: all shucks campaign every time she won an award, and
Speaker 3: everyone's like, you should be used to it by now,
Speaker 3: there is no version of my existence where I will
Speaker 3: get used to people consuming things that make seeing me,
Speaker 3: supporting me in mass, having people who.
Speaker 4: I look up to see my work and validate what
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 3: Each one of those instances doesn't play on my heart
Speaker 3: and soul in a small way. They're like these mighty explosions.
Speaker 3: And so I feel like since this press tour has started,
Speaker 3: it's been like every day I'm like Jesus crazy, and
Speaker 3: my publicist, you know, she's just been on this ride
Speaker 3: with me. But it's purely authentic, and I really I
Speaker 3: understand now in hindsight how you might win the same
Speaker 3: award every single year, but it feels brand new because
Speaker 3: it's it's that little girl that didn't think that she
Speaker 3: was going to get seen. It's that little girl that
Speaker 3: didn't know that anyone cared what she had to say.
Speaker 3: And she's still around and I'm treating her a lot
Speaker 3: better now, But I think it comes from that, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for your honesty, Natasha.
Speaker 5: We talk about representation a lot on this show show,
Speaker 5: but we try to do it in a way that
Speaker 5: is rooted in data and science, right, and we have
Speaker 5: seen so much progress. I know that I have so
Speaker 5: many more women in TV and film that I can
Speaker 5: look to and feel represented by, and yet in twenty
Speaker 5: twenty four, it still feels unique to have a show
Speaker 5: like this one with a lead who is a black
Speaker 5: woman who isn't a size.
Speaker 1: Zero or double zero or two.
Speaker 5: So how did you approach writing her identity as a
Speaker 5: plus sized black woman into the story without making that
Speaker 5: the story? Because I think that's the goal, right, It's
Speaker 5: like this balance of being honest about identity while also
Speaker 5: exploring the full breath of who these characters are. Absolutely,
Speaker 5: I mean the cornerstone of Big Hattie Productions is that
Speaker 5: the humanity of our character begins on page one. We
Speaker 5: refuse to do projects, produce projects, be in projects where
Speaker 5: you're wasting page real estate to explain away my otherness,
Speaker 5: so then my story can start.
Speaker 4: And for me, I wanted to have a show in
Speaker 4: which it's not.
Speaker 3: About, you know, a plus sized girlie who gets bonked
Speaker 3: in the head and figures out that the right man
Speaker 3: was under her nose the whole time, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean? Like, I think we're smarter than that, and
Speaker 3: it was important for me to allow someone who looks
Speaker 3: like me to exist and not have to make her
Speaker 3: existence a radical act of defiance.
Speaker 4: She could just be.
Speaker 3: And I think we talk a lot about self love,
Speaker 3: but there's not There's starting to be more talk about
Speaker 3: body neutrality and the privilege it is to have body neutrality.
Speaker 3: It is a burden to have to walk around and
Speaker 3: feel like you have to cheerlead the way you look.
Speaker 3: It's false positivity that is really, I think, detrimental to
Speaker 3: one's health. And we don't want the negativity. We want
Speaker 3: to be able to exist in the world where we
Speaker 3: can just exist and we can be more than how
Speaker 3: you perceived me. And so the show, to me was
Speaker 3: that putting into practice the mission of my production company
Speaker 3: and really allowing the protagonist to exist without an astisk
Speaker 3: by her identity.
Speaker 2: Have you found spaces in your personal life where you
Speaker 2: feel like you exist without the astris.
Speaker 4: Depends on the day.
Speaker 3: I think that it's not something that you can solve,
Speaker 3: and because so much of it is external, but a
Speaker 3: lot of it is internal. I mean, the truth of
Speaker 3: the matter is is that I grew up plus size
Speaker 3: and black and a woman, and for me, those were
Speaker 3: things I spent a great deal of time apologizing for
Speaker 3: and so it's a hard thing when you have a
Speaker 3: kind of a knee jerk reaction to triggers.
Speaker 4: And you know, thank fuck for therapy. My therapist is
Speaker 4: well paid.
Speaker 3: And one of the things that I learned is that
Speaker 3: you know so much of this it sticks with you.
Speaker 3: And it's about having agency in those moments, not to
Speaker 3: stay in them and not to give them power. And
Speaker 3: so even though I do recognize that I'm Natasha Rothwell
Speaker 3: no asterisk, if everyone creeps up, I can easily acknowledge
Speaker 3: it and erase it and stand tintes down in who
Speaker 3: I am. But it's not easy. It's a process. It's hard,
Speaker 3: especially when you have media and external opinions about your
Speaker 3: otherness that can kind of force the narrative. But I'm
Speaker 3: proud of the work that I've done, and this show
Speaker 3: is a consequence of that, for sure.
Speaker 2: I've been thinking a lot lately about the difference between
Speaker 2: self love and self worth. I used to think they
Speaker 2: were the same thing. And a good friend of mine
Speaker 2: called me out.
Speaker 1: She really saw me, which sucks, don't it.
Speaker 5: It hurts like I like to be seen, but not
Speaker 5: that scene you know yet exactly.
Speaker 2: She said to me, You've always been so confident, but
Speaker 2: I think you have a self worth issue.
Speaker 3: Whoo, it's a real friend, that's a real ass friend
Speaker 3: who will.
Speaker 2: Say that it really is. I started digging on what
Speaker 2: the hell the difference was. But I'm wondering if you've
Speaker 2: explored that personally or within the show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, personally, for sure. I think that you're worth and
Speaker 3: worthiness it's inextricably linked. And I think feeling worthy of
Speaker 3: love and feeling worthy of being the star of a
Speaker 3: show that shit creeps up, you know, and it's real.
Speaker 3: Imposture syndrome is real, and loving something and valuing something
Speaker 3: it's very different. I can really really love my you know,
Speaker 3: favorite pair of earrings, but if I'm really value it,
Speaker 3: I'm taking care of it, I'm looking after it, I'm
Speaker 3: thinking about it, making and considering it, and making sure
Speaker 3: that everything that I do is in an effort to
Speaker 3: protect that item, that things, that person's that their wholeness.
Speaker 3: And I think that so much of what we were
Speaker 3: taught and sometimes still being taught, is just like, oh,
Speaker 3: just love yourself. But what does it mean when you
Speaker 3: really think about your worth and your value? And how
Speaker 3: much more am I to value myself more than the
Speaker 3: opinions of other people, and that has been a real
Speaker 3: journey for me of triaging that priority list, you know,
Speaker 3: not caring about what other people think and putting my
Speaker 3: needs first and considering what my needs are. And I
Speaker 3: think that's the beauty of having a character like Melissa
Speaker 3: to explore, because she's really kind of the for the
Speaker 3: unhealed version of myself, and I really wanted to write
Speaker 3: a character that was going through that process of trying
Speaker 3: to heal. And it's not a straight line, you know,
Speaker 3: it's up back, and sometimes you start at square one,
Speaker 3: you're all over the place, but ultimately the momentum leads
Speaker 3: you forward. And I wanted to give people someone to
Speaker 3: root for because that's how I got to where I am,
Speaker 3: you know, It's being able to cheer myself on and
Speaker 3: having my friends cheer me on as I'm fuck up
Speaker 3: and make mistakes as I'm growing all of that.
Speaker 2: We have to take a quick break, but we'll be
Speaker 2: right back with more from actor and creator of the
Speaker 2: show How to Die Alone, Natasha Rothwell. And we're back
Speaker 2: with Natasha Rothwell. Okay, Natasha, you started on Insecure as
Speaker 2: a writer and then you transition to a role in
Speaker 2: front of the camera Kelly, who, honestly, if you read
Speaker 2: any Reddit thread, everyone says Kelly's the funniest character on
Speaker 2: the entire show. So you were straddling both lanes, which
Speaker 2: I think is really rare. When you watched Asa do
Speaker 2: her thing, What did you think about her? What did
Speaker 2: you learn from her that you implemented now in your
Speaker 2: show How To Die Alone?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean starting on the show as a writer,
Speaker 3: I had blinders on. I wanted to be the best
Speaker 3: writer possible. I wanted to prove to myself and regrettably
Speaker 3: including others in that that I belonged in the room
Speaker 3: because I hadn't written for television before outside of sketch,
Speaker 3: you know, coming from SNL. And when Lisa tapped me
Speaker 3: to play Kelly, she in that moment saw.
Speaker 4: Me as a creator. She didn't limit her vision of.
Speaker 3: Me to my vision of me in that time because
Speaker 3: I didn't even aspire to act on the show.
Speaker 4: I was that in it.
Speaker 3: And so one of the ways that I've chosen to
Speaker 3: replicate that is CP Powell, who's on the show.
Speaker 4: Of that Sean and DeShawn Duo on the tarmac.
Speaker 3: He's a writer in the room, and so being able
Speaker 3: to pass the baton to someone who is so funny,
Speaker 3: so like side splitting funny and such a just a
Speaker 3: powerful contribution to the room and an amazing writer. I
Speaker 3: knew that I wanted to see him as a whole
Speaker 3: creator and not limit him just to being on screen.
Speaker 3: And so that's something definitely I took from Issa, is
Speaker 3: to use the gifts that are in front of you
Speaker 3: and not allowing other.
Speaker 4: People to get in their own way.
Speaker 3: And I think that was just very generous of her
Speaker 3: to not allow me to get my own way and
Speaker 3: really saw me and wanted to use me. And of
Speaker 3: course when she did, I activated, because of course I
Speaker 3: love to do both. You know, That's what I'm doing
Speaker 3: with the show now, and so I'm just really grateful
Speaker 3: for her ability to see through my bullshit and allow
Speaker 3: me to flourish as a creator and not just you know,
Speaker 3: staying in one lane.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I heard you have a frame Steve Martin
Speaker 2: quote and it says, be so good they can't ignore you.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Why did you frame that quote?
Speaker 3: I think primarily for me again, walking through the world
Speaker 3: as a plus size black woman being overlooked was something
Speaker 3: that was par for the course of having people fully
Speaker 3: walk into me on the street because they're not looking
Speaker 3: or not seeing myself represented on TV, and feeling like
Speaker 3: I had no power in this situation, that I was powerless.
Speaker 4: And I remember coming across that quote very early on
Speaker 4: in my time at.
Speaker 3: University of Maryland, and it sparked in me this agency
Speaker 3: that I didn't know I had. Where it's just like,
Speaker 3: I can't control other people's willingness to see me, willingness
Speaker 3: to support me, and I don't want to exhaust myself
Speaker 3: in trying to appease their idea of who I should
Speaker 3: be or live within those limitations. But I know what
Speaker 3: I love to do, and I'm just going to do
Speaker 3: it the best fucking way I know how, and I'm
Speaker 3: going to invest in myself and I'm going to read
Speaker 3: the books and take the classes. And it wasn't about
Speaker 3: proving other people wrong. It was proving me right, being like, oh, I'm.
Speaker 4: Good at this. I'm really fucking good at this.
Speaker 3: So even though my existence might be something that you're
Speaker 3: wanting to ignore or are predisposed to ignore, my talent
Speaker 3: is going to make you sit up and take notice.
Speaker 4: And that's it.
Speaker 5: That is a word that is I'm going to frame
Speaker 5: that quote. Wait, give it to me one more time, Natasha,
Speaker 5: be so good.
Speaker 3: They can't ignore you, And yeah, that's the quote, and
Speaker 3: that's that's the one you gotta frame. But you just
Speaker 3: got to tap into the fact that you're going to
Speaker 3: be a bad bitch by yourself for yourself, and people
Speaker 3: will take notice.
Speaker 2: I have a question about that voice, the proving yourself right.
Speaker 2: I interviewed Kevin Hart a few years ago and I
Speaker 2: asked him, like, you know, he was finding this incredible
Speaker 2: success that other comedians hadn't found monetarily financially, and I
Speaker 2: was like, did you always know when you were in
Speaker 2: Philly selling shoes?
Speaker 1: Did you have that voice?
Speaker 2: And he looked at me and he was like, no,
Speaker 2: I had no idea my life was going to turn
Speaker 2: out like this. And I didn't freaking believe him. And
Speaker 2: I want to know if you had that voice and
Speaker 2: have that voice still.
Speaker 3: Here's what I've always known. I've always known I've been
Speaker 3: called to do this work. I've always known that my
Speaker 3: purpose is to put myself in a position of visibility
Speaker 3: so other feel seen.
Speaker 4: Those two I know to be true.
Speaker 3: This life that I currently have, I didn't know that
Speaker 3: it would happen, and I think that's just true. But
Speaker 3: and I understand why he said that. But I'll tell
Speaker 3: you what I did do. When I was in New York,
Speaker 3: broke as can be, I wrote a check to myself
Speaker 3: in the total amount of my college debt that I
Speaker 3: could never cash less go to jail, and I kept
Speaker 3: it in my wallet.
Speaker 4: That's how big my dreams were. My dreams were.
Speaker 3: I just want to be able to pay off my
Speaker 3: college debt and do what I do for a living,
Speaker 3: and to me, that really was success. I wanted to
Speaker 3: be able to pay my rent and do my art
Speaker 3: and not be in debt. That was the trifecta of
Speaker 3: my goals at the time. And so to be in
Speaker 3: a position where I have a production company, I'm starring
Speaker 3: in my own show, at the distinct privilege of being
Speaker 3: a part of some of the most iconic shows that
Speaker 3: have been around in the last ten years, it is
Speaker 3: so unfathomable to me that this is my life. And
Speaker 3: I think this is where I the Taylor Swift all
Speaker 3: Shucks sort of analogy comes in, because it just's I
Speaker 3: feel so lucky, I feel so blessed, and.
Speaker 4: It's overwhelming to wake up every day to this life.
Speaker 3: And yes, it's a life that I worked for and
Speaker 3: that I've prayed for and did vision boards for and
Speaker 3: got crystals for. But even still, it's a humbling thing.
Speaker 3: It's a humbling thing to have a dream come true
Speaker 3: in front of people.
Speaker 4: It's a humbling thing.
Speaker 2: It's amazing how dreams will make you so well because
Speaker 2: you need to believe in something larger. It's like otherwise
Speaker 2: it's crazy making.
Speaker 4: It is crazy making, it really really is.
Speaker 3: And like before I moved to La, I didn't know
Speaker 3: any like I knew my birth sign, I didn't know anything.
Speaker 4: Now a bitch got crystals.
Speaker 3: I'm invested in the mystery of life because I can't
Speaker 3: explain my good fortune. And I'm not gonna cry. But
Speaker 3: I just had my premiere last night, and I took
Speaker 3: a moment just to stare at the audience, and I
Speaker 3: asked them for permission, just to be weird, because and
Speaker 3: I didn't plan on doing it, but I was just
Speaker 3: standing there and I was about to get into the
Speaker 3: thank yous, and I looked out and I saw the
Speaker 3: faces of all these people that I love and have
Speaker 3: supported me showing up for my own show, and I
Speaker 3: was in a bit of disbelief, so I needed to
Speaker 3: pause and take a look at it. And yeah, it's
Speaker 3: crazy making to think that life led me to that
Speaker 3: moment when I just I have all of these acute
Speaker 3: memories of the struggle and being in New York and
Speaker 3: leaving an improv show and not having enough money on
Speaker 3: my Metro card and picking up cards on the subway
Speaker 3: floor just so I could get home because I had
Speaker 3: no money in my account because I've overdrawn it because
Speaker 3: I needed a prop for a sketch, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. And to go from that to last night,
Speaker 3: it could be crazy making if you don't acknowledge that
Speaker 3: there's something else going on.
Speaker 1: De Lulu is the Sululu.
Speaker 4: Lululu is the Sululu. I'm trying to look. I have
Speaker 4: this beautiful beat.
Speaker 3: I'm trying not to waste the face, and I'm holding
Speaker 3: back tears, but I'm just trying to enjoy the ride.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think De Lulu is the Sululu.
Speaker 1: We need to take another short break. We'll be right back.
Speaker 2: We're back with Natasha Rothwell, Natasha, we saw that you're
Speaker 2: going to be developing an adaptation of a very wild
Speaker 2: TikTok series that went viral earlier this year. Simone and
Speaker 2: I watched many many clips from it. It's called Who
Speaker 2: Who the F? Did I Marry? It's a fifty two
Speaker 2: part series from Reesa Tisa all about her ex husband
Speaker 2: who was a compulsive liar or pathological liar. What did
Speaker 2: you see in it? Why did you want to bring
Speaker 2: this to life?
Speaker 4: A couple of things.
Speaker 3: One in February when she dropped the series, I was
Speaker 3: in Thailand.
Speaker 4: I was working, and I was being tagged.
Speaker 3: On her story like constantly on social media, and I
Speaker 3: didn't have the time because I was working to explore
Speaker 3: what it was. But then it popped up on my cousins,
Speaker 3: like all the cousins in my family we have a
Speaker 3: chat in on our phone, and I was just and
Speaker 3: it was someone mocked up the cover of what an
Speaker 3: adaptation would look like and had cast me in the
Speaker 3: part of her. And I was like, Okay, I'll go
Speaker 3: check it out. And I watched all eight hours and
Speaker 3: I was blown away by this act of radical vulnerability.
Speaker 3: She did not know that this was going to turn
Speaker 3: into what it was. She just knew that she had
Speaker 3: to tell her story for herself. Uninterrupted with the details
Speaker 3: as a way to cleanse it and to get it
Speaker 3: out of her. And when I saw that, I was
Speaker 3: just genuinely moved. I understood why it had four hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty million impressions and how she gained three million
Speaker 3: TikTok followers in the span.
Speaker 4: Of three weeks.
Speaker 3: People are attracted and become addicted to that vulnerability, that honesty,
Speaker 3: and not only that, she's an amazing storyteller, and that's
Speaker 3: a hallmark of what Big Hattie Productions like, what we
Speaker 3: look for is centering a marginalized voice and telling a
Speaker 3: story that we haven't heard from that specific pov.
Speaker 4: And it was a very intense battle to.
Speaker 3: Get the rights because a lot of people through their
Speaker 3: hat in the Ring, and this was a really trust
Speaker 3: the universe moment because there are a lot of bigger.
Speaker 4: Names than mine that tossed their hat in the ring.
Speaker 3: But when I sat down with her to do our
Speaker 3: pitch of like what I was thinking about for the series,
Speaker 3: we just connected and I let her know that as
Speaker 3: moved as I was by her act of vulnerability and
Speaker 3: how compelling the story was, I was more interested in
Speaker 3: the woman telling the story, and I wanted to approach
Speaker 3: it from that pov of not just what happened to
Speaker 3: you as a result of having married a pathological liar,
Speaker 3: but what has happened to you after viral fame and
Speaker 3: people are eating up your trauma like capital t trauma
Speaker 3: for sport.
Speaker 4: And how does that affect you as a person?
Speaker 3: And I think we just connected on that really wanting
Speaker 3: to not just capitalize on a hot moment, but to
Speaker 3: really use this as an opportunity to do what I
Speaker 3: did with how to die alone and really work out
Speaker 3: some shit and get real with some shit and have
Speaker 3: fun with it at the same time.
Speaker 4: And so yeah, I'm just really grateful for the opportunity.
Speaker 2: You seem so clear on what your production company wants
Speaker 2: to be a part of. To me, that signals like
Speaker 2: a very strong value system. Personally, I'm wondering what your
Speaker 2: most deeply held belief is that guides your life's work
Speaker 2: or guid's your life and your work.
Speaker 1: Let me put it that way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I operate from a place of kindness and being
Speaker 3: nice and kind or vastly different.
Speaker 4: One is hollow and one is you know, substantive.
Speaker 3: And it's not because I want something from someone. It's
Speaker 3: because I'm operating from that place of empathy and understanding
Speaker 3: first and grace.
Speaker 4: It's how I was raised.
Speaker 3: But outside of that, it makes the most sense of
Speaker 3: me as a person. And so I think that kindness
Speaker 3: can sometime and be looked at as weakness, and.
Speaker 4: I can say fuck you in a very kind.
Speaker 3: Way, do you know what I'm saying. So don't mistaken
Speaker 3: for weakness, but for me seeing people, meeting them where
Speaker 3: they are, looking at them in the eye, auditing what
Speaker 3: it is that I have and how it might be
Speaker 3: of service to someone else, Not because I want something back,
Speaker 3: but because it.
Speaker 4: Feels good to do. I just.
Speaker 3: It's literally it's who I am, and I think the
Speaker 3: world could use a little more of it. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I think it's kindness can be sometimes an underrated sort
Speaker 3: of guiding principle.
Speaker 4: But I think it's very important.
Speaker 1: Natasha.
Speaker 5: It's been such a pleasure getting to know you a
Speaker 5: little bit better over the course of this interview, because
Speaker 5: of course I've only gotten to see your work on
Speaker 5: TV and you've had me in stitches. There are three
Speaker 5: words that come to mind when I think of you
Speaker 5: now that we've had this conversation. Kindness, for sure, expansiveness,
Speaker 5: that act of taking up space. And then finally it's
Speaker 5: this phrase that you disdropped, radical vulnerability, And I feel
Speaker 5: like that's the title of this episode, Danielle.
Speaker 4: I don't know, let me know.
Speaker 5: What a radical vulnerability because I see that in your characters,
Speaker 5: the kind of work you want to do, what you
Speaker 5: want to be known for.
Speaker 1: That seems to be the through line.
Speaker 4: Thank you. That means a lot.
Speaker 3: I feel very seen by you two, and I'm just
Speaker 3: so appreciative for this conversation. I love to chinwag about
Speaker 3: deep things and this has been just such a treat.
Speaker 3: And yeah, just thank you for your support for this
Speaker 3: show and for always. It's lovely to hear and it
Speaker 3: means everything.
Speaker 1: Thanks for your heart, Natasha, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2: Natasha Rothwell is an Emmy nominated actor and the creator
Speaker 2: and star of Hulu's new show How to Die Alone.
Speaker 2: She'll be reprising her role on The White Lotus in
Speaker 2: its upcoming third season.
Speaker 5: That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, we're popping off with
Speaker 5: the co host of the Talk Amanda Klutes.
Speaker 2: Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
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Speaker 2: conversation using hashtag the bright Side and connect with us
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Speaker 5: You tomorrow, folks, Keep looking on the bright side,