This Is Us star Chrissy Metz recently sat down for an interview with Glamour, where she talked about how her role on the show is changing her life. Here's what she had to say:
"I was born in Homestead, Florida. My parents divorced when I was eight; I never really knew my dad, and my mom raised my older sister and brother and me alone. It was challenging. There were times I’d be nervous walking home from elementary school, thinking, If that red tag from the power company saying our lights are turned off is on the door handle, I don’t know what I’ll do. And there were nights my mom wouldn’t eat dinner. She’d be like, “Oh, I’m not hungry.” I knew she was giving up food to make sure we could eat, but when you’re 9 or 10 years old, you can’t help. It was devastating. In retrospect I think that’s why food equals love in my family. It’s the way we showed love—my grandmother would make me a grilled cheese sandwich every time she’d pick me up from school. I really valued that attention. As I got older, that turned into, “Oh, I’m happy—let’s celebrate and eat. I’m sad? Let me eat my feelings.”
...And how’d we get to L.A.? Girl, some young women and I caravanned all the way from Florida, then lived in a two-bedroom apartment, three of us to each room, in Burbank. We were all on a budget—we spent nights playing Uno in our living room—but most of the other kids’ parents were footing their bills. My stepdad helped me with my car insurance, but I couldn’t ask him for anything more; they didn’t have anything extra. So I paid my own way by nannying or finding odd jobs. I had two auditions that pilot season, maybe. I cried a lot.
...So I stayed. I kept auditioning, with no savings and no money, credit card debt gaining interest. I went on unemployment. I bought ramen noodles at dollar stores. I never had to—God forbid—live on the streets; I moved in with a roommate who told me, “Stay with me until you can afford rent. Don’t give up.” People who supported me were like, “If you don’t have money for food, I’ll cook you dinner. You don’t have money for acting class? Let’s get together and read lines.” I am so grateful that I had such an amazing support system, but when I booked This Is Us, I had 81 cents in my bank account. I could cry right now just thinking about it.
Getting the role of Kate has changed everything. It’s crazy to go from not having enough money to buy food to getting free dinners. Why is it that when you really need something, you don’t have it? And when you can afford it, you have a surplus of it? You may think, “Ooh, you’re on TV, you’re a millionaire!” No. It’s definitely a lot more than I was making, but I still live with my roommate—though I pay my proper share of the rent now. Meeting my car payment on time? That’s new. I paid my friends and my stepdad back. And three months ago I finally paid my credit cards off! Funny, but I still get buyer’s remorse—I just got my first pair of Alexander McQueen shoes; I’m so convinced I shouldn’t have bought them, I still haven’t busted them out of the box.
...I’ve had women—average women, older women, teenagers—who say to me, “Your role and this show has changed my life.” That makes all the struggle, all the ramen noodles, all the times when I couldn’t pay my bills, all the times where I was like, “I can’t do this,” worth it. Sometimes I cry on the way to the set still. There is something that happens when you are grateful: You continue to keep receiving blessings. So I will always be grateful. "
Read the full essay at Glamour.
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