The comedian star, Sarah Silverman, has revealed she drew on her own experiences of depression for her first dramatic lead role in Smile Back as a mother who self-medicates with sex, drugs and alcohol.
At the Los Angeles premiere of the film, she said: “I didn’t think much about it when I first agreed to do it because I was pretty sure it would never get made. Most movies don’t get made so I wasn’t scared at all, I was fearless.
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“But when it became a reality I had a full body panic attack and was terrified, but I worked through it and realised that is the headspace Laney is always in so maybe I could do this and it was a really great experience.”
Sarah previously told Glamour she began battling depression at the age of 13. It showed its ugly face again in her 20s. “Since then I’ve lived with depression and learned to control it, or at least to ride the waves as best I can, ” she said. “I’m on a small dose of Zoloft, which, combined with therapy, keeps me healthy but still lets me feel highs and lows.”
At the gala evening she added: “I had my own relationship with depression that I was able to draw from and use as a resource, as well as a lot of close friends and people who suffered from addiction and have been through detox and had a lot of help.”
The Emmy winner actress sat down with James Lipton for Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio and discussed also her relationship with the Welsh actor Michael Sheen who was previously nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. Silverman said Sheen, “really classes me up, ” but she just pulls him right down to her level.
