The actress talks to EW ahead of the release of her memoir, Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life.
And so I started writing and got a book deal, then of course, I started getting work.
You take your time."
Jeff Neumann/CBS via Getty Images)
I don’t think she thought it would be four years.
How did you stay motivated to write over the course of four years?
I’ve read a lot of graduation speeches.
I find them quite inspiring.
And so every time I was in such agony, I thought, “You’re uncomfortable right now.
So get uncomfortable and figure it out.”
It was reallyBryan Cranstonwho told me, “You’re a storyteller.
That’s what we do for a living.
Go tell your story.”
And something about that freed me a little bit because I thought, “Oh right.
Maybe I’m not so far out of my league.”
Even with my career, I got the pilot ofERand I was supposed to die in the pilot.
I never went through the front door of the Warner Brother building, you know what I mean?
So, that was sort of the idea of the book.
At 30, I pictured my life much differently than I did at 40.
At 40, I pictured my life much differently than I do now.
I never imagined the peace and quiet I could have, and still have an exciting life.
So why did that ultimately become the title?
I know isn’t that crazy, because I didn’t want to.
And then I re-read the book.
And I realized: Sunshine Girl was my nickname.
That’s who I thought I was supposed to be.
That was my blessing and my curse.
Therefore, I couldn’t say no or be difficult.
We get labeled things as children and I think it’s very difficult.
And I thought that was so poignant because it’s true.
If you name a kid difficult, then they’re going to live up to that.
I think that it’s really important.
So it felt relevant to the story I was telling.
Were you often that impacted by Alicia moments or was that scene a particular experience?
I was impacted by a lot of scenes.
I’ll be honest with you, I was a little embarrassed at my reaction.
I could not understand it.
Emotionally, it wrecked me and still, I can’t watch it without crying.
It really hit me hard.
And I remember just talking to this little girl.
But I could not pull back.
And I have to get up tomorrow and do another scene that has nothing to do with that.
Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Lifeis available forpre-order now.
