Sasha Alexander And Esther McGregor Share Candid Thoughts On Hollywood Life And Mental Health

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Two actresses, Alexander and McGregor, came together for a fun, insightful talk centered on growing up in Hollywood and mental health as well as the gritty realities of working in entertainment. Filled with laughter and genuine honesty, the conversation gave viewers a rare opportunity to peel away the charismatic veneer of each lady.

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The video opens with Alexander joking about the recent heat spells that LA has been getting, before letting viewers in on the story behind her and McGregor’s relationship—that is, that she has known McGregor since she was a child. McGregor, meanwhile, gave a slight backdrop to her unusual upbringing: On the one hand, the family was very much involved with the creative world, but on the other hand, they tried to shield her from fame. “My parents were very adamant to not have our faces everywhere and to keep our identities pretty private…and I think that really fed into my being able to find something that I liked doing very early on without the pressures of having to be a celebrity.”

The Juicy part of their conversation came right after McGregor described filming in Nova Scotia for “We Were Liars” as the sweetest summer of her life. While that sounds really tough, she says, “We were working every day for 14 to 16 hours, basically seven-day weeks,” while laughing at her image gluing herself to the craft service table. The community developed on set in direct contrast to the lonelier experience of the investor.

She remained quite candid about all the stuff left hanging within her—especially the mental health earthquake that took place during the making of her very first big project.”I hit this wall…dealing with a lot of mental health stuff…fear and isolation…I began to ask myself if I even wanted to be doing this,” McGregor remembers. This was probably the major turning point when she really did a 180 on how she looked at working and looking after herself. “I… realized that I had to change a lot of how I take care of myself and how I view my artistry. So asking for help, asking to be integrated into a new environment rather than in some way withdrawing, was very big.”

Then McGregor brightened the atmosphere again, sharing hilarious little stories about life in her gloriously complicated multilingual house, like how her mum, so stubbornly, would only speak French, and McGregor herself trying—rather badly, apparently—to clone a Scottish accent, much to Alexander’s delight. But, otherwise, all these stories pointed to the very real need to balance creativity with self-care in an industry that tends to demand everything from you way too soon.

The audience was quick to applaud the two for their candor. “This is the kind of real talk we need more of in Hollywood,” said one user. Another chimed in, “Esther’s honesty about mental health is so refreshing.” A third reflected on the relatability of McGregor’s story: “It’s comforting to know even people with famous parents struggle with self-doubt.”

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With every role, like that in ‘Rizzoli & Isles’, and in ‘Dawson’s Creek,’ Alexander has more and more of a platform to speak about mental health and issues of personal growth, and this conversation on ‘Convos and Coffee’ very much attempted to stay in that zone, teasing out humor and human frailty with practical advice to cope with the strain of a very public career. The big takeaway is this: Underneath all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood is the real work of trying to put down solid footing while reaching for the stars.