Prior to making it big as Kate in the NBC heartfelt drama “This Is Us,” Chrissy Metz was struggling financially and trying her best to survive with whatever is left with her meager resources.
In a recent interview with Alex Morris for Glamour magazine, Chrissy spoke about her humble beginnings and said she will never forget where she came from, which she believes was key to making her what she is today, a big star in every sense of the word.
She said that her journey to stardom was peppered with lots of obstacles and struggles. She adds that she kept auditioning for roles on television with no savings and no money while her credit card continues to gain interest.
Metz is a native of Homestead, Florida who made her way to Los Angeles via a caravan and initially lived in a two-bedroom house in Burbank, California with five other women.
With the encouragement of her mother and friends, who would later open their homes to her, Metz managed to get by, subsisting off hope, unemployment checks and, at one point, just 81 cents on her bank account, reports USA Today.
The turning point of her career and life
Eighty-one cents was all that her bank account had when she booked “This Is Us.” She said that she could cry right now just thinking about it but getting the role of Kate has changed everything for her.
She also told Alex Morris that she juggled bit television roles, became part of “American Horror Story: Freak Show” and had to settle with a diet of ramen noodles.
Metz said that now, average women have been telling her that her role in the TV series has changed their lives.
She said that those statements make all the struggles, all the ramen noodles, all the times when she could not pay her bills, all the times where she was saying to herself that she can’t do it worth it.
She recalled that sometimes she cries on her way to the set whenever she remembers those things before “This Is Us,” explaining that there is something that happens when a person is grateful because he or she will continue to receive blessings. She promised that she will always be grateful.
The perfect response to body-shamers
Chrissy Metz embodies the perfect response to body-shamers. She is never bothered by being a plus-size woman in Hollywood and although her Kate character in “This Is Us” is planning to have a weight loss surgery, the actress says she does not have one in real life.
Despite her early struggles not too long ago, she is still grateful that she did not come to the point where she had to live on the streets because of unemployment.
She narrated that she moved in with a roommate who told her that she should stay until she can already afford rent. Her friend also told her not to give up. Chrissy said that people who supported her were saying to her that if she does not have money for food, they will cook her dinner, details CNBC.
And whenever she does not have money for an acting class, they would ask her to get together and read lines with her.
Metz said that she just finds it really crazy from not having enough money to buy food to getting free dinners.
During the interview, she even posed a question that why is it that when a person really needs something, he or she does not get it but when a person can already afford it, he or she would have a surplus of it.
Chrissy told Alex that he may think that she’s already a millionaire and she said no. She admitted, however, the one million is definitely a lot more than she is making, but she still lives with her roommate, though she pays her proper share of the rent now.