Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty
Chrissy Metz’s own experiences drew her to star inStay Awake.
The actress and musician, 42, reveals in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE that she took part in the film because she wanted to highlight the struggles that people with addiction go through.
“It was one of those things where I understand addiction from a food perspective because I have food issues, and I know people who suffer from several different types of addictions,” she tells PEOPLE.
Alejandro Mejia
“Not only do you want to draw not attention, but awareness to the particular role or the project, but that there are real people who are really struggling and who really don’t want to be addicts,” she says.
Metz notes that she couldn’t “watch the movie without crying” because it deals with so many tough scenes that highlight the difficulties of overcoming an addiction.
“And the empathy I have for those people in particular in this situation, mothers or parents, it’s just heartbreaking,” she continues.
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TheThis Is Usalum says she had to tap into her own insecurities to get into the character’s mindset of not feeling like a “good enough” mother or feeling unworthy of recovery.
“I think we all have insecurities in that way of just not being enough,” she explains. “And I certainly have felt that way personally. That’s something that is very deep in my sort of experience too. So, I definitely wanted to bring that too to the role.”
“That’s what art does, is it hopefully opens people’s minds and hearts and allows there to be some sort of relatability in some aspect in that,” she says. “Also, when you educate people about a certain particular subject, hopefully the fear goes away and then maybe there’s some healing through that.”
Stay Awakeis out in theaters now in New York City and premieres in Los Angeles May 25.
source: people.com
