During this week’s episode of WrapWomen’s “UnWrapped” Podcast, “Yellowjackets” star Christina Ricci opened up about the “abuse” and “childhood trauma” she faced growing up and how she continues to navigate her mental health as an adult.
The actress, who got her big break playing Wednesday Addams in the 1991 film “The Addams Family” said that mental health wasn’t a big topic back then. Ricci has said she suffered from anorexia as a teenager and was sexually assaulted as a child. “There was no discussion at that time about trauma, and about recovering from those things, about PTSD,” she said. As a result, she ended up “acting out and coping in ways that weren’t good.”
Nowadays, the mother of two still finds it hard to find time to focus on her mental health. “I have a baby and an 8-year-old. So my days are really busy,” Ricci said. “I don’t really have a lot of downtime regularly. So I don’t actually do much for myself.”
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Ricci said she has tools and coping mechanisms to help navigate mental health in her daily life including what she described as inner-child work. “I talk to myself as though I’m a little girl when I’m really sad or I’m having a really hard time,” Ricci explained. “I speak to myself as though I am my own mother.”
She added that if her younger self was in the room with her today what she would tell her:
“I would probably just explain to her, why she was going through the things she was going through and how they were attached to things she had suffered in her past and about, you know,” Ricci said. “I think just someone understanding that allows them to separate the chaos in their head from what’s actually going on in reality, because, you know, well, the problem with trauma is that you’re still experiencing it as though, those things are still going on, even though your life is OK. And you’re safe now… I think that would be my biggest thing that I would explain to my younger self”
During this episode, Ricci also…
- Says she doesn’t have to like a character to play them
- Says that although her “Yellowjackets” character Misty is a ‘very toxic person,’ she “empathizes” with her struggles and wants her to be as “strong and protective as possible”
- Reveals she “has more of a relationship” with co-star Samantha Hanratty than she did with Rosie O’Donnell in “Now & Then”
- Predicts that skinny jeans are “about to come right back”
- Reveals her favorite emoji
About “UnWrapped”
“UnWrapped” is a podcast produced by WrapWomen, dedicated to empowering the next generation of women in media and entertainment. Each episode “unwraps” topics from entertainment news and industry trends to career advice, Hollywood headlines and more.
Special guests include industry leaders, actors, producers and studio execs. The aim of the series is to connect those looking for knowledge and access to those with the knowledge and access, providing the WrapWomen community tools to succeed in their personal and professional lives.
New episodes of “UnWrapped” drop the last Friday of every month. You can listen on TheWrap.com, WrapWomen.com, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.
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