Sally Field’s reflections on her teenage depression are totally relatable

Angelica Florio
Updated
Sally Field’s reflections on her teenage depression are totally relatable
Sally Field’s reflections on her teenage depression are totally relatable

Sally Field has been in the business a long time, but that doesn’t mean we all know every side of her. Recently, Sally Field talked about her teenage depression and how it changed her and her comments are so relateable for anyone who’s ever suffered from depression at all. In an interview with 19-year-old Hailee Steineld for Variety‘s “Actors on Actors,” Field recounted the depths of her struggles and how her craft ultimately helped her pull through to find greater meaning in her life.

Turns out, Field’s career had already begun before she really fell in love with acting.

“It took me a long time to get to anybody to really learn a craft, and that wasn’t until I was in my second television series and unfortunately it was something called The Flying Nun. I was suffering so badly, I was so depressed and I was 19 and I didn’t want to be playing something called The Flying Nun, I did not want to be dressed as a nun all day long.”


Hearing Field talk about her battles with depression when she was Steinfeld’s age was an emotional glimpse at how even the most talented and amazing people like Field could feel insecure. In describing her battles, she turned to Steinfeld and “I wanted to be you,” she told Steinfeld.

“Lord knows I wanted to be tall like you. I mean, I wanted to be female.”

So many of us struggle with finding our identity as women, and Field is clearly no exception. What eventually helped Field fall in love with her career? She threw herself into her passion and took classes at the Actors Studio and came out a better actress and all-around person, she said, but she didn’t do it without help.

Sally Field costar Madeleine Sherwood saw that the young actress needed help after Field said she’d gained 10 pounds in 2 days in her deep depression.

“She literally took me by the hand and she took me to the Actors Studio, and it began to really change my life.”

When speaking about the benefits of her acting education, under her beloved teacher, Larry Moss, she said:

“It gave me tools so that I’d never lose my own voice… If I can call on those pieces of myself as an actor, then I can call on those pieces of myself as a human, and I couldn’t do that before.”

We’re so glad that she did persevere and find that strength inside herself as now Sally Field is one of the most honest and vocal stars today. She even joined Twitter the day after the election to voice her opinion even more.


Umm, best Twitter handle ever?

Field’s prolific and powerful roles, from Momma Gump to Mary Todd Lincoln, have illustrated both her incredible acting skills as well as her deep passion that helped her get through her dark teenage years.

And we’re so thankful for those friends who physically pull us out of our misery and into something that makes us feel more alive.

We like you, Sally Field, we really really like you!

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