Episode 545: Sarah Shahi: Playing Sex/Life Billie & The Courage To Live and Love Fully As A Woman

Habits and Hustle

Jen Cohen

Entrepreneurship, Business, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Education

4.5 • 818 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most women are told that wanting more makes them selfish. It’s like fitting on a societal construct of a “woman” as a mother, parent, and wife is the only destiny that awaits every female. Sarah Shahi spent years believing that too until she got the role of Billie. Playing the lead in Netflix's global hit Sex/Life didn't just make Sarah famous. It cracked her open into seeing what’s on the other side of choosing herself through Billie. Her story is one of the profound embodiments of an authentic woman who took courage to come home to herself and finally be free from societal mold imposed on women. In this episode of Habits and Hustle, Sarah shares where it all started, how she suddenly got into acting, and the journey of being an actress for almost two decades only to break through when she’s about to give up. She shares all the wisdom she learned from pain, what it really means to be a recovering people pleaser, how she rebuilt herself after a very public divorce and breakup, and the philosophy she has quietly built that most people never get to hear. This is not another celebrity interview. This is a masterclass in courage to be a woman. What's Discussed: (8:58) The moment she knew she wanted to make a change in her life. (14:03) How the Sex/Life audition actually went and what really happened in that room. (26:23) How playing Billie gave her the courage to question everything in her own life. (26:47) What real courage looks like & the wisdom behind it. (40:28) What divorce during COVID taught her about love, loss and starting over. (41:46) Her birth as a writer through her Glamour article. (46:14) How she developed thick skin living her life in public. (57:17) Why she dances until she smiles and the science behind why it works. (59:17) The exact mindset shift she used to survive her most public breakup. (1:01:38) The teachers and thinkers who shaped how she processes pain. (1:03:19) Why she calls her divorce her PhD in pain and why she does not see it as a failure. (1:06:58) What a year of being single for the first time in 23 years taught her about herself. (1:09:14) Her production company School for Women and what she is building next. (1:21:31) Her full beauty, hormone and wellness routine including what is actually behind that skin. Thank you to my sponsors!Kion: Visit getkion.com/habits for 20% off. AirDoctor: Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code HUSTLE to get up to $300 off today! AirDoctor comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, plus a 3-year warranty (an $84 value) FREE! AX3®: Visit www.AX3.life to get a 20% discount on your first order with promo code HUSTLE at checkout. Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code JEN at checkout. Find more from Jen: Website: https://jennifercohen.com Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements Find more from Sarah Shahi: Instagram: @sarahshahi Book: https://www.lifeislifey.com/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, guys. It's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.
0:08.3	Welcome to Habits and Hustle. We have a very special guest. Actually, you're my girl crush. I didn't even tell you that when I walked when you walked in.
0:15.2	Like a platonic, if I were to be gay, you're the girl I would want to go out with.
0:20.4	What a compliment.
0:21.7	Thank you so much.
0:21.9	But you must hear that all the time.
0:24.3	I mean.
0:24.9	Yes.
0:26.2	By the way, we have Sarah Shahi.
0:29.1	I got introduced to her through that show Sex Life on Netflix, which I'm sure like half the planet got introduced to you.
0:37.2	Because that show,
0:38.0	did that show blow you up? It did. Yeah, there were 170 million people that tuned into that show
0:45.1	in its first year. Yeah. And it just, it did. It put me on this platform that I didn't expect. And
0:53.5	you know, it's like as an actress, when you sign on to do a role,
0:56.9	you never sign on anticipating the end result. So it's like I just was very compelled to tell the
1:04.9	story. The show and the scripts were really paralleling some of the things I was going through. And I was just like,
1:13.0	I have to do this. And so I did. And it just blew up in a way that was so unexpected. And I'm very
1:21.5	grateful for it because it's allowed me to connect with a lot of women. And that's where my book was
1:25.9	sort of birthed was from the themes
1:28.3	that was explored back then. Oh, absolutely. Because first of all, what year, because the reason
1:33.4	why I think it like hit such a chord or struck such a chord with so many people is I'm sure
1:38.0	so many, well, so many women have probably felt that way or going through this. Like if you guys haven't seen
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jen Cohen, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jen Cohen and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.