Mara Wilson Had Great Opportunities and Difficult Challenges

The Hilarious World of Depression

American Public Media

Comedy Interviews, Comedy

4.8 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2019

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

While it was easy for audiences to enjoy Mara Wilson as a perky child performer in movies like Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire, the young actress had mental health issues that weren’t enjoyable at all. Mara had been dealing with severe anxiety for as long as she could remember. Her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer just before Matilda started shooting and Mara developed symptoms of OCD. Then came depression, and eventually body dysmorphia, too. Mara Wilson is 32 years old now and has relegated acting to the sidelines. She has a good grip on how her mind works and feels great about her new focus as a writer, but she knows that managing her conditions will be a lifelong job.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a story about someone working through mental illness
0:03.3	with the whole world watching.
0:05.9	Is depression funny?
0:07.3	Yeah, I think it can be.
0:08.6	I think that it definitely can be.
0:10.4	I think that lately I've been thinking of my OCD as somebody in my head,
0:16.8	and my depression as well, as someone in my head that's just,
0:20.4	you know, people who like really try to shock you,
0:22.9	but are just end up coming across as really boring.
0:25.5	You know, you're the worst and you're terrible and you suck and everybody hates you forever.
0:28.9	And I'm just like, wow, like, who pulled you out of like a 2002 hot topic?
0:33.6	Like, like, yeah, like, okay, okay, like, yeah, it's like this teenage edge lord in my brain, you know?
0:40.3	And I think when you can think of it, like, what if you do something terrible, like, you know,
0:43.9	what if you like the house on fire?
0:45.6	It's like, I'm not going to do that.
0:47.4	Why are you making me think of that?
0:48.3	That's stupid.
0:59.5	It's the hilarious world of depression.
1:07.2	I'm John Mell, and we're going to make some very cute movies significantly less cute.
1:13.8	I'm Mara Wilson, and right now I am in LA.
1:18.3	Mara Wilson is a writer and actor, and she looks different and sounds different
1:23.9	than when she was a famous movie star, acting in movies like Mrs. Doutfire with Robin Williams.
	...

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