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Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky

Uzo Aduba

Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky

Prufrock LLC

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.81.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week on Reclaiming, Monica welcomes three-time Emmy winner Uzo Aduba for an expansive conversation about identity, creativity, and the quiet courage it takes to reclaim yourself—over and over. Uzo retraces her path from being the only Nigerian-American kid in her class growing up, to inhabiting some of TV’s most indelible women, from Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in Orange Is the New Black to Shirley Chisholm in Mrs. America. She reflects on the discipline of choosing roles that let her evolve on-screen as quickly as she does off, the tenderness of becoming her mother’s caregiver during a cancer battle, and the seismic joy (and humility) of welcoming her first child. Along the way, Monica and Uzo trade stories about finding comedy inside chaos, finding dignity in dating and indulge in a few serious theater geek tangents! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I remember also feeling like, okay,

0:04.0

I'm gonna call my sister, I'm gonna order some sushi and wine,

0:07.0

I'm gonna tell her that I'm quitting this,

0:09.0

and I'm gonna go be a lawyer.

0:12.0

And I was like, okay, now everything that happens

0:17.0

for my life from here on out is gonna be on purpose.

0:20.0

Got home, ordered the sushi, ordered the wine, laid down on the couch, 543 p.m.

0:29.6

It's a Friday.

0:30.6

And my agent and manager at the time called, they said, do you remember that audition you went her a couple weeks ago for that show, Orange is the New Black?

0:50.1

Hi. Welcome to Reclaiming. Thank you. Thank you for having.

0:54.3

I am so excited to chat with you today.

0:57.5

So I think like for many people, you came on my radar and orange is the new black.

1:03.0

It's like the iconic.

1:05.0

Suzanne, I have to stop myself from going crazy eyes.

1:08.2

I was like, do not do that, Monica.

1:10.3

But every time I just want to go crazy eyes. I was like, do not do that, Monica. But every time I just want to go crazy eyes, right?

1:14.0

Suzanne, crazy eyes, Warren.

1:15.9

Yes.

1:16.8

But I was trying to think, did we meet for the first time at Laura and Christina's?

1:23.1

All the cool girl, all the cool girls get fired.

1:27.2

But they were on the podcast.

1:28.5

Yeah.

...

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