Siobhan McSweeney, known to many as Sister Michael in Derry Girls, has opened up about how grieving for her mother affected her acting career.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, Siobhan shared that she was one of few to leave acting school without an agent, and how she coped after her mother’s passing.
“I was in shock, I was grieving. I left Central [London’s Central School of Speech and Drama], but I was one of the few people to leave without an agent and I had accepted this narrative that it was always going to be very hard for me to find work.
“And I continued to have it: ‘Oh, you’re the funniest person we auditioned but we’ll go for the pretty girl’ kind of b*****ks, which is hilarious because I’m f***ing gorgeous.”
She continued, “She died in February of 2005. It hit us all incredibly badly and continued to hit us, she was very much the linchpin of our family. I only think I’ve stopped a certain level of grief when my dad died because grief is what it is, but it was incredibly upsetting and I didn’t know what to do so I ate and I drank loads.”
Speaking on the Comfort Eating podcast, Siobhan shared how it was thanks to the support of her friends that she managed to cope.
“I had the best friends, I do have the best friends. I found it hard to cry so I would get to a point where I would ring my friend Tom and get the bus into town and he would meet me off the bus.
“And I remember he was one of the first of us to get a Macbook and he would have his fancy Macbook, and I also had f*** all money, I had gone on the dole at that point. He would take me to the pub and I would sit there and I’d drink about three or four pints.
“I’d eventually start crying and he’d be tapping away on his computer the whole time, working or whatever he was doing, and every so often pat me on the shoulder.”
“And then abusing his wallet to pay for it at that point and then I’d be getting another round of drinks and then it would get to closing time.
“And he would get me a kebab or something and then I’d be on his couch or get a cab out home or whatever.
“I don’t know, it was what I needed to do to cry – but it meant that I put on quite a bit of weight. But who cares.”