'My Girl' Star Anna Chlumsky Opens Up About Leaving Hollywood Behind, And What Brought Her Back

Her performance in My Girl brought us all to tears, but when Anna Chlumsky started growing up, she realized that this may not be the life for her. She was only ten years old when she starred in My Girl, and while she believed her family "did everything right" it still was hard on her.

"I didn't move to LA. I didn't go to parties and put shit up my nose. I stayed in school. I stayed around my parents, and my mum let me make my own decisions. So we did everything right, and it still kind of sucked," Chlumsky said to The Guardian.

Clumsky started to realize that acting was becoming increasingly difficult on her when she started going through puberty. "It’s great when everyone’s happy and they’re all telling you you’re doing the right thing," she said. "It’s when you go through puberty and they tell you that you’re too fat and this and that. Every adolescent feels that way; it’s just in my version, it was an industry telling me that.”

It was after a few flops that she decided that it was time to take a step back and try something different. She went to the University of Chicago and quickly realized that there was  so much more to life than acting. “I thought all the angst had to do with having been in showbusiness – as an adolescent, anything negative I could trace back to being in showbusiness. That’s why I left it."

But it didn't keep her away for long...

Chlumsky thought that leaving showbusiness behind would help her feel better, but she realized that she was still experiencing a lot of that same stress. "To continue to feel that way was like, 'aargh!'" She recalled. "And so much of that has to do with being in what I call the pre-life crisis. I found out from a therapist the other day that your brain’s not even fully formed until you’re 24 or 25.”

After graduating college, she went on to work at Harper Collins as an editorial assistant, but she couldn't understand why she wasn't enjoying it. It wasn't until her then boyfriend (now husband) mentioned that she should consider giving acting another chance. She enrolled in drama school and gave herself a deadline.

“It was such a relief. I mean, I liked editing manuscripts. My problem is that I’m a slow reader. When I went to acting school, I thought, I’m going to give myself a year of trying and if it doesn’t happen, then it’s not meant to be. The first day I get to the Atlantic Theatre and we play out scenes and I really learn what it’s all about – that it’s really about communicating text, and telling a story – I was like, oh, holy shit! I’m not just going to give this a year! I’m going to give it everything. I knew it.”

Over the next few years she started to regain her confidence and eventually landed a role on one of the most critically-acclaimed movies in the country, Veep.

She has been on the show since 2012 and couldn't imagine going back to her editor life. "I much prefer my life this way. I mean, part of me gets mad that I don’t remember the names of certain literary agents that I knew like the back of my hand. It’s so bizarre how much of a blur it is. But God, no, life is so much better now.”

Do you remember watching My Girl when you were younger? Hard to believe that she's all grown up now isn't it?

Source - The Guardian