SHARON HORGAN has opened up about the impact her father’s death has had on her work.
The star, who was born in London but raised in Slane, Co. Meath, is the writer, producer and acts in the hit Apple TV+ series Bad Sisters.
The Dublin-set show, which follows the story of four Garvey sisters who set about plotting the murder of a fifth sister's husband, became an instant hit when it was first released in September 2022.
It returned for its much anticipated second series last November, which brings further twists and turns and plenty more grief.
Horgan has revealed that those grief scenes helped her at times, as she was experiencing the death of her father while the series was in production.
“My little brother, Mark, he sent me a text the other day because he'd just watched episode five [of series two] and in episode five, it's Eva's story and how she's dealing with her grief and then we have this karaoke scene where all the sisters get together and they think about Grace and they sing this song, all of that was filmed after Dad died,” Horgan told Elizabeth Day on her How to Fail podcast.
Sharon Horgan has opened up about her personal life on the How to Fail podcast with Elizabeth Day“Mark, he said that he loved the episode, but he found it really difficult to watch,” she added.
“And I was saying, well, because everything I was feeling went into those scenes, you know?
“So, in some ways it's great and it's cathartic and you can connect with your feelings and you can express them.
“But in other ways, it feels so weird because essentially, you're using your emotions and it feels strange and a bit wrong. “
The actor admits there were times when filming such sensitive scenes while dealing with her own personal loss became too much.
“I remember trying to explain this to someone, but when I was at my dad's funeral, I had this weird muscle memory that I'd done it before, but you do when you're an actor,” she said.
“It's such a weird job, you're experiencing, you're playing heart, heartache, grief, all these extreme emotions, and you're living them in that moment.
“You're putting your body under this incredible strain and that's what I was feeling at the funeral.”
She added: “It was weird going back to work. In the end we had to shut down the production because I couldn't.”
Horgan also opened up about further personal elements of her life on the podcast, including her divorce from TV producer Jeremy Rainbird whom she married in 2005 and has two daughters with.
“I guess it was one of those things that was a long time coming,” she said.
“I feel it's weirdly connected to confidence as well, or that thing of what you should do versus what your body tells you and your brain tells you [what] you ought to do,” she added.
That said, Horgan claims she is happier now than ever.
“I've never been happier, but I'm still angry at myself, not really for the failure of the marriage, but for not figuring it out earlier,” she said.
“It's so destructive I think and I mean you get one life and that's an awful lot of time to spend on something that's not working.
“So it's a weird one because yes it failed, but it had such a positive impact on my life.
“I think the stuff that's less fun is the business of divorce. It's debilitating, time consuming, money drain, it's not fun for anyone.”
How toFail with Elizabeth Day is available wherever you get your podcasts.
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