Debra Messing sat down with the June 2012 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal to talk about her personal life.
Inside the mag, Debra discusses the end of her marriage, how she’s handling all the changes in her life, why she loves living in New York again and the Academy Award winning movie role she wanted but didn’t get.
On moving from Los Angeles to New York:
“Completely traumatic. I had to find a school for my second grader. We didn’t have a home, we didn’t have furniture. It was literally moving here with nothing but faith and hope.”
On the end of her relationship with husband Daniel Zelman:
“Twenty years. It’s a very long time. When I say the move to New York was traumatic, it was traumatic because every aspect of my life was going through a huge change. It’s a new chapter in my personal life. I’m walking a path I’ve never walked before. But I’m optimistic. Every thought is dictated by what’s best for our son. We are completely on the same page in that regard. We are dear friends. And I am at peace with the journey we’ve had. I feel like the 20 years we had together has been a huge success. And despite the fact that everything is changing, I think everyone is thriving.”
Related: Debra Messing Has a New Man
Did she and her husband grow apart?:
“No. I think the institute of marriage is a noble thing. I think the idea of a partner for life is incredibly romantic. But now we’re living to 100. A hundred years ago people were dying at age 37. Til death do us part was a much different deal.”
Timing Isn’t Everything:
“It’s hard to go through a change in your personal life as big as this anyway. But to do it when Smash is premiering, when I’m back at work after almost two years, is not ideal.”
Life after divorce:
“I know myself better than I ever have before. I feel more attractive now than I have in a long time. I feel healthier and stronger.”
The Academy Award winning movie role she wanted but didn’t get:
“When Will & Grace hit, it completely changed all of our lives. We had people hiding in the bushes; we were on the cover of magazines. But when I read an amazing script for a film that was shooting during my hiatus—it was A Beautiful Mind—I had to fight to get a meeting. They said 'Oh no, she’s funny, she’s a TV girl.' I can’t fault Ron Howard for looking at Grace and thinking, 'I don’t see it.' That’s how the world saw me."
How she relates to her character, Julia, in Smash:
“…I related to the idea that the show she wrote was kind of a siren’s call. She had promised her husband that she was not going to work while they were trying to adopt a baby, and then she had an idea for a Broadway show. It rang true for me—when an idea comes, you have to follow it. The challenge that caused in her marriage was also something I related to, and had experienced myself. Julia has to please her husband, her writing partner, her teenage son and herself. And isn’t that the challenge of women every day, trying to please everybody? And failing?"
This issue of Ladies’ Home Journal hits newsstands May 8th.
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