Sarah Michelle Gellar has a big editorial in The Hollywood Reporter. I love how they styled her but OMG I’m positively lusting after those boots! For the most part, Sarah is promoting Wolf Pack and Do Revenge. But since they also talk about Sarah’s return to acting after almost a decade, they spend much of the article looking back on the career she stepped away from to raise her family. Of course, the biggest bump in that chart is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And now, Buffy comes with an asterisks after its name because it turns out, series creator Joss Whedon is a scumwad. So the reporter asked about her time on Buffy and Sarah talked. But she’s not telling everything, because there’s nothing to be gained to fully disclose what she went through.
She won’t tolerated the same old BS: There was an issue at work the other day where they kept forgetting to send things for my approval but remembered to send them to a male actor who’s not a producer,. ‘Oh, just old processes,’ they said, ‘Sorry.’ OK, then let’s make a new process. The old me would have backed down. But if you look how long I’ve been working, I’ve earned the right to stand where I am. I won’t make any more excuses for that.
Buffy co-star Seth Green on SMG: That show was just hard. We were working crazy hours, and a lot of things that got pushed weren’t necessarily safe or under the best conditions. Sarah was always the first one to say, ‘We agreed this was a 13-hour day and it’s hour 15 — we’ve got to wrap,’ or, ‘Hey, this shot doesn’t seem safe,’ when nobody else would stick up for the cast and crew. I saw her get called a bitch, a diva, all these things that she’s not — just because she was taking the mantle of saying and doing the right thing.
Producer Sarah protects her Wolf Pack stars: Distributing her phone number to the young co-stars with a promise to discreetly handle any concerns, Gellar tries to make good on her word. She describes one scenario where a crewmember made someone in the cast uncomfortable, offering back rubs. He was gone as soon it was brought to her attention. “I hope that I’ve set up an infrastructure, a safety net for these actors that I didn’t have,” she says. “My generation just didn’t have that.”
She’s done talking about Buffy: I’ve come to a good place with it, where it’s easier to talk about. I’ll never tell my full story because I don’t get anything out of it. I’ve said all I’m going to say because nobody wins. Everybody loses.
Buffy co-star Emma Caufield on SMG: It was obvious that Sarah lacked the support to be the leader she needed and wanted to be. There was a tremendous amount of resentment and animosity [toward her] from a certain someone — and I suppose now we can all guess who.
Her daughter Charlotte wants to act: Does it scare the shit out of me? Well, we have rules in place. She can’t be in front of a camera until she graduates high school. She says to me, ‘That’s unfair. You were a child actor.’ Yes, I was. But I was not the child of two famous parents.
I’ll never stop her from being on a set. But she’s just not going on camera while she’s living under our roof. There’ll be different expectations for her, so she needs to learn everything there is first.
Sarah’s husband, Freddie Prinze, Jr., is quoted as well and he reiterated what Seth and Emma said about Sarah on Buffy. Freddie put it succinctly by saying, “She had to deal with a lot of bullshit on that show for all seven years it was on.” It sounds like a horror show. I mean, it *was* a horror show, but the bad guy off camera sounds way worse than anything they fought on film. I get how Sarah is handing the Buffy discussion. A reminder, she has fully supported those that have gone on record against Whedon. But it’s her story too, and it sounds like she got the brunt of his resentment. She’s allowed to put her side out however she wants. I think we have plenty of evidence without Sarah naming dates and times.
I’m also intrigued by her daughter Charlotte’s desire to join the family business. Considering how protective Sarah has been about her kids on social media and now refusing to let them be on camera until they’re 18, I wonder if Sarah’s return to acting didn’t serve two purposes. The article talked about how Sarah really wanting to act again, which I believe. But I’m curious if part of her motivation was to get back in the industry so she could protect Charlotte from the inside. She stood up for her Buffy cast, she’s protecting her Wolf Pack cast, I’ll bet she wants to her ear to the floor when her daughter enters the industry.
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- 2022 People’s Choice Awards held at Barker Hangar Featuring: Sarah Michelle Gellar Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 06 Dec 2022 Credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
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- 2022 People’s Choice Awards held at Barker Hangar Featuring: Sarah Michelle Gellar Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 06 Dec 2022 Credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
THR Instagram, Getty Images, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon and Cover Images
She’s right! People will just exploit it. Good for her.
I love this woman. She is so wise. And I have so much respect for the protective stance she’s taking towards her daughter (and everyone else).
I respect her so much I can’t put into words. So wise and firm in her boundaries. And the way she went out of her way to protect others as well.
This is the type of role model young women needs and should have!!
When I learned that she fired the agent who had the audacity to say to her face they were shocked at how successful The Grudge, it was a implication that someone else should have been casted, I knew I liked her.
That and taking no crap from Susan Lucci on All My Children, especially after Sarah won a Daytime Emmy first.
I feel a little bad for her daughter, will she not harbor resentment?With all her knowledge and experience she can still let her pursue her dream and protect her.
She’s not losing anything with regard to her dream by waiting till she’s 18 to start acting. In that toxic-as-hell industry, being a bit older when starting out is a good plan.
Child stardom should not be a thing. To protect a child star, one would have to be glued to them 24/7 — and even then you couldn’t protect them from social media and gossip columns. SMG is doing the right thing.
💯
It’s not good parenting if your main concern in making big decisions is your kid not being mad at you. Sarah knows how dirty the industry is and most child stars don’t want their kids entering the business as kids, if at all. Even if her child would be “protected” from physically abusive directors/producers it doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be susceptible to hearing and internalizing criticism from the general public, casting directors, agents. Hearing skeevy comments from crew/castmates or people constantly trying to push your boundaries. You have to have a tough skin and endure terrible things being said about you and your body as an actor all under the guise of it being “the job”. I think waiting until you are 18 and having a semi-normal childhood and education first, and having a chance to build up your self-esteem is wonderful parenting that her daughter will eventually appreciate.
Let’s not forget, the history of Charlotte’s grandfather also probably factors into this. Freddie Prinze Sr dropped out of LaGuardia High School (the Fame school) to work in stand up comedy. He was hugely famous with his own TV show for 3 or 4 years and then shot himself in the head at the age of 22. Freddie Jr, Charlotte’s dad, was only 10 months old when his dad killed himself. If ever there was a cautionary tale about finding fame too young and too fast, Freddie Prinze Sr’s story is definitely one.
Think of what Weinstein did to people with connections, even parents in the industry. Gwenth Paltrow springs to mind. No one could fully protect their child in that industry and I suspect SMG knows that better than most. She’s doing the right thing by her daughter.
The daughter will benefit from her parents’ names and connections. I doubt she’ll lose anything by waiting till she’s still a youthful 18.
There’s theater, classes, writing, etc. Plenty of ways to learn about the industry without being in front of a camera as a minor.
Agreed. They’re allowing her to be on set and learn other things, that’s just the only restriction.
Knowing the way that man treated everyone, especially the resentment he apparently had for her, it adds a whole different layer to the way the character Buffy was treated, especially in later seasons.
Yeah, Buffy was pretty much sidelined in her own show during those later series – you can tell who the favourite(s) were with the screen time and story lines they were getting.
The whole Buffy bot storyline and the way she was made into some sort of sex toy for spike makes my blood boil. Whedon was making SMG pay for not sucking up to him.
Looking at that group photo makes me want to throw darts at Alyson Hannigan – she’s a die hard Whedon defender.
Same about Hannigan. The Buffy bot and the assault were the first things that came to mind, followed by everyone ganging up on her and kicking her out of *her* house in season 7.
The kicking Buffy out of her own house thing was absolutely crazy and I kept expecting the show to address it in a real way, but they never did. Buffy’s friends were absolutely sh!tty to her in seasons 6 and 7 and I was consistently confused as to why the writers kept having Buffy just acquiesce and take it, because for her to continue to be a model for women, she needed to set some boundaries and stick to them. But that never happened, and now we know why.
Now that I’m much older, I can see that it was a sort of gaslighting of the characters, actors, and viewers that they should put up with this treatment and not expect better. Crazy, in a show that was supposed to highlight and support the strength of women.
I’ve often wondered if Alyson was one of the actors Whedon was having an affair with. She and SMG do seem to be friends again, though, which they didn’t seem to be in the later seasons of the show.
I’ve always been an SMG fan but Whedon did her dirty in later seasons. It was like he abused her by proxy through Buffy from the way she was abused by Spike to the way her “friends” all seemed to hate her. It was uncomfortable on the first watch, and even more so on a rewatch. I also remember there being rumors about what a difficult bitch SMG was, and how everyone hated her. They would always point to Alyson Hannigan because everyone loved Willow (eh…only in the early seasons) and then later as Lily in HIMYM. Like, if AH was good then SMG must be bad. We all now know now just how close AH and her husband Alexis Denisof were to Whedon, and have remained so. The whole thing is gross. Whatever SMG wants to do, she’s proved what a pro she is, and has risen above the ugliness to thrive.
It all sounds awful but the Michelle thing haunts me. The rule that Joss was never allowed to be alone in a room with young teen Michelle *again*.
AGAIN
And i like that she is letting her daughter learn the business and all aspects of filmmaking- but not letting her be on camera/famous as a child. I get the protection, and the extra- you need to earn it- that most nepo babies don’t have to go through.
Yes it doe sand that is unfortunate because the show had its good moments. But now I will wonder what was going on behind the scenes of what was being filmed.
Joss Whedon is a nepo baby. The ones behind the camera are far more dangerous than the ones in front. For one thing, they tend to be more incompetent — Joss sure always was.
The cynic in me thinks she might also want to write a book one day and frankly, if that’s it, good for her.
I just had this discussion with my boss last week. There was a guy at the firm who was behaving horribly for months but because outside of his immediate work circle people only witnessed some weird but ultimately not actionable crap from him, this went on for months. In his department he was the boss and who got it the worst? The 23-year-old who had just started working here. In the end he f*cked up so badly that he was escorted from the building. The girl told me everything and when my boss asked why she hadn’t before, I said because nobody signaled to her that she could! We need to – especially as women – be better at letting the new ones in the office know that they can actually come to us and then do something when they do. They need to know from day 1 that we have their back. Because we actually do. Nearly 20 years ago, in my very early 20s, I was working behind the bar and once we complained about guests and our boss (female) only said “Just kick them out then, it’s not that hard.” Okay then.
The downfall of Buffy as a show has made me so sad, because it was hugely important and influential for me when I was in college and starting out as a young adult. I’m glad that people have been able to speak out against JW and his abuse, but I’m not one who can separate art from the artist, so I’ve had to let Buffy go.
JW’s anger towards SMG for standing up for herself and others really did come through in later seasons. And I always wondered why Willow got such focus, because Alyson Hannigan was/is not a great actress and her mouth-breathing really got on my nerves. But now we know that there was abuse behind the scenes and AH was an enabler, so it makes more sense to me.
This seems like an entirely reasonable approach to take with her daughter wanting to be in the biz. Sarah’s like “I was a child actor so that you don’t have to be”. Getting into acting again seems like a good way to make sure that not only can she protect her daughter, but also to renew her contacts so she can help her.
Yes, there will be different expectations for Charlotte, even though undoubtedly she will have advantages. Freddie Prinz Jr would know this better than anyone – his dad was a comedian/actor in the 70’s.
I think she’ll want to tell her story at some point and I’ll wait to hear it until she’s ready.
I’ve always been a fan of SMG since her days on Swans Crossing and All My Children. I loved Buffy when it aired and am so sad when I heard about what a toxic workplace it was. I remember back when SMG’s stunt double left the show there was gossip about safety concerns. And kind of like how JK Rowling has ruined Harry Potter for me by being an awful person, Joss Whedon has ruined some shows I really enjoyed like Buffy and Firefly.
The more I hear from her and about her the more respect I have for her and I am so pleased that these conversations are being had out loud. Of course this horrible stuff is still happening and role models matter so much.
Saying that her daughter can’t be in front of the camera until she’s 18 sounds like solid parenting. There’s so much she can do in the intervening years while also maturing and being better prepared to handle what will come at her if and when she chooses to be a public figure.
She and her hubby sound like great parents. I remember her rules re her kids and social media.
I miss seeing her and always had the best feeling about her. Great actress and apparently great person and mom too.
I love that she’s acting again. The first 4 years of Buffy was great but it got too depressing and dark the last few years. It was obvious joss was abusing her via the character and show.
I believe she wants to act again. I was a child actor and stopped working professionally in my late teens. I’m at the point in my mid-thirties where I finally genuinely miss acting. I don’t miss the industry though, and that’s without personally experiencing any real horror stories!
I think she would be a very good advisor for her daughter and a good industry mentor, but kids at that age usually don’t want to listen, especially if they’re a bit annoyed their mum held back their professional career and are raring to go.