3 days ago
At 6 feet tall, Kristen Johnston is 'not going to play the leading lady against Tom Cruise.' She's stopped trying to make herself smaller.
Humor has been a through line — and, at times, a lifeline — for Kristen Johnston.
The 57-year-old comedic actress has been making audiences laugh for decades, most memorably in TV's 3rd Rock From the Sun and Mom, and she's doing it again this summer in Netflix's new comedy series Leanne, in which she plays the title character's sister. But she's also relied on humor during life's difficult moments.
"Humor is the single reason I'm still alive," Johnston tells Yahoo Life for our Unapologetically series. "Well, that and my dogs. But humor gets you through everything. It got me through being bullied in grade school. It got me through a lot of heartbreak and horror in my 20s and 30s, and it definitely continues to save my ass."
Humor helped Johnston get sober 18 years ago and, more recently, confront a lupus diagnosis along with the rapid weight gain she experienced as a result of her treatment. These days, it gives the 6-foot star perspective as she (gasp!) ages in Hollywood. During our chat, she even makes me laugh over and over, especially when I confess how fixated I get on my neck every time I start a video call.
"It's always a shock," she says, nodding knowingly. "Like, 'What the hell happened?'"
Our whole conversation is like this — equal parts humor and candor as we talk about facelifts, weight gain, addiction and how women "cannot win" when it comes to aging.
Well, I know for a fact ... I'd be dead if I [continued], first of all, for sure. But sobriety got me a job on Mom, the Chuck Lorre show I did, which is a lot about recovery, and it really changed my life. It wasn't a huge [role], but it really reignited my love of doing sitcoms. I just love being [part of] an ensemble, and I loved those actresses. ... Then [it] led to this job. Chuck called me about doing this show with Leanne [Morgan]. So honestly, if I didn't have recovery, and I was somehow still alive, I definitely wouldn't still be acting, that's for sure.
It was an intense process just to get a diagnosis [including 17 doctor visits and weeks at the Mayo Clinic]. It was really almost impossible. [Then, the] meds, chemo and IVIG [intravenous immunoglobulin] caused a huge weight gain in like, five or six months. It was a really difficult time healthwise. When I went into remission, I got Mom. So, it was interesting to present myself on TV with this massive weight gain. [But] it was a great experience for me because ... it really helped me get over myself physically and just appreciate the job. [I thought,] I'm so lucky I'm still alive. I'm so lucky I get to do what I love. It doesn't matter what I look like. It's been in remission for about five years. I'm very grateful. It's a very difficult thing to go through.
In a weird way, it's helped because the parts I want are not the ingenue parts. I'm not going to play the leading lady against Tom Cruise, even when I was 26. I'm a giant. So I think it's narrowed the roles I would want anyway. I love playing the character roles, so it's probably kept people from trying to cast me in parts I wouldn't have wanted anyway.
I used to kind of do that. I used to try to be a little smaller, mostly for men, not necessarily for Hollywood, but I haven't done that in a long time. I used to try to be a little more feminine or a little more delicate, but it just always fit like a bad shoe.
Here's the thing: Women are allowed to be 25 and gorgeous — and then basically [they] cannot win. If you get surgery, you lose. If you don't get surgery, you lose. If you gain weight, you lose. If you lose weight, you lose. There's no winning. Just embrace the fact that you've lost and just roll on with your life. You can't win, so screw it. Whatever makes you feel good about yourself, that's what you do — as long as it's legal.
Yes. They're embracing women of a certain age in a lot of different ways — in comedic stuff, in drama. I think it's fabulous. I realized this doing Mom and then doing Leanne. There is a huge, rabid industry of women of a certain age who want to see entertainment, and they're fervent. When Mom was canceled, women were so mad. ... I think Hollywood has underestimated the buying power and the devotion of women over 40, and I think they're starting to clue into it. I hope, anyway.
For a long time, I worked on my brain and my emotional well-being, and then about eight years ago, I was like, It might be time to try to take care of yourself physically. So I do my little things, physical stuff, to help keep my brain sane. I love my Peloton, not gonna lie. I got into that during COVID, so I kept that up.
Oh, it's everything. Dogs to me are everything. I don't have kids, so I have my nieces and I have my dogs and I just love them. Man, they are the funniest, sweetest creatures on earth. If I had my way, I would do a couple of years on this show, and then I would open an animal rescue ranch on the East Coast somewhere.
I feel the exact same as I did in my 40s. I just feel like age is really a number. In my head, I feel very young and I think if you do what you love and you surround yourself with people who are not toxic, that's kind of as good as you can do in life. I feel very centered and happy with myself after a lot of years of not feeling that way. I think that a lot of women — I can only speak for my girlfriends — they all feel that way. Their kids are leaving home or a job is done, and there's this whole other rediscovery of self in their 50s, and it's a great time. It really is you finally living for yourself, not just for everyone else.
The great Emma Thompson said on a talk show ... and I'm gonna misquote her: "I don't wanna die having spent my entire life worried about something as stupid and silly and ridiculous as what I look like and the package I come in." That really resonated with me. I think about that once a day when I start [thinking], Oh, I should look this [way] or I should get my face lifted or whatever. And then I just go, You know what? This is so stupid. Just focus on everything around you and get out of your own head. That works for me.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
