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Amanda Hirsch
So we all use Venmo. We all know a Venmo. We all use it. But did you know that Venmo can be used for more than just paying your friends back? Yep, yep, it's true. Let me introduce you to the Venmo debit card, which lets you spend your Venmo balance in so many ways. You can Venmo anything and everything. Seriously, if you can shop for it, you can pay for it with your Venmo debit card. I can Venmo this mic I'm speaking into, these headphones, the coffee sitting next to me, my workout class I'm going to later, my TV subscription just freaking. Everything. Okay. You can use your Venomo debit card for everything. It unlocks all new ways to use Venomo. Got paid back for drinks. Use that balance to pay for your Uber ride home. You sold a pair of shoes. Use that balance to buy new shows. Not to mention, the debit card comes in a variety of vibey colors, so you can pick one that matches your aesthetic, which I love. Venmo Everything with Venmo debit card. Visit venmo me/debbit to learn more and sign up today. Venmo purchase restrictions apply. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. pursuant to license by Mastercard International Incorporated. Card may be used everywhere. MasterCard is accepted.
Allison Williams
The following podcast is a Dear Media.
Amanda Hirsch
Production welcome back to the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast. I'm your host, Amanda Hirsch, and I still can't believe that I get to chat with some of my favorite stars on my very own podcast, where you'll feel like you're just talking shit with your best friends in your living room. You guys, I am so excited about today's guest because Girls raised me okay. Girls absolutely raised me. It's my Roman Empire. If I could write a show, that's the show I'd write. If I could rewatch a show and had time to add another show, that's a show I'd rewatch. If there are moments, you know, storylines that I remember, it's. It's Girls. And I almost had the whole cast, if you think about it. I had Sasha, Jemima, and today I have Allison Williams, who plays Marnie on Girls, who's also in Megan. Now. Megan 2.0 is coming out on June 27th. She was also in the fricking epic Get Out. That frickin haunt haunts me. Haunted me. Haunts all of us forever. Can I just tell you something, like, about the guest booking process? Like, okay, you know, getting Allison on the pod, so exciting, right? You never know. Like, are you gonna click with the person? Like, what is she? Like, she's not, you know, on social media, it's not like she's influencer, where you get her face to camera all day so you don't know what to expect. And then Walt is in. Allison Williams, the fucking coolest, most down to earth, smart as fuck. Yet one of us, like, knows all the shit. Knows my shit, knows my show. Like, what? Oh, you're a basic bitch too, but you're. You went to Yale and you were in the best show of all time. And you're just like, just a phenomenal actress and these kinds of conversations. Like, I love the reality TV stars and I love getting into the drama and the tea. But, like, I also love to, like, learn from really smart, intelligent people that have been in the industry and have stories to share. And she's just so real. Like, she brings up the Nepo baby conversation. Totally fucking owns it. And which not many Nepo babies do. Allison Williams also has a new podcast called Landlines, now on Headgum. New episodes drop every Monday. So anyway, you guys are really gonna enjoy this one. You're gonna fall in love, okay? Because she's only gotten cooler and more iconic since then. We get into her career, being a mom, how she got into also, like producing you guys. She's Marnie. Like, I'm sorry Alison don't have you, but you're kind of Marnie, okay? Because listen to our conversation. She's fucking Marnie. But, like, like, you know, Marnie had, like, moments of just being like a selfish and not a good friend. Like, she's. Allison's not like that, but Allison has, like, the type A kind of Marnie vibe. I'm just so excited for you to hear this. I left this interview beaming. I don't know if you remember my story I posted that day and I was like, you know when you just have a. Guys, like, I. I was just. I beamed. I beamed because some people just really feel. Fill me up. They fill up my cup. Oh, I know. Anyway, listen to my episode with Allison Williams. Enjoy it. Then go ahead and leave a rating and a review for the podcast. Thank you and you're welcome.
Allison Williams
How are your kids?
Amanda Hirsch
You're so sweet. My God, could you deal with her? Not prepared on this day for this kind of sweetness?
Allison Williams
Are you having a day that I'm having a.
Amanda Hirsch
Like, like, get back into a day?
Allison Williams
Okay.
Amanda Hirsch
You know what I mean?
Allison Williams
Yeah. Like, turn the engines because I had A birthday.
Amanda Hirsch
My son turned one. Just fucking crazy. Your son is three and a half. Three and a half. That's such a cute age.
Allison Williams
How old is your old one for?
Amanda Hirsch
Gonna be five. Gonna be five. And it's like this age where it's like, whoa. Like, you're a kid with long legs now. Not this cute. Like, stocky legs. You know, the.
Allison Williams
Like, chunky. Yes, that's true. I sent a video to my husband yesterday of him, like, across the house. He looked little. He was, like, in a little position, playing with Legos, doing, like, a little activity. And I sent him a video, and I was like, he's a little. Because.
Amanda Hirsch
Not fun.
Allison Williams
Yes, because, like, he's getting big. And there's a lot of times when we look at him and we're like, you're huge. This isn't cool. And then. But yesterday he looked a little for a second. But I bet those moments are, like, you know, going away.
Amanda Hirsch
They're going away. We're starting even though we kind of started. Right, Miles? Okay.
Allison Williams
You're an abr. Always be recording.
Amanda Hirsch
I like, like, the natural, like, thing.
Allison Williams
Yeah. What if I just transformed into someone who's like.
Amanda Hirsch
That's how. When. When comedians come on my show, I'm like, make me laugh. And then they. They don't.
Allison Williams
No, they don't. The whole thing is like, I'm a sad clown, Right.
Amanda Hirsch
And they do it almost on purpose. Like, I'm not gonna tell one joke. Like, I don't. You're not gonna break a smile.
Allison Williams
There are some that will deliver on the promise, but it's like a. You know, they have to, like, be ready for it, and they're not gonna.
Amanda Hirsch
Disappoint if they're going on Jimmy Fallon. Like, they'll.
Allison Williams
Yes, they'll get it up for. It's not the vibe, but they wanna. You know, like, Steve Martin, one of the deeply funniest people in the world, just wants to play his banjo.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah. What a guy.
Allison Williams
What a guy.
Amanda Hirsch
And what a girl.
Allison Williams
Ugh. What a transition. Do you like. Okay, professional interviewer Allison Williams is here.
Amanda Hirsch
Can I just say, and I saved this compliment for air, that you are gorgeously, divinely stunning and, like, have an age today. You know, when people say that, but, like, on you, it's like the dictionary.
Allison Williams
That's so high praise. You're making my day. The rest of this interview is gonna be so easy. There's so much stuff happening. Like, there's, you know, I'm, like, taught, and there's boats.
Amanda Hirsch
What are you talking about? Have you taught?
Allison Williams
You taught? Oh, my God. You, like, pull some stuff. There's tricks, what you play. You pull, you know, you like. Okay, well, I talk about this on the podcast.
Amanda Hirsch
On your new podcast.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
Which is so exciting.
Allison Williams
It's a. It's a thing. Do we reveal? Do we reveal? I'm looking at Jacob's.
Amanda Hirsch
Well, you're left responsible.
Allison Williams
No, I'm allowed to reveal. I'm talking about the secret snatch, as we call it.
Amanda Hirsch
Okay.
Allison Williams
It's basically, it's a teaser hair of like every woman everywhere. On carpets. They just take like segments of hair from behind here. I'm not gonna like. I don't dare disrupt the situation.
Amanda Hirsch
Like this kind of thing.
Allison Williams
Yeah, that thing.
Amanda Hirsch
So a hairstylist does it. Yeah, so you need a professional hairstylist to be taught.
Allison Williams
Or two mirrors and like, or like.
Amanda Hirsch
A really good tick tocker or a.
Allison Williams
Good spouse or partner. Whatever your flavor is. Your child. Just make sure your child.
Amanda Hirsch
Can I just tell you about Botox something?
Allison Williams
Yeah, of course.
Amanda Hirsch
I don't know how I got targeted for this. And this was right when I'm like, I'm still kind of breastfeeding, so I'm not gonna do it yet, but I'm kind of like, I'm almost there where I could do it again.
Allison Williams
And I don't look amazing, by the way. The fact that there's no Botox in this. Faces.
Amanda Hirsch
Well, there's none. And my 11 is starting.
Allison Williams
How many facial expressions you can make?
Amanda Hirsch
I can't make those. I can make so many. And I got to this Instagram like, what do they call it? Like a tick tock hole, but an Instagram hole of no talks. It's called no talks.
Allison Williams
Oh, yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
And they're all like, literally like, no. But not only the. What can you do with the tape, which I've tried and I look so dumb. Is that it is so scary like that. I don't want to scare people because I'm not like fear mongering, but botulism. Right. That's what people are saying. And then all the things that people are saying had happened to them because of it. And I don't know how I got there and now I'm scared.
Allison Williams
Okay. Okay. So you have a practitioner that you I trust?
Amanda Hirsch
Yes.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
But what these no talks people are saying is that it doesn't matter. The practitioner. It could happen to anyone, anytime, any amount. Okay. Yeah. Scary.
Allison Williams
Well, that is scary worth it. You know what else is scary? Driving.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah, everyone loves that example.
Allison Williams
Well, it's the constant example.
Amanda Hirsch
Do you drive?
Allison Williams
Yeah, all the time. Oh, yeah. It's so dangerous.
Amanda Hirsch
It's so scary. And I don't really, honestly.
Allison Williams
You're not.
Amanda Hirsch
I'm not. I'm. You know, I. I can say this about myself. I don't think I'm good at it.
Allison Williams
It's really important to know that about yourself.
Amanda Hirsch
Like, I really think, like, every time I get in the mood and I'm, like, cruising, I'm like, this is fucking fun. I, like, take off someone's mirror. I, like, I. I'll try to park, and I'll. I'm that girl. Like, I'm just not good at it. So, like, I could cruise if I'm in the suburbs. Like, I'll cruise.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
I probably won't hit anyone, but if I'm, like, parking. Getting into a tight space.
Allison Williams
No, no, no. I am, like, I reserved for, like, a big parking spot. Like, I don't do. I don't do.
Amanda Hirsch
Could you drive in the city?
Allison Williams
Yes, but parking is an issue. Like, I can especially drive in the city if I'm in a situation where there's gonna be some help with the parking.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
Like a parking garage or my husband.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah, it's a dream. You know those girls that are, like, really good drivers?
Allison Williams
It's so good.
Amanda Hirsch
It's so hot.
Allison Williams
One of my favorite scenes in reality television ever was in the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, and what's his face was parking. It was a big reveal. We watched someone, like, painstakingly try to parallel park a Range Rover, and then someone's husband gets out of the car, and it was like, family was on my own.
Amanda Hirsch
I'm a Salt Lake. I don't. And, like, I get yelled at all the time.
Allison Williams
I know you love it. Here's the thing. It's the only full franchise I've ever watched in that.
Amanda Hirsch
Because why? You started it because you were like.
Allison Williams
I'm filmed in Salt Lake. And I was like, okay, watch Secret Lives, Mormon Wives.
Amanda Hirsch
Oh, you watch that too?
Allison Williams
Oh, yeah, of course. I'm almost done in the second season. But then I was like, I need more. I need more swig in my life. I need more of this, like, dirty coke. Like, what's happening culturally in Salt Lake City. And someone was like, honestly, watch Real Housewives, okay? And I was like, okay, yes. And I watched it, and I was like, this is a masterpiece. This is some of the best television watch in any genre.
Amanda Hirsch
Regina says all the time, like, it should win, like, an Emmy. Like, it should.
Allison Williams
This is what we want.
Amanda Hirsch
Salt Lake City. You're obsessed. Watch in the beginning. Mormon wives. I'm actually having a Mormon wife later.
Allison Williams
Which one?
Amanda Hirsch
Whitney.
Allison Williams
Oh my God. Exciting. Interesting. Today she's missing here.
Amanda Hirsch
I know. Hopefully she'll be like doing something, you know, picking a leg up. Like doing too.
Allison Williams
I don't know how far in advance.
Amanda Hirsch
She was postpartum like a day.
Allison Williams
She had like a three day old baby. Went to like a dinner.
Amanda Hirsch
I know. Is that okay to ask her? Like, I was like, is that mom shaming enough?
Allison Williams
If I'm like, it's not mom shaming to be like. Was that when they joked about having a three day old? Did you actually have a three day.
Amanda Hirsch
Old when you were on the bus working on the pole? Was it literally three days after or was it not?
Allison Williams
I just was like, I wasn't well. I had an emergency C section. So I was still in the hospital three days later. But also my body would have looked at a pole and been like lol for like year still today, hon, if we're being. No, no, no. I just mean like I'm not. I'm not going to see a poll and be like, I belong. That should be an accessory I'm going to use. Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
Can you like sneeze without a little pee coming out?
Allison Williams
Yeah. Cuz I didn't have that. I had the C section. So instead I have like scar.
Amanda Hirsch
I didn't realize that's only if you have a.
Allison Williams
It's not actually pelvic floor. That's. That can happen if you have a C section. It could have happened to me, but that is.
Amanda Hirsch
Can you tell me why it was emergency?
Allison Williams
Because his heart wasn't doing well during the labor and it was just like a very stressful thing. And I had been in labor for about 36 hours. No, it was just. He just didn't like the stress. Didn't like the. From the moment I arrived pre epidural, he. Every time I had a contraction, he just was not. They're supposed to like ride it like a wave, I guess. And he just was not. His heart rate would go down sort of.
Amanda Hirsch
How stressful was that for you?
Allison Williams
Huge trauma. Deeply stressful.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
I realized in that moment that I hadn't. I had thought. I had thought about the possibility of having a C section, but I hadn't actually like thought. Thought about it. Yeah, I hadn't pictured it. Wondered what it was like. I kind of was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I've never had surgery. I don't want to think about this. And so I didn't and then there I was being told that this had to happen. And that was just like, a profoundly scary moment where I realized, oh, my God, I'm about to have surgery for the first time. And this all just feels extremely scary and not what I was picturing. And so, at the risk of, like, really freaking my friends out, I often, when they're pregnant now, I'm like, do you want to talk? Do you want me to, like, talk you through it? Because no one did that to me beforehand. I think probably because they didn't want to, like, scare me.
Amanda Hirsch
Do you wish that you knew more?
Allison Williams
I think so. Because in the moment where she told me it was happening, I was processing a lot of things at the same time. And one of those things would have been off the table, which was like, what's about to happen to me? What's this going to be? Like, what does this mean? Et cetera. And if I knew the answers to some of those things, I would just be processing, like, this isn't going the way I pictured it, or I'm scared, or, you know, this is vulnerable. All of those other things, which is still a lot to deal with, just would have been nice to have, like, some of those things off my. Like, they really stress you out.
Amanda Hirsch
Like, they really need to take. These doctors need to take lessons. Because I feel like when they come around you in that moment where, like, something's about to go down and you're like, what's happening? They're all just, like, around you, like, looking at you, and you're like a wounded animal on the table. And I preferred not to know. Like, I didn't. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't had, like, a vaginal birth. But I didn't want to know all the possibilities because I feel like, for me, personally, I feel like you just need to know what would be better for your mental health.
Allison Williams
Yeah, like, if I do. It's all so dependent on that.
Amanda Hirsch
But I did try to train my brain to say, this can go a gazillion ways.
Allison Williams
Mm.
Amanda Hirsch
This is a wild ass thing. Which that's what I like to remind people. Like, this is a crazy thing that we do that's like, you know, human nature and evolution. And it has been done forever. No, no, it is still insanity.
Allison Williams
When I. After. After having Arlo, I, like, looked around the world and was like, everyone. I keep saying this. Everyone got here one of two ways. There's only two ways to get here. And every single, single person got here one of Two ways. Like, either through someone's abdomen or through their vaginal birth canal. And I was like, that's insane. Everyone so far, other than Megan, everyone got here that way and. Yeah, exactly. And it's like, it just kind of blew my mind because I was like, that was hard and scary and intense. And even if it hadn't ended in an emergency C section, it already would have been really intense. And. Yeah, all the women that I know who have had kids are actual, like, superheroes. Yes. But it's seen as such a rudimentary.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah, like a normal. Like, when I watch, like, the Bachelor or something. Have you ever seen that show?
Allison Williams
Oh, my God. Listen.
Amanda Hirsch
But do you still watch?
Allison Williams
I'm behind by a season because I've been filming like a crazy person.
Amanda Hirsch
You're, like, only behind a season.
Allison Williams
Behind a season. A season and a half. But, yes, I am a, like, card carrying. I can't overstate how invested I am in Bachelor culture.
Amanda Hirsch
What's your favorite season?
Allison Williams
Oh, I knew you were gonna ask. I know how you feel about the Nema Colon era, but I didn't love. I. I feel like Matt James. I know. I know. How broken were you by their condolences to you for their breakup?
Amanda Hirsch
I.
Allison Williams
For her.
Amanda Hirsch
I always felt for her. You know, I wasn't upset that, like, this seemingly perfect couple broke up. I was upset because, like, you could just tell how in love Rachel was. Rachel Kirkconnell.
Allison Williams
I wasn't, like, a huge consumer of the two of them, but I just know that this is very important to you emotionally. And so I'm really sorry for your loss of their coupledom. My favorite season. I don't know. Caitlyn Burleau. I loved Caitlyn.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah. So much.
Allison Williams
I think she. But the Emily Maynard one was so deranged. I loved that one. I loved that era. Like, Brad Womack, Emily Maynard. Like, that's old school.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah, but are you caught up? Like, Kailyn and Dean?
Allison Williams
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. And all these Bachelor in Paradise romances. The lake.
Amanda Hirsch
It's coming back this summer. Bathroom Paradise.
Allison Williams
Thank God. We need.
Amanda Hirsch
I don't watch anymore. I stopped at Clayton.
Allison Williams
Let's go.
Amanda Hirsch
Also, like, where is Gabby now? Like, how fudgeing. Insane.
Allison Williams
Redible. A queen. A true queen. I'm obsessed with her.
Amanda Hirsch
Insane. Yeah, but, yeah, Clayton, I don't know. But I still feel, like, so happy and so proud that, like, I know this huge nation of people. Like, I. I wouldn't. Couldn't live without knowing that, you know, Dean and Caitlin are off in Nevada.
Allison Williams
You know, just like, in a van, like, in love.
Amanda Hirsch
In the van in love.
Allison Williams
Like, that's literal. Probably.
Amanda Hirsch
That is literal. Like, I just know. But I feel like those are the people that we should know and whoever comes next, like, won't be that important culturally. Do you get what I mean?
Allison Williams
Also, they. Gosh, it's a real, like, who. Do you remember how much time you want to spend on this? I'm, like, doing interview math right now. I'm like, I don't think she had allocated any time.
Amanda Hirsch
You're like, I don't think she's flipped a car.
Allison Williams
No, but I. I honestly am like.
Amanda Hirsch
Well, you should do on your pot A Bachelor.
Allison Williams
They don't want to talk about it. Okay. They don't care about it. So I'm. They'll just sit and listen and go to school. They need to be schooled. But what I was going to say is that, like, it is a psychologic. There's a reason that our Bachelor, Bachelorette people do well in the Traders and. And all those other, like, reality competition shows, and it's because it's a gauntlet. Getting through that show is hard. It's a lot. Emotionally. She gets it. Passionate you are.
Amanda Hirsch
And you love the Traders. Who knew we were such a reality TV person?
Allison Williams
The tradels is what I just said. Oops.
Amanda Hirsch
Did everybody know this? Like, are you out there saying it to the world? You post about it?
Allison Williams
In my mind, yes.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
Like, the world is enormous.
Amanda Hirsch
The world knows.
Allison Williams
I mean, everyone over there knows. And Love island is coming back and all will be well in the world.
Amanda Hirsch
And you can keep up with your schedule watching Love Island.
Allison Williams
Here's the way I consume most of these shows, which is that I used to listen obsessively to news podcasts, and then for some reason, something happened in the world that made it incredibly painful to listen to the news, so I switched to watching reality TV during that. Like, the times when, I don't know, I'm doing my, like, long. Like, I didn't care, like, on an iPad or my phone or whatever. I just have it on and I'm watching it.
Amanda Hirsch
And I love this for you. I love that you went from news to this.
Allison Williams
Oh, yeah. I was like, my parents must be so proud. My newscaster dad and my news producer mom are thrilled. Somehow I still know what's happening in the world. Like, I know the facts, but I'm not listening to, like, seven podcasts in a row deconstructing, like, a decision. I could not do that anymore.
Amanda Hirsch
Wow. I can't believe you ever did that.
Allison Williams
Loved that. I was like. So I. But here's the thing.
Amanda Hirsch
Well, you went to Yale.
Allison Williams
Like, you're super studying that. I just, like, wanted to be an expert on anything that could come up at any given time. And then I realized, like, oh, I'm. My anxiety is not a good combination with that amount of information.
Amanda Hirsch
Like, you need escapism a little bit.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
This is so important. I'm so glad the world now knows, like, how in reality tv, you are very into it.
Allison Williams
But I'm not. Like, I need to keep doing Real Housewives. I've known Andy Cohen forever. I emailed him after Salt Lake and I was like, excuse me. You're a. A maestro. You're like, you're like a great genius.
Amanda Hirsch
I don't believe you.
Allison Williams
Unreal. And I was like, you finally watched one of the franchises. Okay, so it is. So.
Amanda Hirsch
So are you going to start Rhode Island?
Allison Williams
There's a Rhode Island.
Amanda Hirsch
It's a road. That's the new franchise.
Allison Williams
Oh, my God. I expect maybe I'm going to watch. Where.
Amanda Hirsch
Where were you?
Allison Williams
Block Island, Rhode Island.
Amanda Hirsch
Oh, really?
Allison Williams
Really beautiful.
Amanda Hirsch
So maybe don't know about it.
Allison Williams
I don't want anyone, like, don't hear about it. Okay, everyone, fast forward, rewind and then fast forward over this.
Amanda Hirsch
But maybe I'll start this franchise because I like, starting from the beginning.
Allison Williams
Like I said, I did four seasons or something. It's digestible. When I look at, like, New York or something. Even, even the pre and the early and like, that's intimidating. Jersey. Those are long. Yeah, that takes like a, you know, if I. If I have another kid, which is still tbd, like, that would be the, like those twilight months of breastfeeding. And just like, that would be the same tbd.
Amanda Hirsch
But you also have a plan as to when you're going to watch the show.
Allison Williams
To be honest, the first time I've talked about this plan, but it's making it, like, more appealing.
Amanda Hirsch
I know you're like, tbd, but like, when I'm going to be breastfeeding and while, like my bottles are sterilizing, like, I'll do that.
Allison Williams
Last time I watched Succession, which was like, stress. I'm sure I put there was like, you know, stress that I haven't gotten.
Amanda Hirsch
Past the first episode because it stressed me out so much every time that I turned it off. And then I would be like, I have to watch Succession. Turn it on. That whole hospital scene, him coming, going, stopped. Again, like, never watch the succession.
Allison Williams
It's truly one of the greatest shows and unfortunately you will have to watch it. Yeah, yeah. But it's going to be great because it's so good and so funny. You might just need to maybe episode three, you start to really get the humor of it.
Amanda Hirsch
Get through the hospital of it all.
Allison Williams
Yeah, sorry about the hospital of it all.
Amanda Hirsch
We'll be right back after the break. You know how no one tells you your hair might start thinning until it already is? Yeah, same because I didn't know that when you're postpartum, like you can have all these hair changes that are caused by anything from stress to hormonal changes, lifestyle, environment, like that stuff can just happen. So if you want to be proactive about it or you want to try to combat it, let me tell you about Nutrafol. You may have heard of Nutrafol's hair growth supplements and wondered do they actually work? It's a fair question. Many hair supplements over promise and under deliver. But Nutrafol is different. As the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand, it is trusted by over 1.5 million people and is clinically tested to deliver real results in just three to six months. It really targets like those root causes of hair thinning like stress hormones, nutrition and aging. I'm taking the postpartum formula. It is breastfeeding friendly so you could take that right away after you give birth. This summer, stop worrying about your hair and start making memories. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering my listeners $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to nutrafol.com and enter the promo code not skinny10. Find out why Nutrafol is the best selling hair growth supplement brand@nutrafol.com spelled n u t r a f o l dot com. The promo code is not skinny10. That's nutrafol.com promo code, not skinny10. If you guys know me, you know I am obsessed with quince. I love quince. I'm so happy that I know about it. I'm so happy it wasn't gate kept for me. I actually found out about quints even before I started working with them because I was looking for like a good pair of linen pants. I remember when I went to the US Open a couple years ago and I just got such a great pair from Quince. So affordable white linen pants, perfect for the summer months and for all those summer looks. And yes, it is more affordable than other places you could get that. You know the same stuff. It's crazy because they use like the same factories that like these huge designers or retailers use, but they just save you, like up to 80% because they don't have a physical store. You can get, like I said, 100% of European linen shorts and dresses from $30 luxe swimwear, Italian leather sandals and so much more. I actually posted the other week like this bag and then like, literally found a dupe equin. I have a nursing cover that I found that was like $100. I found it's dupe at Quint for $40. Like, you're not compromising on the quality. I promise you that. Give your summer closet and upgrade with quince. Go to quince.com not skinny for free shipping on your order and 360, 65 day returns. That's Q U I N C E.com not skinny. To get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com/not skinny. I can't believe my first baby. And no, it's not Noah. It's my dog, Leo. I can't believe he's like literally 12. And by 12, it could be 15 by now. Because we keep saying he's 12, but he keeps getting older. The years keep going by and we're like, he's 12, right? Leo's been part of our family for that long. Today's episode is sponsored by the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program. I know you want the best for your pet. They're part of your family and vet bills can really add up. That's why you should check out ASPCA Pet Health Insurance. That way you can focus on the care your pet deserves and cover what matters most. The ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program offers customizable accident and illness plans, making it easier for pet parents to help your pet get the care they need. It's been around for over 18 years, and they've helped more than 600,000 pets. They allow you to customize your plan, helping ensure your pet's plan is as unique as they are. As you know, vet bills can really add up, especially when you're at least expecting it. With ASPCA Pet Health Insurance, it's simple. You use their app, you submit a claim, and you'll receive reimbursement for eligible vet bills directly into your bank account. To Explore coverage, visit aspcapetinsurance.com Not Skinny. That's ASPCA pet insurance.com Not Skinny. Again, that's aspcapetinsurance.Com Not Skinny. This is a paid advertisement insurance. It's underwritten by either Independence American Insurance Company or United States Fire Insurance Company and produced by BTC Insurance Agency limited. The ASPC is not insurer and is not engaged in the business of insurance. Hi, everyone, I'm Peyton Sartin, host of the Note to Self podcast. Note to Self is a space to embrace your unique qualities, get grounded, and ultimately have honest conversation. No topic is off limits. I began doing social media seven years ago and since then I've started a clothing line. And this podcast, Note to Self, is a place where people from every stage of life can come for advice, new perspectives, and to feel a little less alone. Whether I'm recording by myself or bringing along a friend, we will explore topics ranging from relationships and mental wellness to social media and entrepreneurship. Tune in to Note to Self every week for the sisterly advice you didn't know you needed and raw conversations you've always wanted. And we're back. So you're from the east coast, which we love.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
Connecticut, born and raised. And how often does like a Connecticut girl come into the city, like at that age, like high school and stuff?
Allison Williams
Well, we had very different high schools. You were like deeply cool. You're probably like quitting smoking at 15, whereas I was smoking marble reds. Exactly.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
I. That was when I went to college and there were the New York City kids. They were like, I have to stop smoking. I was like, I've never seen a cigarette. They were like, I gotta stop. I've been smoking since I was 12. And I was like, I've never been on a subway by myself. They're like, I've been commuting on my own to school since I was 7. It's a different thing.
Amanda Hirsch
It's a different thing.
Allison Williams
We would come into the city for like special things. Was always like to see Rent in middle school with my friends or like to go out to a fancy dinner with my parents and to go to like a Broadway show or something that it was always event based New York City trips. But it was not social. Like it was too, I don't know, at least like growing up maybe towards the end of high school, but not really till college was at a social destination for me.
Amanda Hirsch
So then when you were doing Girls and you're like filming this New York City show.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
So aside from Lena filling you in, because we were talking about that before, like you didn't really know.
Allison Williams
I knew from college. So I went to college with a bunch of people from New York City. So I kind of knew.
Amanda Hirsch
Are Yale and I'm totally like stigmatizing everybody. Are Yale, New York City kids. Like the type of New York City kids that like, went to my high school.
Allison Williams
Like, yeah, potentially. You think if you knew. Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's definitely a lot of the private school, like the prep school kids that go. That's what Ivy League schools, but also like kind of from everywhere. And it's a bigger school. And people realize in like, in its portrayal, it's often there's like 100 kids in the class and they all are in Gossip Girl. It's like, that's not true.
Amanda Hirsch
But you're like, just me.
Allison Williams
And that's just me. But no, it was like, I. So I knew a bunch of like city kids. They just had a different, like, they're much more mature. Street smart.
Amanda Hirsch
Drugs mature, you guys.
Allison Williams
They sure do. I love, like your philosophy about like trying stuff when you're young. And it just felt like also the combination of cars. When you grow up in a suburban area where your peers are driving each other, the stakes for substances are like way, way higher. Even though in New York doing that stuff is also dangerous. You, like, wander onto the wrong block and like, like stakes high also. But it feels different when you're driving. And so drunk driving and driving under the influence of anything was like, that's so really big deal. Right.
Amanda Hirsch
Like, we really, like, it's dangerous what we did, but we were also taking the subway.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
Or like sitting on a stoop or.
Allison Williams
Yeah, it's very different.
Amanda Hirsch
Wow.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
Thank God then that like this is happening mostly in New York and especially.
Allison Williams
Given that you're a self proclaimed, not very good driver. Like, we're just lucky that.
Amanda Hirsch
Thank God.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
I also got hit by a car like three times in my life. I'm also not a good walker.
Allison Williams
Oh, my friend Jamie's like this. Yeah, she has.
Amanda Hirsch
But it was like in slow mo. It was like, you're coming, you're going boop. Like that kind of thing.
Allison Williams
That seems like the hardest way to be hit by a car. That seems like it took both of you being the same personality, being a.
Amanda Hirsch
Really old lady, like being like, are you coming? Am I walking?
Allison Williams
Should we just do this?
Amanda Hirsch
Should we just like. No.
Allison Williams
My friend Jamie talks about it. She's like a brazen. She walks and doesn't listen or look like she doesn't look. None of the rules we teach our kids.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
Crossing a street, she's just like, I'm just gonna go.
Amanda Hirsch
And whatever happens, happens.
Allison Williams
It's crazy. She lived in New York for like a non insignificant amount of time.
Amanda Hirsch
Wait, so how long did you live in New York the whole time you were shooting girls?
Allison Williams
So I lived in New York from. I guess. Really? From like, 20. Like, halfway through 2011 to 20. 20. 2019.
Amanda Hirsch
Oh, wow.
Allison Williams
2018.
Amanda Hirsch
And where were you in the city?
Allison Williams
Chelsea.
Amanda Hirsch
Did you love it?
Allison Williams
Loved it, Yeah. I don't know. Like, I loved. Yeah, I felt West Village. I loved West Village. You know, adjacent also. Very. Like. I lived right on 7th Avenue. It was just easy to get everywhere. Did you ever know I had a husband?
Amanda Hirsch
You had a husband by then?
Allison Williams
Yeah. Well, not like by then.
Amanda Hirsch
No.
Allison Williams
Yeah, I had a boyfriend who then became a husband.
Amanda Hirsch
Oh.
Allison Williams
Yeah. And so, yeah, I had a romance and a dog.
Amanda Hirsch
So wait, when you're filming girls the whole time you had a boyfriend?
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
And what did he, like, feel about the sex scenes?
Allison Williams
Totally. Like, un. Pretty unfazed, really.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah. Oh, that's nice.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
I wonder how that is in Hollywood, like, behind closed doors.
Allison Williams
Like, it is. It's definitely among, if not the weirdest part of our job.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
Because it's just weird when you're in a committed and people are cool and there's polycools and whatever. And not to be all tradition about it all, but, like, when you're not at all, but when you're in a monogamous relationship, your assumption is that the. When you kiss your partner, the next person who kisses that person will also be you.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
And in this case, it's like you're gonna go to work and, like, make out with someone else for, like, hours and hours and then come home.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
And even when it's as the one thing that is true that everyone talks about is the sterility of it is so intense.
Amanda Hirsch
Right.
Allison Williams
Like, the ability to find romance in that is back.
Amanda Hirsch
But that really ruins it for me that you guys talk about that so much.
Allison Williams
So sorry.
Amanda Hirsch
Okay, I'll get back. Not just you, but I feel like this is happening in a lot of interviews lately. I feel like. Like, actors are really opening up about intimacy coordinators, whether they used one. Not used one.
Allison Williams
Let me add on girls.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah, that wasn't the time for that. It was.
Allison Williams
It definitely was, but we didn't have.
Amanda Hirsch
Oh, it was the time already.
Allison Williams
So it would have been great because we had so many. So many sex scenes, like, prep and work through. Like, it would have been so helpful to have someone who's like, department head of sex scenes. Otherwise, it was just. I have this picture of Lena and Jenny, like, acting out the moment where Desi was like, like, eating, going down. I'm eating My ass. And I have a picture of them where who I think it's Jenny is like leaning over a windowsill and Lena's just like kneeling behind her, like smiling at me to be like, this is what we picture. And I was like, great. But that they could. They were busy. They should have just. That should have been someone else's job.
Amanda Hirsch
That should have been someone. Yeah, I guess, like as a. Just a viewer and consumer of all this, I picture more. I feel like it sounds like an intimacy coordinator is more about like keeping everyone safe. But I love that it's also just like, no, this is how you.
Allison Williams
Oh my God. I'm like crazy about. I think they're incredible because here's what happens. And I don't know if this is interesting, but it just is what it is. And to ruin it further, you started by complaining about this. And I'm like, I'm gonna twist this knife deeper into your body. So basically, like, if you read a script, there's like a romantic scene in it. The intimacy coordinator talks to the actors and is like, how do you picture this? And what are your boundaries? Like, do you care? Can someone touch you anywhere? Are there red zones where you just don't want anyone to touch you? Places. And you're like, you know what? My neck feels kind of like my neck and I don't want anyone touching it. So that's a red zone. And they're like, great. They talk to the director. They're like, what do you picture for this scene? Do you want? What is your dream version of it? And then the intimacy coordinator is kind of responsible for like bridging any gaps there are and communicating people's boundaries. And then by the time everyone shows up to do it. None of that is being litigated on the day you already know what you're wearing for your nude covering, what the rules are, like if your co star feels comfortable with a certain typ of kissing or not. And so you're all just like ready to go.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah. And that makes sense.
Allison Williams
So nice.
Amanda Hirsch
That makes sense.
Allison Williams
So nice.
Amanda Hirsch
So someone's not like sucking your nipple like randomly and you didn't agree on it.
Allison Williams
You're like, I. Yeah, that is deeply unokay. Yeah. That's non consensual. That's sexual assault. Yeah. Even if it's on camera. But yeah. And I'm sure some people on some shows where there's a ton of sex, they talk about like, yeah, we eventually just told the intimacy coordinator, like, we are in like a. We're just like in a packed kind of where we get each other's boundaries. We don't need to do this every time. But like, thank you for being here. Just in case, you know.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
It's especially helpful if you're with a new scene partner and you haven't.
Amanda Hirsch
Right.
Allison Williams
Done this a lot.
Amanda Hirsch
Right. If you feel comfortable with someone, maybe it's different.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
I keep thinking about. Because you did so, so much with Evan.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
Desi.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
And he's doing so well right now. Also doesn't make you happy as like happiest.
Allison Williams
Happiest in the world. He is like such a delightfully unique person. He's another Fantastic Four. Now he's in the Bear.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
He's killing it. Killing it so good in the Bear. It's like, like he is so good that I like think of almost he's more cousin to me than Desi, which is crazy. And maybe just cuz I haven't done like a rewatch or anything. He's like, I so believe him in that show. He's so good.
Amanda Hirsch
From. I saw somebody coming, like, from Desi to Cousin.
Allison Williams
Yeah, that's it. That's.
Amanda Hirsch
That's it. I saw someone comment that. That's it. From Desi to Cousin.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
I don't know if you know that like Tik Tok is wild about girls right now.
Allison Williams
It's so fun. I do know. Not from firsthand, but from people sending me things.
Amanda Hirsch
No, but like the thing that. That's. Do you know what the number one thing is?
Allison Williams
No.
Amanda Hirsch
The number one thing is I love.
Allison Williams
You have a pink iPhone case. It's. It tracks. It's perfect.
Amanda Hirsch
Isn't it cute? What's your favorite horror movie? Oh, I don't know. Maybe Girls Season five, episode six, When Marnie and Charlie reconnect. No, no, but this scene. What is that episode called? The Panic in Central Park. Yeah, this is the episode of the whole show. The Tick Tock. And like the Internet, it just doesn't stop. Like, I love like, like all of it. And it's so wild because I've seen it. Like targets me because they know how much I love girls. And I watch every single one of those and I get chills every single time you see them with the headphones, those cute headphones. And every time you're wearing that red dress and every time you on the floor with the towel and you find the thing that makes me so happy. Like, I'm like, if I were you, I'd be crying now. Like, I'm almost.
Allison Williams
Are you disappointed that I'm not.
Amanda Hirsch
No, no. But I'm almost crying. Like, I feel like it's so emot.
Allison Williams
I was so happy. That episode was. I was so nervous. Like, it was such a. It was such a vote of confidence to give me this whole big episode. It was such an act of love from Lena and Richard shepherd, who directed it. I loved working with up to that point, but I hadn't done a bottle episode. Lena had done them up to that point, and she and Jemima, when they go to Jemima's house, kind of had one as well. And. But yeah. And I also hadn't seen Chris since he left the show at that point. So there was this, like, meta aspect of this, like, unfinished business. It had nothing to do with pizza, but it was. It was still kind of like we hadn't seen each other. And so that helped inform the kind of dynamic. And then it was just one of those, like, kind of magical shoots. It felt like we shot a short film in New York that truly. And it was like, just a kind of creative dream experience. And I also feel like it's the episode where people finally kind of got to sympathize with Marnie a little bit. She was really hard to love in the beginning of the show, and it was season five, so it took a minute, but it was an episode where she was kind of finally, like. Like, I don't know, she said those words, like, out loud in a way that was, I think, really refreshing for people to hear around the booth. Jonathan era. She also felt that way, very lost. And honestly, from the very beginning of the show, she's super lost. But in that episode, she was literally lost and barefoot and vulnerable and had nothing. And there was something about that that I think really helped, like, humanize her.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
But I also. That episode is so interesting because I feel like it becomes resonant once you have enough of a past somewhere. Like, you have to have, like, an X with meaning or an unfinished story. And so as people age and go through things in life, that episode means different things to them. Because once you have a person that you could run into in that way.
Amanda Hirsch
And have your heart drop them.
Allison Williams
Exactly. Then. Then it means a whole other thing.
Amanda Hirsch
That's what I think.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
One of the reasons why people are resonating with it, because it brings you back to, like, a moment like that that you've had.
Allison Williams
Yeah. And the fantasy is the beginning of the episode where.
Amanda Hirsch
Right.
Allison Williams
It's like, you're on this, like, whirlwind date. And, yes. There's stuff humming in the background of that like drug deal. Obvious red flags, but you're sort of like, whatever. Like Marnie's trying to convince herself that she's a different person and she's non judgmental. And then by the end it's like, no, no, it's, it is not, not as well. A hidden red flag. It's not. Okay.
Amanda Hirsch
We'll be right back after the break. Exciting day, everybody. Simply has launched a new prebiotic soda. You guys know that I love sodas and I love ones that come with a little something extra. It's not just, just good, but there's a prebiotic in it, right? So Simply Pop is the new juicy soda. There are five flavors. Pineapple, Mango, Yum Yum Lime, strawberry, Citrus punch. Yum Yum and fruit punch. This is made with real fruit juice. Simply Pop supports gut health important and has 6 grams of prebiotic fiber, no added sugar and is sweetened with juices. Monk fruit extract. This supports immune health with zinc plus vitamin C. Amazing. Simply Pop is flavor that pops. See what all the fizz is about? Simply Pop is the new juicy soda that happens when you combine the delicious real fruit flavors of simply with 6 grams of prebiotic fiber to support gut health. Go to co URL.com simply pop to find out where you can try Simply Pop. Find Simply Pop and any of its five juicy flavors by visiting them online at cokeurl.com/pop that's Coke C O K E U R L.com/s I M P L Y P O P I'm a protein powder girly now. Can't believe it. Who am I? My Saxon from White Lotus. No, you don't have to be Saxon from the White Lotus to be wanting to add protein into your diet and realize that it's a huge staple that should be in every meal of yours. What can really help with that is a good protein powder. I'm using Clean Simple Eats. It's so good. It tastes great. And it is grass fed. No seed oils, no artificial ingredients. Third party tested, non GMO and gluten free free. Each serving has 20 grams of protein. Okay. And such delicious flavors. Like you could just use the brownie batter one. There's like toasted coconut, vanilla. I even sometimes here's what I do. I'll have a meal and I'm like, I have a sweet tooth or I feel like I didn't get full enough. I'll even make like a hot cocoa using the protein powder and just hot water. Clean Simple Eats should be your new protein powder to go to. Another one that I love of theirs is their clear protein powder. It looks and tastes like a melted pink starburst. So basically it's not like a creamy, it's more like a light, like, looks like a, like an electrolyte type drink. Okay. But you're still getting those 20 grams of protein and that super light and refreshing drink. Visit cleansimpleats.com and use my code not skinny20 at checkout for 20 off your first order. That's clean simple eats.com and the code is not skinny20 for 20 off your first order link is also in the show notes. If you're listening to my pod, chances are you're a reality TV person. Like, can't look away, need to debrief. Then you need to know, if you don't already, that Hulu is your new best friend. Hulu has everything. I'm talking the Kardashians, the Bachelor. Hulu has reality TV covered, even the messy stuff you forgot you loved, like Flavor of Love. It is a reality TV time machine meets current chaos and it's all in one place. If you're like me and you love watching reality tv, Hulu lets you binge new episodes, past seasons, and even current shows as they air with shows like the Kardashians, the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Got to get out, Vanderbump Villa and more. Hulu has got you covered, you guys. If you're into glamour and romance, things are heating up on Hulu. Catch new seasons of Project Runway and Bachelor in paradise this summer. Summer Coming soon, you're going to be able to watch the all new reality series Love Thy Nader starring the Nader sisters. Plus, don't miss an all new season of Love Island UK streaming only on Hulu. There's so much great reality on Hulu, it's almost too real. Next time you need your reality tv, go to Hulu. Hulu gets Real. And we're back. You didn't study acting at college?
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
Were you when you grew up, were you into it?
Allison Williams
Like when, from like birth?
Amanda Hirsch
Oh yeah.
Allison Williams
I ever wanted to do. Yeah, it was all I wanted to do. My parents were like, you know, that they knew enough actors. They kind of asked advice and realized that they just wanted to delay it as much as possible because they could tell from my little personality that this personality and a child actor was just like a terrible combination. I don't know. There's. I've now worked with so many, like Violet McGraw for example, who plays my niece slash daughter in the Megan movies is like a remarkable human being. She is totally a normal kid who also happens to be a working actor who works her ass off and is super professional, but still is, like, on a soccer team with her friends and has this, like, awesome dry sense of humor and is hilarious and fun and playful and. And there is just something about that ability to be both professional and, you know, precise without being like a complete nutcase. Type A perfectionist.
Amanda Hirsch
And you would have been that.
Allison Williams
It would have been that.
Amanda Hirsch
And when you say stuff like that, it makes me feel like you have more inequalities. I know you hate it.
Allison Williams
Wallet. I don't hate it. I have Marnie. I used to hate it more. I think I don't hate it as much now because I'm like, a little clearer on the, the distinctions between us, basically. Like, I have a suitcase on my floor from, like, last week, you know. Okay, so she's wild, guys, but Marnie wouldn't. So I don't know how to describe that. I'm also still a type A perfectionist, but, like, I can't with that suitcase. Yeah, it's full. I've needed shit in it. I know exactly where it is in there, but it's just like, I can't go into it.
Amanda Hirsch
I literally still have, like. You know how you take your makeup in, like, a travel thing?
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
So, like, my makeup is there. Like, that's where it lives in the travel thing.
Allison Williams
It lives in a travel. Yeah, but also. So I don't know how to describe that or, like, I don't know. I. I also like my brain. Well, this is also just hormonal and postpartum. Like, I, I just. My brain is not as, like, sharp. If I don't write something down immediately, it's not there anymore. So, yes, in some ways I'm very Marnie. And then in other ways, I'm, like, scattered in a way that would shock people. Yeah, maybe not shock. That's. So you're strong, so your parents should be. But anyway, they were just like, your.
Amanda Hirsch
Parents would be scared that you would.
Allison Williams
Like, just the perfectionism, which they, I'm sure could tell for, like, really rejection.
Amanda Hirsch
Would maybe be hard on you.
Allison Williams
But also in success, like, in our business, like, that can be as much of a mind as failure. You know, there's all this weird delayed gratification and you start to put yourself in these, like, different places where it doesn't belong. And I think they just thought, like, let's buy us some time and let her get as. Get lived as. As like big a life as she can before she lives a public life. And I'm so grateful. I fought it at the time, obviously, because I was very eager to go and I knew what I wanted to do, but I got. And then I subsequently was lucky enough to be around a bunch of actors I really loved and respected. And I asked them, should I go to, like, conservatory or should I go to a liberal arts school? I have the incredible privilege of being able to go to college. Like, where should I go? And to a person. They told me to go to college. Not a single actor that I like, like Meryl Streep and Kevin Klein and Tina Fey, they were all like, go to a liberal arts school. And so that's what I did.
Amanda Hirsch
Like, get an education and then learn other.
Allison Williams
They were like, you have the rest of your life to study acting. Really? Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
So then you go to school for English.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
And then graduate or did you do any, like, acting? I don't know.
Allison Williams
I was in plays, for sure. I just. The most acting. Ish stuff I did was that I was in an improv comedy group. And, like, I would say technically, that really still is kind of my only training. Which is crazy, because after I graduated, I took a class on auditioning. And then my first audition after that class was for the Untitled Lena Dunham Project, hbo. And I was like, great audition. I was like, are you kidding me? I can use my printout with my, like, way to prepare an audition. I can follow all this. This is so great. Obviously, I'm not gonna get this part. It's an HBO show, but I'm gonna use this to, like, practice my new audition skills. And I went in there and I did the scene, and then they asked me, asked me. They sent me out to learn another scene, and we did that. And then they asked me to improvise a scene with Lena. And I was like, oh, my God, this is my only skill. They've just asked me to do the only thing I've been doing like, constantly for four years. Improv was like, that was it. And I was like, happily, great, let's do it. Let's do more. And.
Amanda Hirsch
Well, do you remember what the improv scene was?
Allison Williams
I think I was braiding her hair and. Or maybe that. I just, like, put that into the action, which I immediately regretted because, as Lena would admit, she's not an enthusiastic hair washer. And at that age, it was even worse. And I just remember. I just remember being like, oh, I regret this decision. I don't know you at all. Like, it Didn't. I don't know. I was just like, this is a texture I wasn't expecting. And I. But I, like, braided her hair. And then we got in the. The improvising they wanted us to do. I know. Was that they. They. We were in a fight, and we had to resolve it. And I don't remember the content of it. I just remember it feeling like a very easy. Based on the stuff I had been doing for all those years. Like, I was like, oh, my God, you're giving me the end of the scene already. Like, that's even easier. And so it was just this really fun. I don't know. It was so fun. I remember walking out of the audition being like.
Amanda Hirsch
That was so your first audition.
Allison Williams
Yes, But I didn't think I was gonna get it.
Amanda Hirsch
No, but that was your first experience. Like, experiencing.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
When audition is like.
Allison Williams
And it was all women in the room, and it was this, like, cool.
Amanda Hirsch
Group where you were like, whoa, I love this industry. I've waited my whole life to get into.
Allison Williams
By the way, not a correct advertisement of what it's like out there.
Amanda Hirsch
I know.
Allison Williams
It's, like, toxic. There's sexual harassment. It's, like, disgusting.
Amanda Hirsch
But yours was.
Allison Williams
That was. Was incredible. No, no, no. I just mean in this industry, I had this amazing.
Amanda Hirsch
Wait, where was the improv group in New York?
Allison Williams
Improv group was in college. My college improv group just had water shout out. It was incredible. It was, like, to this day, still.
Amanda Hirsch
In the Dunham audition, did you have an agent at that point?
Allison Williams
No. Well, yes, I did, actually, so. But the audition came because when I graduated from college, I had been introduced to the idea of, like, YouTube videos going viral. I graduated in 2010, so it was, like, on the early.
Amanda Hirsch
Same exact page.
Allison Williams
Thought so.
Amanda Hirsch
We're the same exact age. I just turned 37 days ago. You turned 37. How cute are we? Like, 37 years young.
Allison Williams
37 years. So, like, too young.
Amanda Hirsch
So young.
Allison Williams
Child brides. Child parents.
Amanda Hirsch
Child brides.
Allison Williams
Child parents, exactly.
Amanda Hirsch
Babysitters. Yeah.
Allison Williams
Not even a nanny. We're babysitters. But anyway, so I had made this YouTube video that I made three of them, actually. I only ever released one with. I was like, let's do live sound recording and. And. And, you know, one take and, like, gimmicks of combining songs. And I worked with this incredible team of people that I had met just through all these. It's too long. You don't have time for me to go into it. But anyway, we made these videos together. I made three of them. And I released the first one when I moved to la, and because of my dad, who is a newscaster, it got like. So it's a little nepotism already. It got, like, picked up online because that was the thing that made it relevant. It was like, look at Brian Williams daughter doing something like.
Amanda Hirsch
You had zero YouTube subscribers at that time. Literally zero uploaded a video to YouTube.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
And the media cared.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
Okay. And they picked it up.
Allison Williams
And they picked it up. And Judd Apatow saw it, and they had been trying to cast Marnie for a while, and they hadn't been able to, like, really just find her essence anywhere. And they just decided to move casting from New York to Los Angeles to open up casting in LA just to see if they could find her. And I had also just moved to la. And so then he reached out to see if I would audition for the show. And that's how that happened. So it was like a combination of YouTube.
Amanda Hirsch
What is this? Can we find this video today?
Allison Williams
Yes, it's called. I just rewatched it, actually, and I. It makes me proud of it. Yeah, it gives me so much joy.
Amanda Hirsch
So. So how do we find it?
Allison Williams
It's called Mad Men theme song with a twist. Because I put. It was the Mad Men theme song, but with live orchestra. And then I put Nature Boy, that old jazz standard lyrics on top of it, which fits perfectly. And the guy on the drums is a composer named Jay Wadley, who's now, like, killing it. And yeah, it's.
Amanda Hirsch
But you never thought it would, like, I mean.
Allison Williams
I mean, three. And I was like, maybe this will be a thing that we do. And the other two just never. Because the first one was very successful.
Amanda Hirsch
That's amazing. It's honestly inspiring.
Allison Williams
It's not a sympathetic, I understand.
Amanda Hirsch
But it's also like, you never know what can happen.
Allison Williams
Totally. Anything can happen. Like season promo for Girls, the Ellie Golding song, Anything Can Happen.
Amanda Hirsch
Put yourself out there.
Allison Williams
Yep.
Amanda Hirsch
You never know who's watching. Which I also learned, like, I didn't know you ever listened or knew the show. You never know.
Allison Williams
It's true.
Amanda Hirsch
And look what happened ever since then.
Allison Williams
I know.
Amanda Hirsch
That's so amazing.
Allison Williams
I just want to be clear, though, that, like, I dropped it in kind of casually, but, like, the layers to which. Because I also imagine if I'm listening to this interview and I am, you know, young and want to be an actor, there are so many parts of this that are, like, unrelatable and very lucky that I had going for me, like, from the beginning. And I just want to name that because it is.
Amanda Hirsch
You're so kind.
Allison Williams
So hard. No, but it's literally, like, unhelpfully lucky. There are so many layers to the whole conversation around, like, Nepo babies or whatever. And I'm always like. It starts with the knowledge that, like, no matter what happened, I was going to be okay. That feeling of, like, there's no floor is. Or there is a floor that I can't fall through is like, already changes the way you go for things and then you take chances. Like, for me to take a chance was like, I wasn't leveraging everything my family had.
Amanda Hirsch
You weren't sleeping in your car?
Allison Williams
No, I still wanted it. I work really hard. I think I do a good job, but I hope so. And I feel super lucky to do this job. But I'm also very aware that along the way, there are just more moments than I can count where, you know, if there's a jump ball between the Huffington Post, like, posting the video of my singing and someone they've never heard of, who didn't, who also made an amazing video that exact day, the reason that mine would have gotten posted would probably be because I'm my dad's daughter, and I have no, like. I don't know. I have no delusions about that. I know that's true. And I just feel like I need to kind of work so nice in retroactively, I guess.
Amanda Hirsch
So many actors that are. I mean, you're definitely dad, you know, a journalist. It's a bit different. Sometimes you have Nepo babies that are childs of actors, lived in the business, and they have a hard time. They're like, nepo baby, Mappo baby.
Allison Williams
Well, I think what the first thing that comes up often is the sense of, like, they're trying to take away my work or how hard I work. But it's like, that's besides the point. It's like, how. How easy or hard would it have been for you to make it versus someone in the middle of nowhere? Like, literally with no.
Amanda Hirsch
And Bieber was somebody in the middle of nowhere. So it could go.
Allison Williams
So.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah, you know.
Allison Williams
Yeah, it can. It can happen.
Amanda Hirsch
It can happen.
Allison Williams
It's just like, it's, you know, helpful. If you're right, it isn't. It's just not fair.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah, but. But I do understand when the talent is there, like, you want people to, you know, acknowledge that which you are so talented.
Allison Williams
That's so nice.
Amanda Hirsch
That's why you got your first audition. Well, and you were smart.
Allison Williams
You probably just Felt like kismet.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah.
Allison Williams
Video and was like, that's.
Amanda Hirsch
That's Marnie.
Allison Williams
She looks so. Like, she smells. They make so many. There's so many lines in the show about, like, how clean I am and how what I smell like. Because I think they were looking for someone who just, like, looked like a Dove commercial or something on the screen. We're just like, oh, there.
Amanda Hirsch
You know what I was thinking in the. The Panic in the Central park episode that you didn't look like you had a lick of makeup on.
Allison Williams
I'm sure I did that, like, no makeup. Makeup thing. Maybe once I was wet. I didn't. I don't know.
Amanda Hirsch
But I feel like today, you know what pisses me off today in TV and movies that, like, to me, it can't be like, this relatable girl at home if I know how your hair is, like, dead right now. You know what I mean? When they do the. The curls and the, like, hair up but, like, two down. Like, I feel like Girls was one of the shows that, like, the girls looked like we looked.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
Like me and my friends looked. You know what I mean?
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
Like, even if you had a little bit of foundation, it was just not today. I'll be watching a movie, and I think it's so good. Good. But I can't get over the fact that she's in full glam and eyelashes. You know what I mean? It's like, like those. Those. Those things to me.
Allison Williams
But you know what's really crazy is that doing a messy bun, like we would do getting out of bed is.
Amanda Hirsch
So hard, you can never get it twice.
Allison Williams
Camera.
Amanda Hirsch
It's so crazy, you can never get it twice. So.
Allison Williams
Because on an episode like Panic at Central Park, I had to have that bun for multiple days. It had to be done by Sheri, and it had to be the same every day. So you got to get like a kind of scientifically perfect messy bun, which takes about twice as long as it would do to do, like a. Or a loose wave. It's very mysterious. Ponytails and buns.
Amanda Hirsch
So after Girls.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
How long after that was get out, which was fucking huge.
Allison Williams
We shot Get Out, I think before the. The winter, before the final season of Girls.
Amanda Hirsch
Wow.
Allison Williams
We shot Got out. And that was. That was. Yeah, that was an incredible experience. And also, again, a very weirdly charmed experience where it was my first movie and I had first audition for a movie. I didn't audition for it because Jordan saw again. Lucky. Jordan saw. Had watched Girls and was a fan from Girls, but Then also saw me play Peter Pan. And he was like, she'll do anything. He's like, she will. She flew on live television with Christopher Walken as Captain Hook. Like, she will. She will happily play an evil white supremacist in this movie. And I was like, you're right, I will. And I read the script and immediately had that. Like, I was like, this movie is going to be huge. This movie.
Amanda Hirsch
It's one of those movies that, like, everybody saw, which must feel so good. You know, it's good because a Gen Z or has seen it. My mom has seen it. I like. It's one of those movies that sound like, oh, no, you should really. No, no. Everybody has seen this. This movie, and you are perfect in it, which I don't know if it's a compliment.
Allison Williams
It's. I take it as a. I was like, I want her to be as evil as she possibly can be. I need to do it myself. It's like, I want her to be the worst of me in the. Me in the world, the broader sense of me. Luckily, I don't have anything in common with her. I can say that with pride. But other than, you know, demographics and, I guess, biology. But I think the challenge of making Rose as, like, innocent and trustworthy in the beginning and then as evil and devoid of humanity by the end was something I was so excited to do, and I felt so honored to be part of that movie. And it was just like a great. It was Blumhouse and Universal, and it felt like, you know, this incredible creative experience that just felt dreamy from the start. And then we had this amazing life, and people still talk to me about it, and it's just. Yeah. I feel. I feel extremely lucky to have been in that movie.
Amanda Hirsch
It's so probably you made fun a little bit of the Peter Pan thing, but it seems like you really pick projects, like, you pick them, like. Yes. You don't just take anything that you get. Like, you want to make sure that you're doing something you're proud of.
Allison Williams
Yeah, I don't do a lot of things. And even Peter Pan, like, you know, those live musicals are so. It's musical theater, and that's, like, not everyone's thing. And people can roll their eyes at the very fact of it, but Peter Pan had so much significance to me when I was younger. And when they were like, do you want to play Peter Pan? It was just like, a hundred percent yes. And everyone was like, was that a scary decision? I was like, it should have been, but I Didn't think about it twice. And it was one of the most fulfilling creative experiences of my entire life. It was just a blast. Yes, I, I am very deliberate, possibly to a fault. I just like to think about things from every single angle, every movie that I do. And the dream, what get out did for me was it knocked the Marnie loose from me a little bit, which was really hard to shake for all those years. But then it also introduced me to the thriller genre where you're able to like deal with a psychosocial issue that is being broadly thought about or worried about or talked about in a way that is campy in the case of Megan or like funny in a dark way in the case of Get Out. You can take Race and put it in this genre and suddenly it's possible to have a much more nuanced, interesting conversation than the ones we'd been capable of having at that point. And so then I kind of got addicted to being able to do that and I did this movie, the perfection that was about like, like sexual abuse within the confines of a music world. And that was similar. It was a batshit crazy fun, awesome movie and it's dealing with again a very serious subject matter in the thriller genre. And then when I got the script for the original Megan, it was at a time when all my friends were starting to have kids and freaking out about their kids relationship to technology and I was like, oh my God, this is, this is it. Here it is again. This is that thing of like taking this issue that people are quietly nervous about and putting it into a. Its most like exaggerated, campy fun form and allowing people to talk about it without it being scary really.
Amanda Hirsch
So how did you get into producing it? You got the script like for, for acting in it, right?
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
So how did you get the producing?
Allison Williams
I think I've basically always done some amount of producing on the stuff that I was in from get out on. I've just like always my brain just needs to be involved in in addition to the other parts of me with the stuff that I work on and with with Megan. I knew that that was something I wanted to start doing. And so I, I can't remember if they. If it came with the offer the EP credit for it, but I jumped at that opportunity. And since then, other than fellow Travelers, everything I've been in, I've also either been an executive producer or producer on and I take that role extremely seriously. Like I. Yes, I. There's no amount of it that I don't want, I want to I'm always asking to be like, added to email threads. There's something wrong with me. I'm like, add me to the thread of the like post.
Amanda Hirsch
Oh my God. Do you know I'm also like that.
Allison Williams
All of it.
Amanda Hirsch
I'm not. Not on the thread.
Allison Williams
Triggering.
Amanda Hirsch
I need to see. Screenshot it to me, then show me what you talked about.
Allison Williams
No, I need to be on it. I need to know everything that's happening.
Amanda Hirsch
Oh my God, you're so type A.
Allison Williams
So type A. But I also like.
Amanda Hirsch
So do you want to like, direct and do more or producing is where you want to love?
Allison Williams
I'm loving this combination because the way it feels for me is almost like it's weird because every department has a department head on a set and technically I would say directors are the like department head for the actors, but not exactly. And so the way it started to happen on the Megan movies is that I kind of felt like the department had for the actors. So not only was I at the production meetings for like producer y things of, I don't know, just the normal stuff that comes up in a production meeting or on a tech scout or whatever, casting, previs, department head, hiring, all that stuff and then through all of post, but I also felt like I was there as a representative of the actors and I could help liaise with the actors and be like, okay, guys, here's what's going on. And it's just a role that I started to really love and everyone else is so busy with other things. And it was something I felt like no one really was doing. And so that's kind of how I see. It's like if you're number one on the call sheet, you have a responsibility. You set the example from the top. No bullshit. Just keep the vibes happy. If there's any kinks in the system, you. You figure out where they are, you work them out. And I absolutely love it. And then the post side of it, the editing, post production, polishing up of a movie and then the how to release it into the world and all of that, I just absolutely love as well. So I just love the whole thing. I love. So lucky.
Amanda Hirsch
It does sound really fun and for.
Allison Williams
You would like it, I think. I feel like I know you really well. I think you would love it.
Amanda Hirsch
No, that's why I was like. I was like, I would like that.
Allison Williams
Yeah. And by the way, this is very similar to that. So with podcasting, you have there's all the prep preparatory stuff you do, like scheduling, ad sales, all the art you know, coming up with the tone and the vibe, like, your. Your teases and all of that stuff. Stuff. Keeping it all in the same world. And then you have to edit it, and you probably do two rounds and then. Or maybe at this point, they know what you like and you don't have to. You have a visual component that's even more complicated. And the social, like, it is very similar, except it's happening so much more quickly. And it's like you're releasing a movie, like, very frequently, which is a lot.
Amanda Hirsch
Are you so excited for the world to see Megan 2.0?
Allison Williams
I'm so excited. This movie is so fun.
Amanda Hirsch
And it's coming out June 27th. Is this a movie we have to see in the movie theater?
Allison Williams
It's so annoying. Everyone says that because, like, we really love, like, people continuing the trend of going back to the theaters. I would say yes. Like, for anyone who saw the first one in the theaters, I don't think they'll take any convincing that, like, this is a super fun experience in a movie theater. I just want to tell you that, like, even if you think you know what this movie is going to be like based on the trailers and the trailers. The second trailer the other day, like, exactly. It's crazy somehow. That's all one movie. And it is such a fun ride. Like, from the moment the movie starts, you're on a ride, and it is something. There are laughs and surprises and things that I would not want to experience alone at my house, knowing that I could be experiencing it with other people. Because the rippling like, I watch. When you test a movie, you get footage, as a producer of the audience watching the movie. And I always watch that. I love to watch. It's like that. Remember with the Paranormal Activity, when they first promoted it, you'd have, like, the shots of the audience, like, throwing up and leaving the theater and fainting. It's like, can watch the audience watch the movie. And it is so fun to be like, I can hear. I can feel this joke crusting. And, you know, like, the audience's allegiance is here. And now I'm feeling it shift. Like, it. The movie is so fun.
Amanda Hirsch
I'm so excited to see it. No, I did not get a sneak peek, you guys.
Allison Williams
No one seen it.
Amanda Hirsch
No one's seen it. No one's seen it. So excited to see it. Also, Allison, pod dropped already or just teaser?
Allison Williams
Drop. Yeah, just teaser. Okay.
Amanda Hirsch
Landlines. Tell me why landline lines?
Allison Williams
Because that's where our friendships were built. On landlines.
Amanda Hirsch
They were.
Allison Williams
I know, did you have the see.
Amanda Hirsch
Through phone where you could see all the. Like.
Allison Williams
I didn't have a see through phone. I didn't have my own phone. I didn't have my own line. The eye roll you just gave even.
Amanda Hirsch
I got my own line.
Allison Williams
No, but my parents were like, you're just not. We don't trust you with that. And they were right. They shouldn't have.
Amanda Hirsch
So that's how you met your two friends that are doing this with you?
Allison Williams
I met Hope when we were born because our moms grew up together in that town. And then we met Jamie in kindergarten when she joined our school. And so way before landlines, but our friendships were. Were, like, forged in, like, a, you know, a conference call. But, yeah, so it was like, just. It felt when I got pregnant. I don't know where you were in your friend order of having kids, but I was among the last. And I was like, the huge upside to this is that I have at my fingertips these, like, full experts that I can just be like, what is a duna? And then, like, seven people would respond and be like, you need it. Don't ask questions. I'll show you how to fold it.
Amanda Hirsch
Did you love it?
Allison Williams
Loved. Are you going?
Amanda Hirsch
No, it's suburban people.
Allison Williams
Oh, yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
Yeah. And then I got in. I was like, I don't know what to do.
Allison Williams
Oh, you guys were working with, like, an apparatus.
Amanda Hirsch
Lenny's really big. He grew out of it in, like, seven seconds. He looked way too big for you.
Allison Williams
It's like when they're a little squishy. We traveled the globe like, a ton in Arlo's first life, and it was. It is a godsend. I'm not paid by them. I wish.
Amanda Hirsch
It's. They don't send you one for free.
Allison Williams
They sent you one for free.
Amanda Hirsch
Oh, they did. I thought you.
Allison Williams
Oh, no, we. This is. This was registered. Like, we're like, we need this thing. But I didn't. I was like, what are all of these? What is a bassinet versus a crib? And they were able to just like. It was like having chatgpt. Who can make references like, remember when you had this in your room? It's like this, but for this.
Amanda Hirsch
How do you decide to start a podcast when you're so busy that you just wrapped Regretting you.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
Which is another Colleen Hoover novel, which everyone's obsessed with everything she does and writes.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
How you fit in a pod.
Allison Williams
We filmed, filmed. We recorded the podcast episodes in the fall. In the fall of last year. And then, because I first shot a movie, a little independent film called Kill Me in. In Utah. And then I shot the additional photography for Megan, and then I shot Regretting youg by the Colleen Hoover adaptation. Yes. And so now the podcast is coming out, and so we've. We recorded all the episodes in the fall of last year, and we've just been tinkering with them.
Amanda Hirsch
So what's the release date for that?
Allison Williams
June 8th. It's coming out June 8th on Monday.
Amanda Hirsch
So it will be out, right?
Allison Williams
It'll be out, yeah. Exactly.
Amanda Hirsch
Is an episode dropping once a week?
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
Okay. Mondays.
Allison Williams
Yes.
Amanda Hirsch
June 27th. We have Megan 2.0.
Allison Williams
Yeah.
Amanda Hirsch
And is there any date for regretting it? You.
Allison Williams
October 24th.
Amanda Hirsch
Okay. That's not too far away.
Allison Williams
It is not too far away.
Amanda Hirsch
I'm so excited.
Allison Williams
Way, way too soon. It's like, so soon.
Amanda Hirsch
Because you're going to be pressed to her press. To her press tour.
Allison Williams
No, it just makes me nervous from a producer standpoint whenever the release date for something.
Amanda Hirsch
Are you producing on that one as well?
Allison Williams
I'm an EP on that one.
Amanda Hirsch
Amazing.
Allison Williams
Yeah. Yeah, I'm very happy about that. It was. I didn't get to. On both Kill Me and Regretting you because of the Megan of it all. I didn't get to fully, like, be there for prep and for post and every part of the production. But. But the. The EP part of it is just like, just the greatest. It's the best.
Amanda Hirsch
You're the best. I'm so happy you came on so much more.
Allison Williams
I wanted to talk to you about. It's just not enough time.
Amanda Hirsch
Come back for. Can I come back and I'm regretting you.
Allison Williams
We'll talk more.
Amanda Hirsch
Okay, well.
Allison Williams
Okay, Your homework is to watch Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. I promise.
Amanda Hirsch
She wants to murder me.
Allison Williams
Look.
Amanda Hirsch
Look at that face. Murder.
Allison Williams
Big eye, full face. Eye roll. Like her whole face.
Amanda Hirsch
She keeps saying it deserves an Emmy. I will.
Allison Williams
What's my home work? What do I need to watch?
Amanda Hirsch
Oh, do you watch Summer House?
Allison Williams
Early Seasons. Should I tune in again?
Amanda Hirsch
Should she tune in again?
Allison Williams
Yeah, I should.
Amanda Hirsch
What else do I watch?
Allison Williams
She watches a lot of like. Like shows.
Amanda Hirsch
She's not really like that.
Allison Williams
Oh, well, same. What show?
Amanda Hirsch
Like Adolescence. You were obsessed. I mean, your friends and neighbors.
Allison Williams
Oh, I haven't started that.
Amanda Hirsch
So good.
Allison Williams
Okay, that's my homework. We'll talk about it next time. Okay, perfect.
Amanda Hirsch
Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Not Skinny but Not Fat. Follow me on Instagram at Not Skinny but Not Fat. Subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any episodes. Rate the podcast that you love so much on Apple Podcasts and write a little review. If you tell me you did, I'll give you a big virtual Smoocharoo. Thank you guys so much for listening and I'll see you next Tuesday.
Allison Williams
Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Services Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.
Podcast Summary: "Allison Williams is not Marnie (even though she kind of is)"
Not Skinny But Not Fat hosted by Amanda Hirsch features an engaging and insightful conversation with acclaimed actress Allison Williams. Released on June 24, 2025, this episode delves deep into Allison’s personal life, her journey in the entertainment industry, and her ventures into producing. The discussion is rich with candid moments, professional experiences, and personal reflections, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of Allison beyond her iconic role as Marnie in Girls.
Amanda Hirsch sets the stage by expressing her excitement about having Allison Williams as the guest, highlighting Allison's pivotal role in Girls and her subsequent projects. She emphasizes the duality of Allison's persona—both relatable and highly accomplished.
Amanda Hirsch [01:34]: “You’re a phenomenal actress and these kinds of conversations. I love the reality TV stars and I love getting into the drama and the tea. But, like, I also love to, like, learn from really smart, intelligent people that have been in the industry and have stories to share.”
The conversation begins with a warm exchange about Allison's children, delving into the joys and challenges of motherhood. Allison shares her experience of having an emergency C-section, discussing the emotional and physical impact it had on her.
Allison Williams [13:02]: “Because his heart wasn't doing well during the labor and it was just like a very stressful thing. And I had been in labor for about 36 hours.”
Amanda and Allison discuss the lack of preparedness for such medical emergencies and the importance of mental health support during childbirth.
Allison Williams [14:19]: “If I knew the answers to some of those things, I would just be processing, like, this isn't going the way I pictured it, or I'm scared, or, you know, this is vulnerable.”
Allison reminisces about her early career, particularly her breakthrough role in Girls. She discusses the process of landing the role and how her background in improv comedy contributed to her audition success.
Allison Williams [52:04]: “Judges Apatow saw it, and they had been trying to cast Marnie for a while... And that's how that happened.”
She also reflects on her role in Get Out, describing it as an incredible and charmed experience that opened doors to the thriller genre.
Allison Williams [58:11]: “And the dream, what Get Out did for me was it knocked the Marnie loose from me a little bit... it introduced me to the thriller genre where you're able to like deal with a psychosocial issue...”
A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the importance of intimacy coordinators in the acting industry. Allison advocates for their role in ensuring safe and consensual environments during filming, sharing personal anecdotes from her time on Girls.
Allison Williams [34:05]: “They talk to the director. They're like, what do you picture for this scene?... And so you're all just like ready to go.”
She underscores the necessity of clear communication and boundaries to prevent non-consensual actions on set.
Transitioning from acting, Allison delves into her passion for producing. She explains how her involvement behind the scenes has allowed her to influence projects more holistically, ensuring creative integrity and fostering positive work environments.
Allison Williams [62:21]: “I need to be on it. I need to know everything that's happening.”
She discusses her role as an executive producer on upcoming projects like Regretting You, emphasizing her dedication to every aspect of production.
Allison shares exciting news about her upcoming projects, including the highly anticipated Megan 2.0, releasing on June 27th. She also introduces her new podcast, Landlines, available on Headgum, where she explores friendships and personal growth.
Allison Williams [61:37]: “And so two months, everything I've been in, I've also either been an executive producer or producer on... I just love the whole thing.”
She encourages listeners to tune in and stay connected with her latest ventures.
Amanda Hirsch [05:23]: “But today I have Allison Williams, who plays Marnie on Girls, who's also in Megan.”
Allison Williams [15:43]: “The ability to find romance in that is back.”
Allison Williams [39:23]: “Then it means a whole other thing.”
Allison Williams [54:08]: “I’m still very aware that along the way, there are just more moments than I can count where... I was going to be okay.”
This episode of Not Skinny But Not Fat offers a multifaceted look into Allison Williams' life and career. From personal struggles and triumphs in motherhood to professional insights and her evolving role in the industry, Allison provides a narrative that is both inspiring and relatable. Listeners gain a deeper appreciation for her dedication, her thoughtful approach to acting and producing, and her genuine commitment to fostering safe and creative environments in her projects.
End of Summary