Work in Progress: Caterina Scorsone

Summary

Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: Work in Progress with Sophia Bush
Episode: Caterina Scorsone
Date: December 10, 2025
Host: Sophia Bush
Guest: Caterina Scorsone

This episode features a deep, vulnerable, and inspiring conversation between Sophia Bush and actress/advocate Caterina Scorsone (best known for playing Dr. Amelia Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy). The episode explores Caterina’s evolution as an artist, her journey as a parent to a child with Down syndrome, her advocacy for disability inclusion, and her personal growth through career changes and major life events. Both women reflect on the intersection of personal story, societal expectations, privilege, and what it means to be a "work in progress".

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Main Themes

• The realities of being a woman in Hollywood, then and now
• The importance of storytelling as a human necessity
• Navigating and questioning societal scripts around womanhood, marriage, and achievement
• Disability inclusion, ableism, and societal constructs
• Parenting and the transformation that comes from raising a child with Down syndrome
• Resilience through trauma and harnessing community
• Internal versus external validation and personal evolution

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Careers, Hollywood, and Context

• Navigating Early Hollywood as Women
  • Sophia and Caterina reflect on the harshness and toxicity of the early 2000s entertainment industry, contrasting it with today.
  • “A lot of the kind of younger people who are coming up now…truly can't understand the context that a lot of the specifically actresses were living through…when Weinstein was like running the town…” —Caterina (08:04)
  • They acknowledge the shift towards more safety and vocabulary for what is unacceptable behavior, but note it’s still a work in progress.

Childhood, Family & Early Dreams

• Both Caterina and Sophia had aspirations to be doctors as children.
• Caterina describes her upbringing in a large, creative, academic family that also had roots in service and social work:
  • “I was kind of always looking and I was like, looking, looking, looking and trying to, like, gather information to understand how things were. And I think that…remains.” —Caterina (10:21)
• Acting started not from ambition, but as a means to pay for her future education after her sister’s audition led both into the business.

The Value of Storytelling & Empathy

• Both women reflect on the way narrative, storytelling, and empathy are at the core of human life.
• Caterina discusses leaving acting to study philosophy, literary studies, and comparative religions, which crystallized her understanding of storytelling’s importance:
  • “The reason we feed people and…house people is because we're all engaged in this miracle, which is life. And that…conscious attention…is why we eat, you know. So they're both important. You feed the people so that they can have this experience of consciousness through narratives.” —Caterina (21:58)
• Sophia adds:
  • “The root of that is empathy. And the quickest way to get in touch with or create empathy is to learn someone's story.” (23:43)

Grey’s Anatomy – Art that Informs

• Caterina was a fan before joining the cast, even taking a real-life medical lecture course inspired by the show before deciding acting was her real path:
  • “I think I just want to be on Grey's Anatomy.” —Caterina, on an “aha” moment (28:48)
• Both praise the show for its role in reflecting and stimulating cultural conversations, especially around issues like COVID-19, medical advocacy, intersectionality, and representation.
• Caterina notes the archetypical nature of the show’s characters and its unique unifying effect:
  • “All the different characters seem to serve this Jungian function…it’s like you’re negotiating your own inner journeys…” (30:41)
• Reflection on the evolution and broadening of topics the show covers, from sexuality to marginalized identities.

Personal Evolution: Motherhood, Divorce, Growth

• The hosts discuss how lived experience and evolving roles (on and off-screen) have shaped their sense of self.
• Sophia talks about societal conditioning and the journey of realizing she hadn’t made true choices for herself:
  • “I don't think women are reared to choose. We are reared to be chosen…I'm kind of heartbroken for myself and other people, and on the other hand, I'm like, that's just so funny.” (41:07)
• Caterina reflects on questioning the scripts society imposes, especially around femininity and achievement:
  • “We kind of had this prescribed assumption about how life is supposed to go…but when you start to kind of investigate…you understand that that doctor was a society that does not have the best interests of most of us in mind.” (40:44)
• Both relate this questioning and rewiring to their experiences of divorce and midlife transformation.

Disability & Advocacy

• The conversation deepens around Caterina’s parenting journey with her daughter Pippa, who has Down syndrome.
• At first, Caterina’s fear arose from the unknown and from society’s invisibility of disability:
  • “The fear was because…there was no visibility in my life…I didn't know what the assignment was…” (49:19)
• She realized her job was not to fit her child into ableist standards, but to question the whole system that excludes:
  • “There's nothing wrong with this child's iteration…she is born perfectly individual, just like the rest of us…Disability has to do with how much society has decided to include people who have different abilities…” (51:02)
• A powerful framework shift:
  • “Disability is not about your kid…it’s about how much does society want to include you in a conversation?” (51:44)
  • She credits disability activist Imani Barberin for the insight that “if the people in power want you excluded, they will disable you.” (53:47)
• Caterina's advice for new parents:
  • “I would never, ever, ever want to go back to the person I was before Pippa was born…My community has expanded so exponentially, it shattered a paradigm…” (61:52)

Navigating Trauma and Community

• Caterina shares reflections on losing her home to a fire and the realization of her own privilege during that trauma due to access to resources (insurance, support):
  • “Our society is not structured to take care of us in a crisis…there are so many families that did not have the infrastructure that I had.” (64:43)
• She emphasizes the growing awareness of community responsibility as faith in the government’s social safety net wanes.

Current Life, Self-Validation, and “Work in Progress”

• Discusses her involvement with Moto Yoga LA and its role as a community hub post-disasters.
• Caterina’s current work in progress:
  • “Outsourcing your sense of validity, fulfillment, okayness…to an observer outside the self…and that actually, there is a community inside the self…” (68:03)
  • “All of those versions of self are the voices…once you’ve made that community of self the ultimate arbiter…then you're more free to engage in all of your interpersonal relationships and…social relationships in a non transactional way. Because everything is already provided.” (69:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We can keep going with kind of a deeper understanding of what's happening.” —Caterina, on industry progress (09:42)
• “What you have been able to do as an actor through the character of Amelia…such a complex specialty…I mean, the field of neuroscience is…it’s like almost sci fi.” —Sophia (29:01)
• “I feel like I graduated.” —Caterina, on living through divorce (40:42)
• “Is that authentic femininity and masculinity or is that imposed?” —Caterina (43:07)
• “When you realize that disability is not about your kid…it’s about how much does society want to include you in a conversation?” —Caterina (51:44)
• “The staircase to the second and third floor is an accommodation…We just decide who is worthy of being accommodated.” —Caterina (52:04)
• “If the people in power want you excluded, they will disable you.” —Caterina quoting Imani Barberin (53:47)
• “I would never, ever, ever, ever want to go back to the person that I was before Pippa was born.” —Caterina (61:52)
• “Once you’ve made that community of self the ultimate arbiter…you’re more free to engage in all your interpersonal relationships in a non-transactional way.” —Caterina (69:19)
• “You, my friend, are a poet.” —Sophia (70:25)

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Important Timestamps

• 08:04–09:42: Reflections on Hollywood’s treatment of women, pre and post-#MeToo
• 10:21–14:09: Childhood, family roots, and how Caterina got into acting
• 21:58–24:57: Storytelling, empathy, and why narratives matter to humanity
• 25:01–28:48: Grey’s Anatomy, influence, and choosing acting over medicine
• 31:35–34:28: Grey’s as a unifier, archetype exploration, and boundary breaking
• 40:42–43:31: Divorce, societal scripts, and questioning what’s authentic
• 49:19–54:43: Parenting a child with Down syndrome, reframing disability, and activism
• 61:52–62:39: Advice for new parents of children with Down syndrome
• 63:51–65:02: Navigating trauma and privilege after her house fire
• 68:03–69:19: Internal community, self-validation, and current “work in progress”
• 70:25–71:10: On writing a future book

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Tone & Language

The tone throughout is heartfelt, direct, empathetic, and sometimes deeply philosophical. Both Sophia and Caterina are open about their vulnerabilities and the ongoing, non-linear nature of personal growth. The conversation is sprinkled with warmth, humor, and a spirit of mutual admiration.

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a profound look at what it means to evolve as a human in all dimensions—career, advocacy, parenthood, community, and self. Through honesty and curiosity, Caterina Scorsone and Sophia Bush invite listeners to question societal scripts, find the strength to redefine their own paths, and build inclusion and empathy at every level of life.

Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Host (possibly Carly)]

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[Host (possibly Carly)]

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[Katharina Scorsone]

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[Host (possibly Carly)]

Busy, taxes and fees extra.

[Katharina Scorsone]

See mintmobile.com hi everyone, it's Sophia.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Welcome to Work In Progress.

Welcome back to Work in Progress. Friends, fans, listeners and Internet pa. This is an episode you all have been waiting for and telling me you've been waiting for. We are finally joined on Work In Progress this week by none other than Katharina Scorsone. She is one of those rare performers who brings a stunningly present emotional intelligence to every role. She's best known for her more than a decade spanning turn as Dr. Amelia shepherd on Grey's Anatomy. She has built a gorgeous career playing complicated, honest, fiercely human women. Characters who fall apart and rebuild and somehow emerge even more whole than before. But her story off screen is just as compelling. Katharina was born and raised in Toronto in a very creative household. One of five siblings, she's been acting professionally as a child, but took a little left turn thinking she might actually be a doctor, only to boomerang all the way back and become one on tv. Her parents were academics who also ran homeless shelters. So from a really early age age she's had a keen sense of life's complexities and how important it is for us to show up in service of each other. She has managed to merge all of her passions in such a meaningful way on and off screen. And perhaps off screen, she's taken on her most meaningful role of all as a mother of three and now an incredible advocate for disability inclusion. Drawing from her experience raising one of her three daughters with down syndrome, she chooses to use her platform to promote greater understanding, to end stigmas, and to create a community for people who value both voice and heart. Let's dive in and talk about all of these beautiful, beautiful Things with Katarina.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Hi.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Hi.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Hi.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

I'm so happy that you're finally here. And I know the whole Internet, like, the whole Internet, the gray's Internet, the gay Internet, like the whole Internet just wanted. Has been shouting for you to be with us on this show. And I'm so happy we made it happen.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Well. And we finally gotten together in like, some capacity. Whether Cass and Emelia ever make it. There we go. Together.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

We're together. Exactly. Well, I think too, like, everyone's Internet's kind of broken. A few years ago when we hosted our big, like, post soccer game party at my house and everyone was like, wait, all these people know each other? Like, oh, my God.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Oh, my God, that was awesome. Yeah. That was a great party, by the way.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

It was so fun.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah, it was one.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah. I love that we tend to find each other in so many spaces. Whether it's like in our day jobs, literally on the same show at the moment. Yeah. In advocacy, in supporting women's sports. Like we always are. Like, you're here. Of course.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Well. And I feel like also through time, like the fact that we've kind of like woven past each other. I mean, we've been. How long have you been doing this? How long have you been an actor? And all of the other things. But, you know, that being the first.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Professional, I mean, I didn't start going on auditions until college, so not until I was 18.

I was working and, you know, doing recurrings and like a little movie here, a little thing there.

You know, starting in college. And then I was. I. I don't know, I think I'd been 21 for like a week or something when I booked One Tree Hill.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Okay.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

And so like, it's 20 years and I'm.

[Katharina Scorsone]

I'm literally. I can't even do the math. Was that in like the early aughts?

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah, it was 2003. Okay.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And that was One Tree Hill. 2003.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

2003. Like, yeah. What a crazy time. When you think back to like the early sort of tabloid Internet and the way we treated women and the fact that anyone dared to call Britney Spears fat, like, it was such a toxic soup of things.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah. Well. And I think a lot of the kind of younger people who are coming up now, like, truly can't understand the context that a lot of the specifically actresses were living through. Like in the pre. Me Too era and in the kind of like when Weinstein was like running the town versus, you know, this era now of like hr, like, you know.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Like it's not perfect, but at least you have someone to go ask for help. I, I will say it's so weird. I feel like there's so much I've learned in, in kind of hindsight because booking that show, you know, it took me to small town North Carolina for a decade. So there was a lot that we experienced in our little bubble and certainly the pressures of the time and the commentary and all the craziness. But like the industry stuff, I, I didn't know any, I didn't know any of it. I didn't know any of those people. I was like, I was very rarely around. And so it's crazy too, you know, some of the things I've heard since and, and learned since, I'm just like, holy, how did, how does this exist?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Anyone survive it?

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah. Well, and I think one of the things that we have now, I don't, again, I don't think it's perfect like you said. And I think that there's still a lot of like egregious things that happen. But I think what we got was a vocabulary for even understanding.

What was egregious and how the kind of power structures work and.

Where we're entitled to more safety than we've been given. And so I think what we really gained is this vocabulary for moving forward slowly and then like two steps forward, one step back. But we can keep going with, with kind of a, a deeper understanding of what's happening.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

That's a really beautiful way to put it. I'm curious, you know.

Not just about career and present day and so many other things people know about you, but if we went back, you know, if we got to walk out onto the playground right now and see our eight year old selves, who would eight year old Katerina be?

[Katharina Scorsone]

I don't feel far away from her, you know what I mean? And I think, I think and I've heard you ask this question before and it kind of has given me pause because I, because I'm like, well, what did I think I would do or who would I be? And I think I actually just wasn't oriented that way in that I think I wasn't kind of looking at myself and wondering what kind of, you know, noun, person I would be as an adult? I think I was very located in an observer position inside of myself. And so I think my mom's even talked about it. I'm like one of five kids and she's kind of said that very distinctly. And specifically when I was born and when I was a little Kid. I was kind of always looking and I was like, looking, looking, looking and trying to, like, gather information to understand how things were. Yeah, right. And I think that that kind of, whatever I became, I think that remains. And I think as an actor, as an artist, as an activist and a social advocate who's trying to, like, understand the structures of why things are the way they are and, you know, how you create a person on screen and why they function the way they do. I think it is this kind of orientation of, like, curious observation and that feels familiar throughout my life.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

And you started on a children's series at 8, right?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah, I did.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Which is also so crazy.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah. And. And I think I understood. I did not understand until listening to your podcast. You're Canadian somehow.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah, so my dad's Canadian.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Okay.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

My dad is from Montreal and moved to LA in the 70s to go to art school and stayed.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Right.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Started his business and did his whole thing. And my mom is. Is from the east coast and her mom immigrated to the US as a young kid. And so it's like, big American dream. Anything is possible here. Energy on both sides of my family.

[Katharina Scorsone]

My parents had the reverse journey. My mom was born in New York and my dad actually. Yeah, my dad was born in Italy, and then he was in Argentina for a long time, and then he was in California and New York, and eventually they both met in grad school in Canada.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Wow.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And. And then they stayed. And so I was born in Canada, but.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Wow.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

So how. How does little 8 year old Katerina tell her parents, I want to go be on a TV show? How did that happen?

[Katharina Scorsone]

It was not that. I mean, I think I had kind of one of those unusual journeys. My older sister, I was in a choir. We were in like a children's choir. And my older sister wanted to be an actor, and I wanted to be a doctor.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

I wanted to be a doctor. What kind of doctor? I wanted to be a heart surgeon. I wanted to go into cardiologistics. Yes. Wow.

[Katharina Scorsone]

I wanted to be obgyn.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Oh, my God, look at us. And we play doctors on tv.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah. So I wanted to be a doctor, but my parents, who, you know, both were academics, they both had PhDs, but they had. My dad had a PhD in social work, and my mom was a social anthropologist. And so they had this like, whack of five children, but not a lot of cash. And so, you know, a family value of ours was like, get educated. But I knew that you have to pay tuition to do that. And so my sister wanted to Be an actor. And I was kind of with her when she was meeting her first agent that my parents were like, okay, you can, but it's not like, I don't know, just if you want. And. And then the agent was like, why don't you come along too? And I just knew that I could like save up money for tuition if it worked out and then I could be a doctor.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Incredible.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And so it kind of, in a weird kind of meta way. Yeah, I saved up tuition and life was long, but somehow I'm now like an actor.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Doctor.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Doctor on tv.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

There's really something about it. I think it. Something on a sort of spiritual level when you get to achieve your grownup and childhood dream at the same time, which is how I feel like being on set and doing a scene in an open heart surgery, I'm like, I did it. I weirdly manifested like my two favorite things to do. This is so crazy.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Well, and I'll say I recently I had kind of an interesting experience because I, I do get really hyper. Like, I love acting and I love storytelling and I get really interested in the storylines and in the medicine of the storylines.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And so I'm like super interested in neuro, which is, which is Amelia's specialty. And so I'll often like steal the props from set when they, when they've like printed out things about the newest studies on Alzheimer's. And I'll take them home and read them.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yes.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And then I'll like go down rabbit holes. Yes. And so I have learned a lot in, in that time. And, and then recently my. One of my kids did have a big surgery and it was a, it was a heart surgery. And, and, and the information really kind of served in that setting, you know, in terms of my ability to advocate for her and my ability to kind of read all of the charts and understand exactly what was going on.

You know, the eye on everything as like different doctors and nurses are like changing shifts and you kind of get to be this through line for your kid and you have to be. But I think real life and this kind of like fantasy life have, have really kind of worked together in a beautiful way.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

That's so cool. It just, it feels like a little nod from the universe.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

We'll be back in just a minute, but here's a word from our sponsors.

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[Host (possibly Carly)]

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[Host (possibly Carly)]

When did it hit you? Because you know, I get that as a kid on Mr. Dress up, you're going, oh, I can work the way my sister works. I can save up money for college. This feels fun. It's a little summer campy. But when does acting as a professional goal sort of crystallize in your mind?

[Katharina Scorsone]

The first answer is when I was like 15, I was doing a show for Disney and a bunch of the kids there were just like really focused on their, like professional careers. And I think that was actually the first moment that I realized that this was not an extracurricular activity.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

That I happened to be doing like in school hours. Like I really thought we were all kind of like, you know, some kids play soccer and some kids are in choir and then some kids do acting and then you go and have your adult life. And it was really like a light bulb when I realized that these kids, this is going to be their grown up life. Wait, what?

And that was when I realized you could like be a storyteller professionally. Wow. And I still was kind of on the fence. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that. I got a little serious about it. And then at about 19, I was like, in LA and there's a whole journey. But I decided I wanted to go and do college and study other things. But then in that process I was studying like literary studies and philosophy and comparative religions and. And I came to understand how important narrative storytelling was for like the human journey. You know, I hit my parents again. Like they were in social work and they were, you know, running soup kitchens and helping people with these very like tangible real world problems. And I kind of thought like, oh, that's what's important. Being a doctor is important. Running a homeless shelter is important. Acting is frivolous, you know what I mean? And actually when I left acting and went back to college and actually started studying philosophy and again, comparative religions and literary studies, it kind of crystallized for me that the reason we feed people and the reason we house people is because we're all engaged in this miracle, which is life. And that for us to fully participate in that miracle, this kind of conscious attention that allows us to read the story of self and its relationality with other is like, that's why we're, that's why we eat, you know, and so, so they're both important. You feed the people so that they can have this experience of consciousness through narratives.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

The root of that is empathy. And the quickest way to get in touch with or create empathy is to learn someone's story.

And I had a very similar experience to you in college. You know, I wanted to be a doctor. Then I decided I was going to go get a BFA in theater. And I, I was in the honors program at my university. And one of the things I was really heavily focused on was theology and philosophy.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Cool.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

And studying these things, you know, am I. It's like, I know it can be just like, oh my God, roll your eyes. The actor talking about there was written language. We were passing stories, but we were, we were. The value of the story, the generational song, the humans around the campfire at night passing down what we believe. It's like, it's so foundational to who we are. And it made me realize why shows like yours, which I'm lucky enough to come play on Sometimes, yeah, are so important because they actually teach us about science through the lens of human experience.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

And they, and they do also teach us to advocate for ourselves.

[Katharina Scorsone]

One of the things that Grey's Anatomy has done really well, I think, is that it is in dialogue with the culture through the decades. I mean, we've been here for 22 years. Many things have happened, many cultural conversations have happened. And I think Shonda Rhimes and you know, the showrunners who have come after are sensitive to, okay, what are we talking about? Let's have that conversation. And so one of the kind of scary things was during COVID we decided to do a Covid season, which in some ways was very claustrophobic and very.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Like, I mean, you guys in those, like the arrivals, those like space suits with. Yeah, that was a lot. But we had a lot of your face.

[Katharina Scorsone]

It was a hard season. It was a hard season to shoot and I think it was a hard season to watch. But I think one of the things that it did was it provided medical communication to a lot of people who did not have access. And I think it provided witness to a lot of the health care workers and frontline workers who were dealing with this like, yeah, unbelievably unspeakable day to day trauma.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yes. And then also being accused of like being secret agents to some big conspiracy. And you're like, these people are literally on the front lines of death trying to keep people alive.

[Katharina Scorsone]

But I think you're right. I think that medical communication and scientific communication is so important because I think the reason we're so polarized, I mean, as a country and in many ways is because there is this lack of transparency, you know, or there's kind of this assumption that everyone's on the same page. And I think what we've realized in the last kind of election cycle is we're so far from the page that we thought that we assumed people were on and it's like this big wake up of like, oh, we were all assuming that we were having the same conversation. We were not.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

We were not.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And by projecting our assumptions onto people.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

We are wholly unprepared for actually the experience that other people are having and therefore what is going to affect our country. But, but yeah, informed consent is important and unless you have the information, you don't feel like you can consent. So even if it's, even if the scientific community is trying to do something benevolent and for your best interest, people are going to be suspect if they don't have the information to make their own decisions. And so we really have to, like, address that.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

What was it like when you, like, discovered Grey's in the first place? Were you a watcher before you joined the cast? Like, what was that all the way back in the beginning?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Like, I had, like, the box set DVDs of the first season of Grey's Anatomy, and so I was, like, doing finals. And the way I would decompress from, like, studying was I would watch this new show, Grey's Anatomy, in this, like, on dvd.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Oh, my God, I love it.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And I was, I instantly fell in love with it. And I thought it was just like such an exciting, dynamic show and, you know, the pedos and the drama and it was so sexy and. And I was like, I think I. I think I want to be a doctor. I think I.

Wanted to be a doctor as a kid, but then I was like, no, I'm going to be all of these other kind of social justice things. And then I got to end up undergrad and I was like, I think I do want to be a doctor after seeing this. And so I ended up going to the medical faculty at the University of Toronto and signing up for this six week lecture series where surgeons would come in and lecture to humanities students about what being a doctor was in case you wanted to take your humanities degree and, like, now become a doctor. And so I listened to six weeks of surgeons talking about actually what their day is like and what surgery is like. And I got to the end of that series and I was like.

I think I just, I think I just want to be on Grey's Anatomy.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

It turns out.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

I might want to tell the stories for the doctors.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah, more pathos.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

More on call rooms. I love it. What you have been able to do as an actor through the character of Amelia, you know, trauma, addiction, grief, such a complex specialty, as you mentioned earlier. I mean, the field of neuroscience is, is. It's like almost sci fi.

[Katharina Scorsone]

It's so cool, mysterious and evolving.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Like, what you do has been so deeply personal and human and also so incredibly technical. I mean, after 15 years of this is. I was about to say, is there a. Like, there could be one. Silly me. What would you say are the. The kind of top handful, biggest takeaways or like, lessons or. Or kind of magical learnings you've had from doing this job?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Well, I do love wearing scrubs and the running shoes because as you probably know, like, I've done so many shows where you're like, in a dark factory, running in like 4 inch heels with a gun.

And that hurts. But like it's actually physically like you're.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Like, you made this decision.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah, this is not what would happen. And so the war drum on Grey's Anatomy is the best one I've ever had. I love that. I love about Grey's that because it's this massive cast.

And our fan base is so broad and it's all over the world and it's every age group. And I feel like in this kind of like, I don't know, like.

Fractured, postmodern, echo chambery world, I feel like graze.

Is such a unifier, but also that all of the different characters seem to serve this like Jungian function for people where like almost like the kind of like avatars that you would find on like Olympus or like these kind of Jungian like archetypes, people identify certain characters with different aspects of self and they can kind of negotiate their own kind of inner journeys and relationships through the characters on Grey's. And so there's this like opportunity for catharsis. And I think also, I think like the audience, I think all of the people who have been involved in Grey's Anatomy have like been on this journey that Shonda Rhimes put us on of like a mission based show which is entertaining and sexy and hot and something everybody wants to watch. But we're also like again, breaking down these social conversations and having new ones and starting to understand.

Intersectionality and marginalized communities that in the first few seasons weren't even talked about. And by the end we're like talking about identities that had never, never even approached being on mainstream television. We're kind of breaking down binaries and.

Finding a new way to approach an understanding of.

Visibility, you know, and so that's been, that's been exciting.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah, I mean, it's so special. And then in the sort of backdrop of all this storytelling and, and boundary breaking, to your point, you've had this incredible evolution as a person. I mean, you know, becoming a mom and, and your, your life growing in that way. I mean, you've got three kids and like.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

What's the experience being part of such a big on screen world and then building such a big off screen world. I feel like because of the way that you were raised and what you saw modeled in terms of service and showing up and also a big family, like maybe, maybe. Did it feel more natural to you to be invested so deeply in multiple worlds at once?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah, I mean, I think it is interesting.

I moved to LA and I was pretty much cast into Shondaland, like, within a year of arriving here. And so actually most of my heart and soul friends that I met immediately are on the show. And so we would have these incredibly intense interactions on screen. And then behind the scenes, somebody would be having a baby or getting divorced or getting a cancer diagnosis or like, working through some sort of. We just went through so much. And the private. I'm going to include the Private Practice cast in this conversation because Amelia was like, on Grays and Private Practice at the same time for three years, and then Private Practice ended and she ended up on Graze. But we're all like, all the Private Practice people are still on a text thread together.

Yeah. Like marriages, babies, divorces, like, understanding. I don't know, it kind of all weaves together.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah. And I think even just like one of the most exciting things for me being kind of a woman in this industry is like going from a place of playing ingenue to, like, understanding her. Kind of going from, like, male gaze ingenue to like, coming into her own power and becoming professionally not just adept, but masterful and exiting the male gaze as like an object of desire and projection and like, coming into kind of her own.

Lived internal experience as like kind of. You know.

I just think it's like a. It's a journey that we haven't had the opportunity to see from women until something this longstanding.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

So, yeah, 20 years of watching women become is pretty exciting.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

It's so cool.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah. And Amelia too, like, Amelia went from being kind of like a wayward, you know, sometimes drug addicted, you know, wild child and, you know, and she kind of moved through wild, like, dating and marriage and children and queer spaces and, like, she's just had this very dynamic, full life and.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

We'll be back in just a minute after a few words from our favorite sponsors.

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[Host (possibly Carly)]

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[Host (possibly Carly)]

Is there something interesting to you about that? You know, both in her journey and as a woman who, like, set out on the path that I think so many of us believe we're gonna walk. Right. Like, it gets laid out for you and you're like, that's how it works. And you build the life and you do the things and you check it off and then you're like, like, oh. Like there's something missing to go through that in this character and also in the background to, you know, go through the birth of your three children and then to go through your own divorce.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Like, I don't know. I mean, we've both been through it, you know, recently enough and it's like.

[Katharina Scorsone]

I mean, I feel like I graduated.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

I mean, you know, I feel like I kind of like, again, what you're saying is like, we kind of had this, this like, prescribed assumption about how life is supposed to go, but when you start to kind of like investigate where that prescription came from and who the doctor was and you start to understand that that doctor was a society that does not have the best interests of most of us in mind.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yes.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Then you start to kind of like deconstruct the protocol.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

I had this experience. I was explaining it to someone the other day. I had this great conversation with A friend I had, I hadn't seen in a while over dinner. And I said, you know, I don't think until I knew that my. What I thought was my happy ending was wrong for me. I don't think it had ever dawned on me that all the choices I was making perhaps weren't choices at all.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Right?

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Like, I don't think women are. Are reared to choose. We are reared to be chosen. And, and for me, in midlife, looking around and going, like, wait, did. Did I. Did I choose any of this? Or did I tell myself I was choosing, like, it was sort of like going through my own internal earthquake. But it felt really good when the shaking stopped to your point, like this, this, I graduated. I'm like, I know exactly what you mean.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Totally.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

And on the one hand, I'm kind of heartbroken for myself and other people, and on the other hand, I'm like, that's just so funny.

Yeah, well, and again, I think people.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Like, you know, they. They want to, again, binary everything where they're like, wait, are you saying that marriage is bad? No, Like, I think not understanding your choices is bad. I think that if you are defaulting into, you know, heteronormative marriage and kids and because you didn't realize there were any other options, that might be a tragedy for you. And if you, if you can see outside the fish tank how society is structured and how we were socialized from the beginning of the gender reveal into absolutely different grammatical roles in our. In our, again, our social language. And when you understand that, you can go, well, first of all.

Is that authentic femininity and masculinity or is that imposed? Imposed?

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

What is actual authentic femininity? What is actual authentic masculinity? How much of each of those do I feel inside of myself and how much of the assigned definitions do I want to participate in, you know, in.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

My life, being taught to be a good girl, you know, often a people pleaser, often a fixer, a very early parentified child. I was like, oh, I didn't think. It didn't dawn on me until I was so claustrophobic in my own life that I wasn't making, to your point, full choices I wasn't seeing outside the fish tank. Someone, the world around me would say, here's five pens. Which one do you want to write with? And I'd go, I choose the blue one. But there's a thousand pens, right? I never asked.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Paintbrush.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah, but it's like, I never asked for more because I thought, well, who am I to ask for more. But guess what? Walk out there and look at all the other colors, look at all the other things, look at all the other tools and it, you don't, I think you don't even realize how much conditioning can stop you from seeing until you, you know, there's more and you rip the blinders off and then you're like, holy, right? Look at this world. Like, I didn't know. I didn't know until I knew.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Well, and I think that that is a conversation for again, we're kind of like talking from a place of like a lot of privilege, right?

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yes.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Like being white women who are in non disabled bodies. You know what I mean? Like the wake up call.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Being able to leave in the first place.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah. And that for a long time, you know, the limitations of patriarchy.

Within the understanding of the story of achievement in patriarchy and in like white supremacists patriarchy, like unconsciously, if you haven't consciously unpacked it, like it's working for a long time, you're able to get a lot of things that feel good. And it isn't until you have a bunch of firecracker wake up calls in your life where you're like, wait, not everybody has access to all these nice things and wait. Yeah, this is not the experience everyone's having. And those I think are the moments where when you encounter the first person that you know with disability or when you truly are kind of like when you're introduced to kind of intersectional, you know, different communities and you realize that, that actually our society is created to exclude certain people and to include other people and, and that actually we're all, we're all participating in a, in a structure that is violence to every single individual in it.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yes. Even the people with the perception of power. Yeah. It might take longer for it to be violent with them. But it is.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Well, but it is because. Because it actually.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

All the time and just.

[Katharina Scorsone]

No, it is all the time.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Because even even taking away your, your informed consent about how you're going to live your life, even when you're like, you know, you get the pink cake and you think you're supposed to choose sparkles, like that's a violence against your individuality. Right. And against your, like that's so reductive. Yeah. You're uniquely unfolding DNA and awe. Right. And so we're all living in the violence of like an imposed value system that doesn't serve any of us.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

The things I've witnessed in, in communities of women over the years of my adulthood have been so incredibly beautiful, including the willingness to say, hey, I know I have me individually, I have these following types of privilege. What am I missing? Like, one of the coolest things I just. What an insane sentence I'm about to say. I just got to moderate a stop on Kamala Harris's book tour, and she has this thing, this moment in her book where she says, I always ask when people are being gathered or when I'm going to meet people. I always ask who's not in the room, I always ask who I'm not hearing from. And that to me, I'm like, God, more of that. And I'm, I'm really curious for you because you are such a brilliant woman, friend, mother, performer, advocate. I see so much of your wisdom every time I'm with you, every time I get to listen to you speak. And when I think about your three daughters and the fact that your second daughter has down syndrome, I've read all the things, you know about how scary it was, the diagnosis, and you, you were so terrified of what you didn't know. And, and you've gone on to be this incredible advocate for her and you work with the Global Down Syndrome foundation. And I mean, even the way you're able to talk about ableism and privilege.

When you, you know, how, how poorly designed the world in its current iteration is for us as able bodied, privileged women. And then you look at one of your kids who has an added layer of struggle in a world like ours. How do you, how do you focus on what she deserves, becoming a motivation and a, and a force that activates you rather than either making you so mad, you go crazy or, or being so scared that you can't sleep at night. Like, how have you learned to.

Fuel her future in yourself?

[Katharina Scorsone]

The beginning of the journey was, was full of a lot of, like, fear.

But really the journey was realizing that the fear was because of. There was no visibility in my life. I didn't know, I didn't know what the assignment was, right? I was like, this is a kid I didn't expect.

What I understand of parenting is that I, as a parent, am tasked with taking this little baby and helping them to achieve all of the metrics of ableist, straight CIS white patriarchy. Right? All of this is unconscious. This is not what I understand. I think the task is. But that is unconsciously. You're like, I gotta make this kid. I gotta find a good school. I gotta make sure they're in sports. I gotta make sure that they can Achieve all of the markers that will allow them to be included.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Right.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And so how am I gonna do that? This kid is gonna have more challenges at that time task. And so you feel really powerless and you're like, I don't know how, I don't know how to. And then you realize that the task is the wrong task. And actually, like.

You'Re not even, even like the beginning of the advocacy as a parent. You're like, I need to make sure that my kid is included in this ableist white patriarchy. You know what I mean? And it's like, actually, no.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

And then you're like, wait a second, am I?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Am I?

[Host (possibly Carly)]

You're like pointing your finger at yourself. Am I part of the problem?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Am I part of the problem? No. There's nothing wrong with this child's iteration.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

She is born perfectly individual, just like the rest of us.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And the moment you stop being afraid of the word disability is when you realize that disability has nothing to do with the particular body of someone who can or can't do certain things. Disability has to do with how much society has decided to include people who have different abilities, different bodies, different cognitive capacities and whatever. And I think when you realize that disability is not about your kid or yourself if you're disabled, it's about how much does.

Society want to include you in a conversation? How much do they want to give you the ability to participate? Then you can talk about disability with no problem because you're actually talking about society.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Right. And what you're actually talking about is stretching the margins of society wider than they have typically been to make more space for more people.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And that society is disabling you. Right. And society, if they decide to build a staircase for an able bodied man to get to the meeting on the second floor, they have given him an accommodation. He can't jump 16ft. So they have accommodated his disability to get to the second floor meeting. Right? Yes, we've decided that he is worthy of being accommodated. Right. You can build a ramp. You just need to decide that someone in a wheelchair is worthy of being accommodated so that they can get to that second floor meeting. Right. And so it really is about, are we creating a society with all types of bodies in mind and you. And the same kind of. Can be extended to all sorts of, kind of intersectional exclusion. Exclusion for marginalized groups. It's like they have been disabled from participation in certain kinds of activities and meaningful parts of our. Of our functioning society. And so, you know.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah, well, and what you're talking about is so obvious. And also not because we don't, we don't have conversations like this unless we seek them out. You know, we, we don't know these things. It doesn't dawn on you that like, hello, the staircase to the second and third floor is an accommodation until someone says it to you in that way.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Right. Well, I do want to shout out Imani Barberin, who is an incredible disabled activist. And, and actually it was, it was listening to her where I had kind of the, the light bulb go on about this, that disability. I think she said something like.

Talking about the politics of disability and like what's going on with like politics right now. And, and, and she said something along the line, and I'll misquote it, but something along the lines of understand if the people in power want you excluded, they will disable you. And whether that's deciding that your identity is not normative and therefore not to be accommodated.

Or not providing you with the medical access you need or.

Basically, the people in power are the people who decide who is disabled. And when we're talking about disability justice and advocacy, we have to understand that we're all included because the second they decide that you are an enemy of the state, essentially you get recategorized.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yes. Well, by the way, think about our grandmother's generation. Quote, hysterical women would get institutionalized. They would force you to have a lobotomy. They would literally medically disable you.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

If you didn't fall in line.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And queerness. You know what I mean? Like, there are all of these categories that if you look at history, they were just classified in ways that made them outside of what was okay, society. Right. And so we. And women, I mean, are you kidding me? Like, women couldn't vote because we were like not considered like mentally competent. You know what I mean? Like, that we were disappointed disabled from participating in democracy by these structures like they decide.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Absolutely insane. And now for our sponsors.

[Xolair Advertisement Voice]

Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods while taking Xolair. You should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Xolair. Xolair may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair this is an advertisement for Xolair, paid for by Genentech and Novartis.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Friends, I'm sure you're like me. My schedule is packed. I need solutions that work on my time, including beauty solutions. And Sensica does exactly that. They do professional hair removal right at home. Quick, easy and the results are amazing. What I love about the Sensilite is that it is a true game changer. It actually targets the root of the hair follicle and helps prevent regrowth. Plus it's cordless, makes it easy to use and DIY it in the comfort of my own home. Go to buysensica.com that's B U Y S E-N-S I C A.com and use code I HEART for 10 off. Seriously, start now. You're gonna love it. Oh friends, we all want to feel sexy under our clothes, but let's be real. Equally important to undies that look cute is how comfortable they are. And that is why on this podcast we are big fans of Skimming skims. We've been wearing skims forever. Again, thank you to the podcast and recently upgraded our Fits Everybody collection. It is so soft and I'm talking right out of the package and when you put it on, it's like a second skin. I'm a big fan of the Fits Everybody Crossover Bralette. It's like the most comfortable supportive bra that you forget you're even wearing. The band provides the perfect amount of support and lift, but it doesn't feel like it's cutting off your circulation the way some bras do, you know what I mean? And the material is not only so soft, but it's got just the right amount of stretch that holds everything exactly where it's supposed to be. So if comfort is important to you, shop Skims Fits everybody [e-mail] after you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you select podcast in the survey and be sure to select our show in the drop down menu that follows. And if you are looking for the perfect gifts for everyone on your list, the Skims Holiday shop is now [e-mail].

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[Podcast Announcer]

Twentieth Century Studios presents the upcoming comedy Ella McKay from Academy Award winning writer director James L. Brooks, whose legendary credits include as Good as It Gets, Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and the Simpsons. Emma Mackey plays Ella McKay, a passionate, idealistic young woman who juggles her family and work life in a heartfelt comedy brimming with hope about the people you love and how to survive them. Ella is highly intelligent and caring, finding purpose in taking care of and defending others, whether that be the public or even more difficult, her family. Ella McKay features an all star cast including Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Loudon, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Adebury, Julie Kavanagh, Spike Fern, Rebecca Hall. With Albert Brooks and Woody Harrelson. It's a perfect holiday comedy about an imperfect family. Ella McKay only in theaters this Friday. Get your tickets now.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

You speak on this so beautifully. You do so much work. You've educated yourself in such incredible ways. You teach when you talk. In your advocacy with the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, I'm curious if there have been takeaways or learnings, things that, that, you know, are most helpful for new parents of newly diagnosed children who don't know what you know yet, who are frightened, who are overwhelmed, who don't know where to start. Like, like, what's the, what's the first North Star you can point people to so they can know how joyful their, their kid's life is gonna be the way you know that about your middle daughter.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah, I mean, oh, gosh, there's so much to say. And first of all, I want to say the Global Down Syndrome foundation is amazing and they do a lot of fundraising to do lots of research that is now no longer being prioritized by the government. And so lots of research that helps again, enable people with down syndrome and their families to participate. And then also that helps with kind of medical research that gets, gets to kind of the root of some of the comorbidities that go along with down syndrome. There's too much to say, so I would just give them my peace and calm like, as a parent with a nine year old, like, there's. I would never, ever, ever, ever want to go back to the person that I was before Pippa was born. In terms of my understanding of the world, Pippa is by far my easiest kid.

Pippa is an absolutely authentic rock star of a person who I learn from every day. My community has expanded so exponentially, it shattered kind of a paradigm that allowed me to start learning about all different kinds of intersectionality. I understand myself. It's just like, I guess the takeaway would be like, I know you're scared because you don't know what you're doing. Take some breaths. Yes. You're gonna find community and you're gonna know how to parent this kid. Just like you learn how to parent typical kids. And, like, it's all gonna be okay.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

You're gonna love it.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And there are hard parts, of course, there's hard parts of parenting all kinds of kids, but find your people.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

But that's so beautiful. Do you think that your lessons in.

Possibility, expansive thought, you know, what you've learned from being her mom helped you cope back in 2023 when you went through your. Your house fire?

[Katharina Scorsone]

No.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

You know, do you? Because I know. I mean, we've talked about it a bit, but. Yeah, it's such a traumatizing thing to go through that it's. It's an incredibly traumatizing thing to lose your home. You went through it two years before our whole city went through it, you know, from the east side all the way to the west. Like, I thought so much about your wisdom in those first weeks of January this year, watching so many people I knew go through it. I was like, holy, you know, how do you reflect on that experience in terms of your perspective on, you know, community, safety, home, family? Because people will say, it's just a house, it's just stuff, but it's also, it's. It's the record of your life. It's both. And I. I imagine.

[Xolair Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And again, I think, I mean, to be. To be frank, I was able to navigate our fire in part because I had a lot of resources. You know what I mean? I had insurance and I had a place to go, I had friends. And then I was able to move us into a new situation. And I think actually when the Altadena fires happened and the Palisades fires happened, I think because I had been through all of the complexity of the kind of bureaucracy of getting my children safe again and comfortable again, and how my financial world was kind of rocked and Affected. Just realizing in such a profoundly personal way the extent to which there are so many families that did not have the infrastructure that I had. And so as much as there was all of the kind of trauma and devastation psychologically, emotionally, for my kids and my family, we didn't have that extra layer of, like, actual houselessness, you know, and. And that, again, is like. It just shines a light on, like, our society is not structured to take care of us in a crisis.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

And.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Oh, I'll say this.

I think one of the things we've been learning over the last few years, there's been this, like, incredible demoralization about the ability of the government, whether right or left or whoever, to take care of us all. I think people are more and more demoralized. And I think that, yes, it's sad and, yes, it's scary, and I do think that it has woken us up to our need to take care of each other in local community.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yes.

[Katharina Scorsone]

And I think that's what happened during the fires for a lot of people. Yes.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Well. And it's been really interesting to see people much like yourself, the advocate.

That your life and the identity within your family built in you on top of the advocate you were raised to be. I wonder, too. Like, I think about two very big communities for you. I mean, obviously you mentioned Gray's. We're all. Well, myself included. I was about to say we're all over here in my Instagram feeds, very upset that Cass and Amelia haven't hung out.

[Katharina Scorsone]

I know that's a problem.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

I'm also just, like, as a friend, upset that, you know, in the two episodes I was on this year, you've been on hiatus. I'm like, girl, what is going on? Where are you? People want to know? Do you know where.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Where Amelia is? Well, Amelia's apparently in Boston doing, like.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

A fellowship at Harvard or something.

[Katharina Scorsone]

I actually don't know what she's doing in Boston.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Okay, great.

[Katharina Scorsone]

She found her people. But she'll be back. She'll be back in January.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Okay. Thank God. We miss you.

[Xolair Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Has it been kind of nice to have a moment to yourself? How has. How is like a. A beat from the intensity of a TV schedule? How's that shaping your day to day?

[Katharina Scorsone]

I'm founding co owner of some yoga studios in la, which also do a lot of.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that next. I love Moto.

[Katharina Scorsone]

I was only involved. Emily Morwin started the studios here in la, and so we were childhood friends, and so I started it with her in la.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Here and it's such a beautiful studio.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Well, and I think one of the things that's cool about that, speaking of Altadena fires, like the Echo park studio basically became a community hub. So it was kind of those studios became kind of spaces where people could come after like, you know, disasters in the city. And, and yeah, there was a pantry at one point and you know, just a lot of community events to kind of organize and bring people together after like suffering this collective trauma. And so.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yes.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Wow. So you've been able to lean into that time with friends and family, what feels like your work in progress right now.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Okay. You know, I was just talking to somebody about this and I've been doing a lot of actually meditating on it, but I think.

I think I've been doing like a contemplation on.

Outsourcing, like how much we outsource and that, you know, again, we can kind of talk about our society or you know, our interpersonal relationships, but like outsourcing your sense of.

Validity, fulfillment, okayness, accomplishment, just identity, to like an observer outside the self or a community outside the self. And.

And that actually there is a community inside the self and that that community happens over time. Right. And so like you can, I think you did it actually brilliantly. You talked about like if you were 8 years old and you saw yourself, would you kind of recognize yourself as kind of the thematic question. And I think that, that what you're doing kind of when you ask that question is you're inviting.

The community of one iteration of yourself to be with the community of the other iteration of yourself. And I think that over the years of your life and over the minutes of your life and the seconds of your life, all of the choices that you've made.

Create this cumulative identity.

And those are the voices. All of the seconds of your life where you were you. Those are the voices that should be informing how you feel about who you are and each decision that you're making, those, those are the voices. All of those versions of self are the voices. And you can trust those voices because they've shown you how to survive all this time. Right. And so really just kind of like understanding that once you, once you've made that community of self the ultimate arbiter of your sense of safety and joy, then you're more free to engage in all of your interpersonal relationships and all of your social relationships in a non transactional way. Because everything is already provided. So your choices, you actually have the ability to consent to every interaction you're engaged in.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

I love that you. You, my friend, are a poet.

You are.

When are you writing a book?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Oh gosh, you know, I had three kids.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

You're like when they're in fall knowledge or.

[Katharina Scorsone]

I, I, you know, it is one of those that I, I would say that's my little guilty thing of like when am I supposed to the when do I say yes to those types of things? I don't know.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

You got time?

[Katharina Scorsone]

Yeah. Thank you for, for creating a sp. You, you create a space to kind of like for all of the people who don't have time to write the book. You like are like tell me about the book.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Yeah. Tell me about the stories that will go in the eventual book. Yeah, I love.

Makes me so happy to get to be with you for a bit. Thank you for coming today.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Thank you for having me.

[Xolair Advertisement Voice]

Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair, 150 milligrams is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older. To reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods while taking Xolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Xolair. Xolair may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions including anaphylaxis while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair this is an advertisement for Xolair paid for by Genentech and Novartis.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Friends, I'm sure you're like me. My schedule is packed. I need solutions that work on my time, including Beauty solutions and Sensica does exactly that. They do professional hair removal right at home. Quick, easy and the results are are amazing. What I love about the Sensilite is that it is a true game changer. It actually targets the root of the hair follicle and helps prevent regrowth. Plus it's cordless, makes it easy to use and diy it in the comfort of my own home. Go to bysensica.com that's B U Y S E-N-S-I C A.com and use code I HEART for 10% off. Off. Seriously, start now. You're gonna love it. 10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.

You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000. This is where mindset comes in. Someone will be eliminated.

[Podcast Announcer]

Pressure is coming down.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

This is Trainer Games.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Then the space hamster flew his hot air balloon all the way to the bottom of the ocean.

[Katharina Scorsone]

Where did that story come from?

[Host (possibly Carly)]

Book Dream?

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Nope.

[Host (possibly Carly)]

It came from a conversation. Meet Miko Mini plus, the AI companion that co creates personalized story adventures with your child in real time. What color was the hamster's cape and what did he pack for lunch? Unlock your child's imagination. Discover Miko Mini plus and the magic of AI Exclusively at Costco. Come for the Black Friday seasonal savings Stay for the award winning reporting for a limited time access to the Washington Post is just 99 cents. That's unlimited access to all of the posts for only 99 cents every four weeks. That's a great deal for the first year. After that it'll cost $12 every four weeks. You can cancel anytime, but don't wait. This Black Friday seasonal offer won't be here for long. Go to washingtonpost.com iheart and grab this deal before it's gone. That's washingtonpost.com iheart this is an IHEART podcast.

[Podcast Announcer]

Guaranteed human.