Actress Sarah Shahi is adding a new title to her resume: author.
The “Paradise” star has written her first book called “Life is Lifey.” It’s part self-help, part memoir, part girl chat in book form.
On The Red Carpet caught up with Sarah at a special event in Los Angeles celebrating her book’s release.
Shahi said the idea for the book came when she was starring on a show called “Sex/Life,” where she played Billie, a wife and mom who wasn’t happy in her marriage and questioned the life she was living.
“Through playing her, I was able to get the courage to make the changes that I wanted to make in my life, to really go after the version of my life that I felt like I was meant to live. And when the show came out, I became acutely aware of women all over the world that were feeling very similarly,” Shahi said. “It felt very natural to put all the wisdom and the little tidbits of information I’ve gathered along the way that have helped shape my journey to put it into one space.”
“I wanted something that covered the A to Zs of life because the topics that I tackle in the book, there are things that I think of all the time,” she added. “I think for the longest time, too, women were told to live a certain way, to abide by a certain rhetoric or a certain story, and that you weren’t allowed to want anything more than what you were being offered. And so, for myself, you know, I wrote this book with the intention of healing myself, but I have found, and the response thank goodness has been so positive, that I’m healing others along the way. And there’s no greater gift for me than that.”
“I take a lot of inspiration from Nora Ephron. Nora Ephron is a big writing mentor of mine, and the way she constructs a sentiment where you can laugh and cry in the same sentence. And for me, those are the styles in which I am touched the most deeply. And also, I feel like I hate being lectured to. I don’t know anybody who enjoys being lectured to. And so, if I can deliver information and insight in a way that feels humorous, I feel like people will also digest that more. So that was actually a big goal of mine is to write in a that felt very conversational. We were kind of like in our PJs and having a girl chat,” she added.
One quote from the book is that “Courage is something we have to practice,” something Shahi herself had to do in order to get “Life is Lifey” published.
“When I had this idea for this book, I had members of my team at that time…I had five people, five of my representatives back then, who told me I didn’t have a voice, I didn’t know how to write, I didn’t know what I was going to say. I had nothing to say, and if anything, I should wait until I was like 65 and write a memoir. But it really goes to show, and I talk about this in the book too, it’s like being an outlaw for yourself. And for your beliefs,” Shahi said.
Being an outlaw is something that has helped Shahi throughout her career and her life. One such “go against the rules” moment for her was when she emailed creator and showrunner Dan Fogelman in the hopes of getting a role on “This Is Us,” a show she was infatuated with.
“I sent him an email, never heard back. But what’s funny is six months later he offered me a role on another show that he had at the time I said yes only in the hopes of meeting him. I never met him. And might I add, my reps chastised me for this. They were like, ‘you will never work with him because you went behind protocol. You went behind our backs and you did this,'” she explained. “And then cut to the audition for ‘Paradise.’ I walk in the room and the first thing he said was ‘Sarah Shahi, you wrote me an email years ago. I will never forget it. I’ve been wanting to meet you. It’s so nice to finally meet you,’ and I got the role.”
Shahi plays psychotherapist Dr. Gabriella Torabi, who helped Sinatra, played by Julianne Nicholson, create the underground bunker where most of season one took place. Shahi teased what’s ahead in season two for her mysterious character.
“We do learn more about Gabriella and her backstory. And one of the other things on the show is, a lot of the characters, their morals are straddling between good and bad. And last year Gabriella, I felt like she was very altruistic. This year she gets to straddle that line between good and bad and that was fun to do,” she said.
“One of the things about Dan’s writing that I love so much is just when you think you know what’s going on, he has a way of pulling the rug up from underneath you and you actually have no idea what’s happening. And he takes so many of those turns this season and they all pay off in such a huge way that I don’t think anyone would have seen coming.”
“Paradise” season 2 streams on Hulu February 23. And Shahi’s book “Life is Lifey” drops January 27.
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