PHOTOGRAPH HIROMITSU OGATA/AUGUST IMAGE
While it may be easy to assume that celebrities aren’t plagued by the same kinds of problems and insecurities as us mere mortals, Mamma Mia! star Amanda Seyfried will gladly admit that she has a tough time staying calm. Her battles with anxiety have affected her for most of her life, she’s said.
Over the past few years, however, things have started to change for the 32-year-old. Having always regarded acting as a therapeutic and expressive outlet for her anxiety, Seyfried still struggled with performing live, and consciously avoided taking stage roles, saying she was ‘terrified of audiences’. In 2015, she decided to tackle her demons head-on by signing up for off-Broadway two-person play, The Way We Get By. Not only did the actress shine in the role, gaining newfound self-confidence along the way, she also made a vital connection with her co-star, Thomas Sadoski, who would later become her husband, and the couple now have a one-year-old daughter. In a seismic shift, these days Seyfried happily extolls the virtues of taking risks, saying stepping out into the unknown has brought about opportunities and experiences she would never have otherwise sampled.