That Time Julianna Margulies Opened Up About Being the ‘Sunshine Girl’

Tidbits from the archive.

Four years ago this week, Shondaland published my interview with actress Julianna Margulies. It was my first major celebrity interview, and I was enormously grateful that it was with someone so kind and down to earth.

As I wrote in the intro to the original piece, as a girl, Margulies was shuttled back and forth between divorced parents living on separate continents. Her father, a successful advertising executive who wrote the Alka Seltzer “plop, plop, fizz, fizz” jingle, lived in comfort, while her mother, a free spirited former dancer who was constantly trying to find herself, could barely pay the bills. As the family’s “Sunshine Girl,” a nickname bestowed upon her by her mother, Margulies took it upon herself to try to keep everyone around her happy. It’s a mindset that would go on to define much of her adult life.

Over the course of a nearly hour-long Zoom call, Margulies told me about her turbulent upbringing; her traumatic encounters with Steven Seagal, Russell Simmons, and Harvey Weinstein; and how her role in The Good Wife inspired her to write her memoir, Sunshine Girl. Due to space limitations, much of our conversation did not make it into print. So, in honor of this week’s fourth anniversary of the interview, I’m sharing the outtakes.

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SANDRA EBEJER: Congratulations on your book! I’ve been aware of your work for a long time but didn’t know anything about your upbringing. Was it daunting to put such personal information out there?

JULIANNA MARGULIES: Yes. I have to say thanks to my editor, who would push me sometimes. I would say, “No, no, no. I’m not a public person.” And she’d say, “Sit with it for a few days and see what you come up with.” And then I would start to write, and I’d say, “You know what? I actually need to write this.”

I wanted this to be a coming-of-age story. And I felt confident because I had my mother’s blessing. I always said, “I have to wait until my mother dies before I can write a book about my life.” Because she was such a central part of it, but also such an eccentric character. But the truth is, not only did she give me her blessing, but she gave me the freedom to write everything. She never once said, “Oh, please don’t write that.” She owns her stuff.

The hard part growing up with a mother who was so self-obsessed about finding herself, to the point where she would forget about the needs of her children, is that she has never stopped searching. Even in her eighties now, she’s reading Thich Nhat Hanh, she’s meditating. She’s always searching to improve her life. And with that comes absolute and total acceptance of who she was. That freedom allowed me room to write everything down that I remembered as a child. I kept journals since I was nine and that was really helpful.

I’ve kept a journal since I was nine, as well. They’re mortifying to read now. But I would imagine they were useful.

Yeah. It’s what worries me about computers now. I wonder if kids who were our age then are journaling? That was my sacred time at night. I would write in my journal before I went to sleep. And to keep track of your life, it’s a really special thing. It takes discipline to do it. It was invaluable for me to have them, for sure.

You delve into a lot about your childhood. I barely remember three weeks ago, let alone decades ago. Were your sisters and your mom helpful in filling in the gaps as you were trying to recall details?