Episode Details

Hey, Heal Squad! We’re back with Jennifer Esposito, actress, director, New York Times bestselling author of Jennifer's Way, and the writer-director-star of the award-winning film Fresh Kills. Today Jennifer is getting into the full story behind Fresh Kills… where the idea came from, what it cost her to make it, and why the industry did everything it could to make sure you never heard of it. From growing up in Staten Island surrounded by the mafia and the young women trapped inside that world, to betting her house(literally!)  on a film she believed in with everything she had, Jennifer takes us through the fight of her creative life. She opens up about members of the industry who didn't show up when she needed them most, the standing ovation at Tribeca that still couldn't get her a distribution deal for an entire year, and the Hollywood machine that tried to bury Fresh Kills. And now that a major studio is positioning their new Godfather film as the "first female mafia story"? Jennifer has something to say about that. Then just when you think the story can't hit any harder, she lands in Paris,  and for the first time in her entire life, her nervous system goes quiet. She tells us what life is like in Paris, and how she’s finally transformed her life and health for the better. 

HEALERS & HEAL LINERS

• You were never the problem. Jennifer spent years in Hollywood shrinking herself to fit a mold that was never built for her…. told she wasn't the right type, wasn't white enough, wasn't the girl next door. The moment she stopped trying to be what everyone else needed her to be and started making Fresh Kills on her own terms, everything changed.

• Bet on yourself before you ask anyone else to. Jennifer mortgaged her house because she was done asking people who didn't believe in her to fund something they couldn't understand. When no one would greenlight her vision, she greenlit it herself. That is the Heal Squad mindset. Stop waiting for someone to give you what you already know you deserve, and start moving.

• You can't heal in the environment that made you sick. Three months in Paris and Jennifer barely recognizes herself. Smiling on the street. In the pool. Playing records. She says she has never in her entire life had a calm nervous system, until now. 

  
  

  
  

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