Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Sex/Life’s Sarah Shahi

Sarah Shahi is heating up the screen in her leading role as Billie Connelly in Netflix’s provocative new drama Sex/Life. Available on the streaming platform on June 25, Sex/Life is the story of a love triangle between a woman, her husband, and her past that takes an alluring new look at female identity and desire.

Before Billie Connelly became a stay-at-home wife and mother living in the suburbs, she was a free-spirited wild child living in New York City with her best friend Sasha (Margaret Odette), working hard and playing even harder. Exhausted from caring for her two young children, Billie begins reminiscing about the life she once had. While she ponders about how she got to where she is today, her husband, Cooper (Mike Vogel), discovers her journal, which details her passionate exploits with her ex-boyfriend, Brad (Adam Demos). Will the truth about Billie’s past start a sexual revolution in her marriage or lead her down a path back to the life she thought she left behind with the man who broke her heart?

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Sarah about Sex/Life, how she fought to play Billie, and how this project/role has changed her life.

PC: You were determined to land the role of Billie and put yourself on tape four times. What was it about this character and script that stood out to you?
Sarah: There was a lot. First of all, I felt Billie was dynamite in a box. She’s so full of life. She has such a big appetite for life—bigger than Texas. I was like, “Come hell or high water, I’ve got to be her!” There was a lot that I felt like I could relate to. I’m a mother of three myself, and Billie presents motherhood how it is; it’s complex, it’s messy. She’s a super great mom, but at the same time, you can be a really great mom and still wonder who you’ve become. You can be a great mom and you can be married, and you can still look back on your life and wonder about the choices that you’ve made. I felt this was such an honest and raw look into all those thoughts that you have as men or women in relationships and as parents, but you’re not allowed to say out loud. I feel that’s so wrong.

It’s important to note, I tanked my audition. I didn’t do a good job. There were three scenes, and I did well on the first two, but I butchered that last one. When I found out that they were still into me, I was like, “Oh, well then in that case, if you’re saying there’s a chance, let me know show you what I can do.” I went back and I put myself on tape over and over again.

Stacy Rukeyser and I have a couple of friends in common. My friends had built me up so much that I was a ball of nerves by the time I went in—that’s why I tanked the audition. But thank God they picked me, man, because otherwise I would have quit acting and became a midwife.

PC: You’ve shared on social media how transformative this project has been for you. What’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned about yourself being a part of this project and embodying this character?
Sarah: Billie is a character who has so much courage. Even when everybody around her is questioning her choices, she knows who she is, and she knows what she wants. I have so much respect for that. I feel I, myself, just from the time that I was young, I’ve lived nine lives already. Oftentimes, there were moments in my life when I was making choices, whether it was a career decision or a personal decision, where the group around me didn’t agree with the choices that I made or I made the choice because the group around me that told me to make that choice. She really encouraged me to find the truth of who I am and be unapologetic in it.

She’s such a sexually liberated character that I feel she says we have wants and desires, and that’s okay. I feel like as women, we’ve been told for so long to live and act in a certain box, especially once you’ve reached a certain age. It’s refreshing to be reminded that you don’t have to do that. She encouraged me to be braver in my life.

PC: Your character has so many rich relationships throughout this series. Which was your favorite to explore and why?
Sarah: I love her relationship with Sasha. We don’t see female friendships depicted like this on screen because we come to find out very early on in the show that they have something in common, which is Brad, but you quickly realize that this is not going to be a show about two women fighting over a man. These two characters are thicker than thieves. They’re sisters through the end. They’ve been through so many different incarnations of themselves, but the one thing that has remained true is their loyalty to each other.

I have a girlfriend like that. She could call me tomorrow or right now and say, “I need help burying the body,” and I would hang up this phone. I wouldn’t ask any questions. I would leave. Chicks before dicks, man, what can I say?

To keep up with Sarah, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Binge-watch Season 1 of Sex/Life on Netflix on June 25th.

Photo Credit: Amanda Matlovich/Netflix