How Mamma Mia! star Amanda Seyfried tackles her demons – through Buddhism, meditation, and with a white donkey named Gus
She starred with Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine and Cher in Mamma Mia! but Amanda Seyfried says she prefers a simple lifestyle; her Jaeger-LeCoultre watch says otherwise
Mamma Mia! star Amanda Seyfried may have worked with three of Hollywood’s most iconic women – Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine and Cher – but the most important female in her life is her two-year-old tousled blonde, Nina Rain Sadoski.
Nina is Seyfried’s daughter with her Last Word co-star Thomas Sadoski, whom she married in March 2017. Since her daughter came into her life, Seyfried has limited her films to two a year.
“If I do three, then it’s because it’s a very small role, or a favour to someone because I am not going to spend two or three months away. I take her with me sometimes but, normally, I leave her with my husband. I can’t do this every time I am working because it is not fair to him,” she says.
“I want to spend time with her. She’s more important and she’s much more fascinating than anything else. I’m not going to waste my time on something that I think is so-so. So it has to be a good project; it has to be a really demanding role.”
Seyfried started her career as an 11-year-old model before graduating to television work and then being cast in Mean Girls. Since then, she has starred in a number of hits such as Solstice, Jennifer’s Body, Letters to Juliet, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Les Miserables and, of course, the two runaway Mamma Mia! hits.
Despite her sterling achievements, acting is not something that comes easy to Seyfried, who has been very open about suffering from anxiety, arising from her obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Nowadays, she tackles her demons with Buddhism and meditation.
“I was just struggling emotionally and spiritually and I knew I had to take care of myself. I started meditating and it was amazing. It gets easier the more you do it, and it’s really nice to sit there quietly. It’s important to try and get centred in a world that is desperately trying to kill you.”
It’s one of the reasons she hasn’t been sucked in by the bright lights of Hollywood and, instead, spends her time in a converted farmhouse in the Catskills outside New York City, where she and her family also provide a home for rescued animals, including a white donkey named Gus.
“My life [on the farm] is, I wake up and see my daughter, or I wake up with her, or she wakes me up. I spend time with her and give her her bottle [of milk] and then I give her to my husband or mother and then I go out and feed the animals because I am the main caretaker.”
The 33-year-old enjoys her time away from the bright lights but throws herself wholeheartedly into her work when she is on set. Having worked with respected actors such as MacLaine, Streep and Cher, Seyfried says she was amazed at their passion and enjoyment of their work.
“I love my job, and I love it more now because each thing I do is important to me and I’m making more sacrifices to do it. So I need to show up and enjoy it. I love being on set; I love the teamwork that is involved. I love creating a character and growing with it. I love everything about it.”
Amanda Seyfried’s preferred watch