Margaret Qualley reveals she’s been in therapy since childhood and says starring in The Substance helped her process both her own and her mother Andie MacDowell’s trauma

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Margaret Qualley shared that she’s been attending therapy since she was 16 years old. She discussed her experiences with mental health and explained how working on the film *The Substance* allowed her to work through difficult experiences, both her own and those of her mother.

The 30-year-old American actress, praised for her performance in a 2024 horror movie, revealed she started therapy to gain self-awareness. She also shared that she struggled with serious sleep problems when she was in her early twenties.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, she shared that she’s been seeing a therapist since she was 16 years old. She also talked about struggling with really bad insomnia in her early twenties, which significantly impacted her life. She often found herself awake until 9 a.m., desperately trying to fall asleep.

Margaret remembered having to skip the Cannes Film Festival because of her trouble sleeping, which happened when she was first starting out with her role in The Nice Guys.

She recalled one of her early film roles being in ‘The Nice Guys.’ It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, but she didn’t attend because she was severely sleep-deprived and felt unwell after going four days without sleep.

As someone who’s explored a lot of personal growth techniques – I’ve even taken up daily meditation myself – I can really relate to what this actress shared. She talked about still feeling incredibly connected to her inner child, which is beautiful. But she also admitted that becoming a woman has made her wonder just how much of who we think we are is *actually* us, and how much is simply what society expects. It’s a really insightful question, and one I think a lot of us grapple with as we navigate life.

Margaret shared openly that playing her character, Sue, in The Substance helped her process and deal with long-held family trauma.

Honestly, when she talked about what performing that role did for her understanding of being a woman, it really struck me. She described the experience – ‘The Substance’ – as being completely immersed in everything difficult, not just her own struggles, but the pain carried down from her mother and even previous generations. It was like facing all of that head-on, right in the center of the chaos.

She said playing the role of a seemingly perfect, young female robot in the movie was actually very difficult, because it felt unrealistic and didn’t reflect how anyone truly sees themselves.

The actor also pointed out that the film doesn’t really represent femininity well and actually leans towards masculine themes in many aspects.

Margaret’s mother, Andie, 67, has shared that she had a difficult childhood due to her mother’s struggles with alcohol and bipolar disorder. These experiences left Andie with lasting anxiety and post-traumatic stress, which she still deals with today.

Andie has thought about the emotional burden she carried as a child and how it affected her body’s stress response.

Drawing from her own life experiences, she often used calming techniques to manage on-set anxiety while filming the 2021 Netflix series, Maid, alongside Margaret.

Margaret recently shared that she’s trying to match a famous actor with her mother, Andie, and this new interview expands on that topic.

During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the 30-year-old actress shared that she’s been trying to set her single mother up on dates.

During a game of true or false on the late-night talk show, she told Jimmy something she hadn’t shared before.

She shared that she once attempted to set Bill Murray up on a date with her mother. Jimmy Fallon correctly pointed out that this was unlikely, as Murray and her mother had previously played a romantic couple in a film.

Oh my gosh, you will NOT believe this! Andie and Bill, who are both 74 now, were in *Groundhog Day* together! Like, the *Groundhog Day*! They were the leads! I’ve seen that movie a million times, and to think they shared the screen back in 1993… it’s just amazing!

The actress from Honey Don’t then admitted she was being honest and had literally just tried to arrange a date between her mother and Bill in her dressing room.

While they were talking behind the scenes, she mentioned she’d found out Bill is now living in Charleston – the same city her mother recently moved to after her children had grown up and left home.

He’s wearing a Piggly Wiggly shirt, which reminded me of growing up in North Carolina. Piggly Wiggly is a popular grocery store in the South, and there was one near where I lived, so I immediately recognized it.

‘Then, cut to I find out he’s living in Charleston. My mom’s living in Charleston,’ she continued.

She remembered Bill telling her that he and Andie struggled to collaborate while filming.

He mentioned that his mother and he didn’t always see eye-to-eye during filming. He said she was slow getting ready and once forgot her lines.

Margaret quickly responded with a clever reply: ‘Actually, sir, I heard something different.’

She then explained how she got the idea to help them reconnect and potentially set them up. 

She realized they clearly had a lot of anger towards each other, but it seemed like he was attempting to fix things.

‘And I’m like, she’s single, he’s single. They’re both crazy. Let’s get it together.’

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2025-09-18 21:38