Julia Sweeney

And so I have a lot of happy memories of that.

And we all, and of course we were going to mass all the time and we all went to Catholic schools, but that was just, you could walk to.

So we were together a lot.

Given the subsequent issue with drugs and alcohol, you really became what you've described as the face of dignity in your family.

How did the two realities of strawberry picking and then having to deal with really such profound issues at such a young age affect you?

Well, for one thing, I'm still processing it all.

So I'm still in process.

But I would say where I am now thinking about it, and this is common for families that have a lot of trauma.

And that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of love and laughter, but a lot of addiction issues and a lot of difficult personality issues.

That one of the kids kind of becomes the public face.

And that was me.

So like I was always doing really well at school, doing things that brought pride to the family.

My parents could point to me and say, look what a good job we did.

And then often there's another sibling who becomes what they call the scapegoat.

And, you know, I also hate these kind of pejorative psychological stereotypes, but they hilariously fit my family.

So they're useful as well.

So like my brother Bill was breaking into people's houses, doing a lot of drugs, failing at school, you know, a truant.

And I have so much compassion for him.

I did even at the time when he was still alive.

Like, I remember standing on a street corner saying, do you not understand these are roles that we have been put into?