Julia Sweeney

Like, you don't have to be that person.

And I, in a lot of ways, I was just lucky enough to be a person who got assigned the role of the public-facing achiever because, first of all, it allowed me to live, which many people didn't in my family, and it gave me the tools to process it, which some of the other kids did not have.

So...

Anyway, I don't know if that answers your question.

No, it does.

And as I was preparing and doing my research for our interview, I was also the oldest of four, three brothers and myself.

I was also the sort of appointed face of dignity, overachiever, look at what Debbie's doing, which was really hard for my brothers.

Because they were, well, why can't you be like your sister?

And I'm like, they don't want to be like me.

I'm hiding so much stuff that they don't want to have to ever think about.

But it's interesting how we take on that role.

And I know you also were quite a caretaker to your brothers.

Oh, yeah.

I was very much the caretaker and grew up thinking, I mean, I'm only just dealing with this psychologically now.

From such an early age, I felt capable.

That was the word.

Like, I can do it.

I would look at my mom and think, oh, I could do that better than you.

Like, oh, you're having trouble getting the dinner on the table.

That seems easy to me.