NEED TO KNOW
Sarah Shahi divorced Steve Howey, with whom she shares three kids, in 2020 after 11 years of marriage and 18 years together
In PEOPLE’s exclusive clip from the Feb. 24 episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Shahi, 46, opens up about how starring in Netflix’s Sex/Life inspired her to file for divorce
“I felt like I was being possessed by this character, Billie, and I was finally having the guts to say and do all the things that I wanted to do for years before,” Shahi says
To say Sex/Life changed Sarah Shahi‘s life is an understatement.
Shahi, 46, played unsatisfied suburban wife and mom Billie in the Netflix series, which premiered soon after her 2020 divorce from Steve Howey — and the parallels between her life and her character did not go unnoticed.
In PEOPLE’s exclusive clip from the Feb. 24 episode of Amanda Hirsch’s Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Shahi explains how she felt she was “along for the ride” in a cosmic way as her character’s bravery inspired her own.
“You know, divorce is never something that happens overnight, but [Billie] definitely was — she pushed it for sure,” Shahi says. “I gathered strength in her, unlike any character I had ever played, you know, and it was just such an interesting moment in my life where the stars took over in a way that was really divine.”
Shahi says she felt she was “along for the ride” and “not in control of anything that was happening” as her life and her character’s merged together. “I felt like I was being possessed by this character, Billie, and I was finally having the guts to say and do all the things that I wanted to do for years before.”
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
There were pitfalls from that bravery, though. “I lost friends,” Shahi admits of her split from Howey, 48, with whom she shares three kids: William, 16, and 10-year-old twins Violet and Knox.
“Friends that were very deeply in the know were like, ‘What are you doing?’ People that had my back up until the moment that I did get the divorce dropped me,” she says.
Describing herself as “not a judgmental person,” Shahi says her approach with friends is to “ask them a series of questions about how do you feel, how is this, what if this happens, what if that happens, so that way they come to their own conclusions,” but that same courtesy was not extended to her.
“The amount of judgment I got [for] getting the divorce from people who honestly were just unhappy in their own relationships, but they decided to stick it out, and they thought I should do the same,” she continues. “And it’s like — that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to have fun and be happy.”
“Why can’t I do that? I have the right to be happy. Everybody has the right to be happy,” she concluded.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Netflix
The Paradise star previously said that Sex/Life, which ran for two seasons and introduced her to her now ex-boyfriend, Adam Demos, gave her “the courage to say, ‘I’m not happy. And I feel like we should as individuals have the right to be happy.’ “
“From the time that [Howey and my] first child was born, our relationship suffered and it was hard to get back on track,” she said on Hirsch’s podcast in 2023 of her marriage.
“We were together for a very long time. We were together for 18 years. That’s not a failure. That was a long time,” Shahi continued. “But the last 10 years, we really did struggle.”
Shahi dated Demos, 40, after meeting him on the set of Sex/Life — he played a former flame of Billie’s who re-entered her life —but the pair split in 2025 after five years together.
She clarified earlier on in that while filming on the series began just three months after she filed for divorce from Howey, she and Demos started as friends before things became romantic. “It was not instant,” she said on Not Skinny But Not Fat in 2023. “It was over time, it was getting to know him as a person and seeing how aligned our values were.”
Read the original article on People
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com ’
