Jessica Biel has sometimes forced herself to "put on a happy face"
The 43-year-old actress - who first rose to fame as a child star in '7th Heaven' when she was just 14 - has reflected on how she's reacted to being in the public eye over the years
22 May 2025
She told PEOPLE magazine: "I can understand sometimes feeling like you have to put on a happy face, or you know, smile and kind of grin and bear it.
"I've definitely done that in my past before... I understand wanting to hide some of my personal life or you know, just keep something sacred."
'The Better Sister' star was reflecting on how she feels some similarities with her character in the movie, who finds herself in the middle of a scandal and looking for privacy.
She quipped: "I think my character does that in a very dysfunctional way, and I think I do it a little bit more functionally, I hope."
Jessica admitted portraying a character on screen is "always cathartic no matter what", because with each performance she's finding something to draw on from her own life.
She explained: "You're finding something that is in your life that is parallel to something that you understand or a touch point that you can connect to that your character is going through. "Sometimes it's abstract, sometimes it's very linear."
Jessica played aspiring basketball player Mary Camden in '7th Heaven' from 1996to 2007, and she tried to show off her own skills during her audition.
Appearing on the 'Catching Up With the Camdens' podcast - which is hosted by three of her on-screen siblings Beverley Mitchell, David Gallagher and Mackenzie Rosman - she recalled: "The Mary character was spinning a basketball on her finger.
"So I did that in the audition without a basketball. What a choice. Like, who encouraged me to do that?
"I kind of still feel embarrassed about that, but, I don't know. Maybe it was effective.
"And I remember thinking, 'cool character,' because she's a basketball player, and I was an athlete. I was like 'Oh, I connect to this.'"
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