For Isadora and Janine, their first stage was their living room rug. By college, Janine was obsessed with Annie and hellbent on acting in New York. By first grade, Isadora was writing stories and dreaming of living inside them. Coming from families that didn’t know how actors became actors, both configured loose game plans as undergrads to get closer to careers. When Isadora’s acceptance to Juilliard makes her mother worry about the financial toll, her insight allows her to press on. It wasn’t movie star dreams but a true love of the craft that anchored them both, for a while.

Financial pressure after graduating from prestigious Juilliard with an acting degree pushed Isadora from juggling multiple jobs to an interview to be an escort. Isadora walks through her first days while she tries to reconcile her identity with financial survival. As Isadora sees the sex work industry more clearly, she understands what it can offer in concrete terms: time, stability and a sense of control. Her resilience is far from moral collapse and rather a savvy strategy to stay afloat.

By the end of freshman year, Janine’s persistent depression worsens into insomnia, loss of appetite, distorted thinking, and mania. Not yet diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Janine pursues her drama degree, deeply clinging to the belief that being a successful actress will cure her mind. Instead, she deteriorates into psychosis and feels compelled to perform for an invisible “master camera” in which she is the main character, continuously being watched. With antidepressant medication starts and stops, and frightening therapy, Janine soon has suicidal ideation. She calls the police, on herself. This episode focuses on warning signs, support, and how a hospitalization and family silence planted the seed of stigma and shame.