"To go from Girl, Interrupted, where I had to cry every day, to a TV show like West Wing, where I get to laugh and joke around every day, has been a welcome relief"
About this Quote
The contrast she draws is strategically chosen. Girl, Interrupted carries the cultural baggage of late-90s prestige misery: institutional walls, young women in pain, seriousness as proof of artistry. The West Wing, meanwhile, represents early-2000s network optimism, an ensemble workplace with banter as its oxygen and humor as a kind of civic virtue. By framing the move as "welcome relief", Moss positions comedy not as lighter work but as a different emotional climate - one that offers its own discipline without demanding daily self-immolation.
The subtext is about range and survival. She isn't disowning dramatic credibility; she's protecting the parts of herself that drama can cannibalize. For an actress coming up in an era that rewarded suffering with awards, the admission reads almost political: joy on set matters, tone matters, and a career can be built not just on proving you can break, but on insisting you don't have to.
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Moss, Elizabeth. (2026, February 16). To go from Girl, Interrupted, where I had to cry every day, to a TV show like West Wing, where I get to laugh and joke around every day, has been a welcome relief. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-go-from-girl-interrupted-where-i-had-to-cry-145253/
Chicago Style
Moss, Elizabeth. "To go from Girl, Interrupted, where I had to cry every day, to a TV show like West Wing, where I get to laugh and joke around every day, has been a welcome relief." FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-go-from-girl-interrupted-where-i-had-to-cry-145253/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"To go from Girl, Interrupted, where I had to cry every day, to a TV show like West Wing, where I get to laugh and joke around every day, has been a welcome relief." FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-go-from-girl-interrupted-where-i-had-to-cry-145253/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.








