Sandra Oh is getting real about her overnight fame.
Speaking of the overnight success of Grey's Anatomy on Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist, the 50-year-old actress, who played Cristina Yang on the show, admitted becoming an instant household name was "traumatic."
"To be perfectly honest, it was traumatic. It was traumatic," Oh said. "The reason why I'm saying that is the circumstances you need to do your work is with a lot of privacy.
"So when one loses one's anonymity, you have to build skills to still try and be real. I went from not being able to go out, like hiding in restaurants, to then being able to manage attention, manage expectation, while not losing the sense of self."
The hospital drama, which premiered in 2005, became an instant classic and is currently approaching its 18th season. To date, it has received 39 Emmy nominations, with five of those nominations earned by the actress. In 2014, she decided to leave the show after nine years.
When asked how she handles fame now, she credited "a good therapist."
"It's very, very important," she added, emphasising the importance of mental health. "You just have to work at finding your way to stay grounded. And a lot of times that's by saying no."