‘And Just Like That’ star Karen Pittman on representation: ‘I know how important it is for the audience who looks just like me’

The Unwind is Yahoo Life’s well-being series in which experts, influencers and celebrities share their approaches to wellness and mental health, from self-care rituals to setting healthy boundaries to the mantras that keep them afloat.

For actress Karen Pittman, self-care equates to positive self-talk.

“You know that song from Instagram that goes, ‘Girl you’re doing a good job, you’re doing a good job?’ That’s the song I sing to myself when I’m on the treadmill,” she tells Yahoo Life with a laugh.

The performer, who currently stars on both Apple TV+’s The Morning Show as producer Mia Jordan and as law professor Dr. Nya Wallace on the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That..., says that pumping herself up can be the difference between a good day and a bad day.

“I really am like, ‘Great job. You're doing very well,’” she explains.

Pittman learned the power of self-care from her parents, who she says were instrumental in making sure that she protected her mental health just as much as her physical.

“Your mind is something you need to take care of, and work with. It’s giving ourselves permission and allowing us to say, ‘Hey, I’m not OK,’” Pittman explains. “It’s fine to go see a doctor or talk to somebody about it, whether it’s your pastor, or your therapist or anyone you think would be helpful in helping you take care of yourself. I think parents can do a lot to help their children, especially in the Black community, in the African-American community. We need to explore that idea of how we raise sensitive, empathetic human beings, through the mechanism of caring for themselves.”

When Pittman needs space for herself, she turns to “mental and spiritual work.” She has a space in her backyard ideal for meditating. When she’s on the go, however, she turns to other methods of restoration.

“I’m always driving around Los Angeles, so I’m always listening to a podcast,” she says, citing Gwyneth Paltrow and Oprah Winfrey’s popular podcasts as two of her favorites. “I love a self-help book. I read Will by Will Smith, which is an extraordinary book. I also hop into a book of fiction at night. But, I’m also a person who surfs the internet way too late, and will go on Zillow, and Travel and Leisure to see where I’m going to travel to one day. I give my mind time to escape, whether that’s into a book, or into someone’s beautiful song or into a podcast. A lot of my day-to-day self-help is really about that.”

Though Pittman is a busy actress and producer, she says that one of the best pieces of advice she received from another star wasn’t about climbing the Hollywood ladder.

“Frances McDormand and I worked together on a play in New York City, and she has this great piece of advice, which is: ‘Don’t worry about getting a career. Get a life.’ It’s so important because you’re so singularly focused, but when you’re actually successful, you can look around and realize your life isn’t where you want it to be, even when your career is incredible. You look around, and there’s no one you’re connected to.”

Pittman, who recently penned an emotional tribute to her idol Sidney Poitier after his death earlier this year (The Morning Show just so happens to film in a building on the Sony lot that bears his name), says she’s grateful for the opportunity to portray strong Black women on screen.

“As an artist, my goal and my duty, is to draw characters that people can not just see themselves in, but that they can see other people in,” she explains. “The question around representation, and what it means to see an African-American woman who is happy [and] joyful but also challenged — I know how important it is for the audience who looks just like me. There’s an important aspect to the work that I do. For me to be able to represent these women is deeply moving, and it feels like an extraordinary opportunity to put voice to who we are as human beings, and where we are, culturally.”

She also hopes that, in these difficult times that have separated us both physically and emotionally, that her characters can help bring people together.

“We’ve spent so much time over the last few years on the opposite sides of the spectrum,” she notes. “We’ve become convinced that someone like Miranda [Cynthia Nixon on And Just Like That...], who made some mistakes in her first interactions with Nya that were so awkward and cringey, could never end up becoming friends with her. There are so many spaces where we don’t give each other the benefit of the doubt, so it can be hard to extend that to the characters we see. It’s been important to me as an actor, to show characters who are still keeping their hand out. They’re still saying, ‘Hey, I’m still here. Can we get coffee? Let’s try to do this together.’ It’s what Mia says at the end of The Morning Show — she says, ‘We can do more good if we stick it out, than if we leave.’”

—Video produced by Jacquie Cosgrove.

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