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6 days ago | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth BroderickFour A.M. The alarm woke me out of a deep sleep and interrupted an odd dream. I have lost the plot of it now, but it involved my old colleague Nate Richert, who played Harvey on Sabrina. We were college students, and he was in trouble, and I was trying to get him out of it. That’s all I’ve got; the particulars of the story are lost to the night.
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2 weeks ago | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth BroderickI said goodbye to a dear old pal on Sunday. Harvey “The DON” Siegel was one of the first people to truly befriend me when I was young and stupid and on my own in New York City. My first year there I got caught up in a crowd that lived hard and long into the night, courtesy of cocaine and a few other substances that were favored at the time. I loved the drug, a little too much, to tell the truth, but thankfully I hated the life.
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1 month ago | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth BroderickSome time ago, I just had to admit it: I need help. I have always been headstrong, determined to handle everything on my own. This has often sent me careening down the highway to the hell of burnout. I would collapse for a day or two and then dive right back in at warp speed. I take on a lot. I have a wide variety of creative interests, as well as a keen drive to contribute to the common good. This is part pathology, of course.
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1 month ago | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Beth Broderick dives deeply into her personal experience to deliver a weekly essay full of wit, wisdom, and stories from the heart. Beth Broderick dives deeply into her personal experience to deliver a weekly essay full of wit, wisdom, and stories from the heart.
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1 month ago | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth BroderickI have a lot of lists. Long lists and short ones, memos and notes. They are on my phone, on rolls of paper in my kitchen, sticky-noted to my laptop, and pasted on the walls. These lists are meant to keep me on track, keep the larder stocked and the business of life flowing. The problem is not that there are no lists. I’ve got them up the wazoo.
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2 months ago | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth Broderick“You’re doing that? You’re up in the hills alone like that? On steep ridges?” my sister-in-law Sarah asked with a look of concern. When she put it that way, I had to admit it sounded a tad off the beam. I had been explaining that I feel more confident hiking in the hills and on the ridges alone with my dog Fairness, because my pal Dean gave me a cane with a stun feature on it that can ward off an attack from human or animal, should need be.
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2 months ago | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth BroderickLuck. “The definition of luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” My mother said this to us many times when we were growing up. It has a nice “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” Americana feel about it, a nod to the work ethic bestowed upon us by our Puritan ancestors. That is not, however, the definition of luck.
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Feb 25, 2025 | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth BroderickMy hair is really short—way shorter than I wanted it to be. It looks fine, I guess, and blessedly is no longer purple, but dang it, why so short? The fellow who has been taking care of it for me is lovely and kind, and I am a bit fascinated by him, so I was maybe not paying enough attention to the “hair” part of the appointment and too much to the “him” part. He does house calls, and I needed a trim.
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Feb 11, 2025 | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth BroderickI failed to read the directions. Just didn’t bother. The label seemed straightforward enough: “Color Extend Blondage.” It is supposed to tame any of the dreaded brassy notes a gal’s hair may pick up in the sunshine or under a hot dryer. It’s not dye; it is just a simple mask. The way I make a living is not entirely based on looks. One has to have talent, “chops” as it were, but the right look is also a crucial component to success in the film and TV game.
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Jan 28, 2025 | 
bethbroderick.substack.com | Beth Broderick
Wit and Wisdomby Beth Broderick“Tell me the truth,” my nephew Conor said emphatically. He is not a blood relative, but I have been his Auntie Beth for as long as he has been alive. He is 100% my family. “Am I being a baby, or have the last few years just been impossibly hard?”“You are not a baby. The last few years have been impossibly hard.”For young people trying to carve out careers in the entertainment industry, the climb has not been just uphill.
