Laverne Cox Wanted to 'Re-Traumatize' Herself with 'Catastrophic' Childhood Memories inClean Slate —Here's Why (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Laverne Cox in ‘Clean Slate’.Photo:Courtesy of Prime

Courtesy of Prime

Laverne Cox’s walk down memory lane was anything but easy.In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE about her new Prime Video series,Clean Slate, the actress, 52, opens up about incorporating her childhood trauma into the plot and the challenges of intentionally triggering herself for the craft.Clean Slatefollows Harry Slate (George Wallace), an old-school and outspoken Alabama car wash owner, and his estranged child, who returns home as a proud, trans woman named Desiree (Cox). When the funding for her art gallery in New York City falls through, she’s forced to move back into her childhood home. Desiree works to repair her relationship with her father while contending with their conflicting view points as roommates.Cox tells PEOPLE that she was excited to tell her real life stories and “explore healing” in the new series. Though they were “not so funny at the time,” the actress admits that she’s taken her “contentious, conflicted relationship with home,” and the “trauma of my childhood” and made them “quite hilarious for the show."(L) Laverne Cox and George Wallace in ‘Clean Slate’.Courtesy of PrimeBut revisiting her past was “less cathartic and it wasn’t healing,” she says. “It was triggering, almost every day. Some actors might disagree, but I think sometimes you have to be triggered as an actor to get to what the character might be feeling.“The actress reveals that some of the scenes take place in a church, which was triggering in both “good and bad ways.” She also adds that the set decoration for her on-screen father’s house was eerily similar to her mother’s, which was “kind of creepy.““The south is in the air, and in the space, in the mentality,” she explained. “And trauma lives in ourselves, trauma lives in our nervous systems, and it’s physical, and a lot of it’s preverbal, and so that was all coming up. I didn’t even fully understand it, but you use it.“Laverne Cox.David Fisher/ShutterstockThough she hopes her story will be “healing for the audience,” Cox says that she had to “constantly remind myself that I’m not 10 years old again… I’m not being bullied, harassed again, that I’m an adult, and it’s in the present moment.“To help mitigate some of those feelings, she’s sought advice from my acting coach and her therapist.“Sometimes, to get to the truth of something really deep, raw and catastrophic, to make that real, you have to re-traumatize yourself, you have to be triggered. But, the trick is knowing how to get out of it,” she says.“If you do have lived experiences that are challenging, you can give it to your art,” theOrange Is the New Blackalum continues. “And then, maybe the people who are watching it, who may be experiencing the same thing, will understand they’re not alone. That cultivates empathy. And that is the gift of being an artist and going through horrible, awful stuff, is that maybe I can use this in my work, and show someone else that they’re not alone.“Laverne Cox.James Devaney/GC ImagesWhen it comes to her character Desiree, Cox says she’s a “different version of me” that’s in a " different place with her healing in relationship to her childhood trauma.““I would say she’s like me 20 years ago, when I was starting therapy and really realizing how deeply traumatizing my childhood was, and how angry at my mother I was,” she adds.“She’s there, and going back there is intense, and tricky, and she’s just a little more high-strung than I am. But I think I was more high-strung back then too, so I’ve just calmed down,” she continues. “So I think Desiree is sort of a younger version of Laverne, turned up a little bit for the comedy.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Clean Slateis now available to stream on Prime Video.

Laverne Cox’s walk down memory lane was anything but easy.

In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE about her new Prime Video series,Clean Slate, the actress, 52, opens up about incorporating her childhood trauma into the plot and the challenges of intentionally triggering herself for the craft.

Clean Slatefollows Harry Slate (George Wallace), an old-school and outspoken Alabama car wash owner, and his estranged child, who returns home as a proud, trans woman named Desiree (Cox). When the funding for her art gallery in New York City falls through, she’s forced to move back into her childhood home. Desiree works to repair her relationship with her father while contending with their conflicting view points as roommates.

Cox tells PEOPLE that she was excited to tell her real life stories and “explore healing” in the new series. Though they were “not so funny at the time,” the actress admits that she’s taken her “contentious, conflicted relationship with home,” and the “trauma of my childhood” and made them “quite hilarious for the show.”

(L) Laverne Cox and George Wallace in ‘Clean Slate’.Courtesy of Prime

But revisiting her past was “less cathartic and it wasn’t healing,” she says. “It was triggering, almost every day. Some actors might disagree, but I think sometimes you have to be triggered as an actor to get to what the character might be feeling.”

The actress reveals that some of the scenes take place in a church, which was triggering in both “good and bad ways.” She also adds that the set decoration for her on-screen father’s house was eerily similar to her mother’s, which was “kind of creepy.”

“The south is in the air, and in the space, in the mentality,” she explained. “And trauma lives in ourselves, trauma lives in our nervous systems, and it’s physical, and a lot of it’s preverbal, and so that was all coming up. I didn’t even fully understand it, but you use it.”

Laverne Cox.David Fisher/Shutterstock

David Fisher/Shutterstock

Though she hopes her story will be “healing for the audience,” Cox says that she had to “constantly remind myself that I’m not 10 years old again… I’m not being bullied, harassed again, that I’m an adult, and it’s in the present moment.”

To help mitigate some of those feelings, she’s sought advice from my acting coach and her therapist.

“Sometimes, to get to the truth of something really deep, raw and catastrophic, to make that real, you have to re-traumatize yourself, you have to be triggered. But, the trick is knowing how to get out of it,” she says.

“If you do have lived experiences that are challenging, you can give it to your art,” theOrange Is the New Blackalum continues. “And then, maybe the people who are watching it, who may be experiencing the same thing, will understand they’re not alone. That cultivates empathy. And that is the gift of being an artist and going through horrible, awful stuff, is that maybe I can use this in my work, and show someone else that they’re not alone.”

Laverne Cox.James Devaney/GC Images

James Devaney/GC Images

When it comes to her character Desiree, Cox says she’s a “different version of me” that’s in a " different place with her healing in relationship to her childhood trauma.”

“I would say she’s like me 20 years ago, when I was starting therapy and really realizing how deeply traumatizing my childhood was, and how angry at my mother I was,” she adds.

“She’s there, and going back there is intense, and tricky, and she’s just a little more high-strung than I am. But I think I was more high-strung back then too, so I’ve just calmed down,” she continues. “So I think Desiree is sort of a younger version of Laverne, turned up a little bit for the comedy.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Clean Slateis now available to stream on Prime Video.

source: people.com