Mad Men child star Kiernan Shipka has spoken about her experiences on the set of the drama, saying the cast were often trying to protect her.
The actor, who first appeared in the AMC hit series as Sally Draper at just six-years-old, told the Dinner’s On Me podcast that despite her age, she remembered nearly everything on the show.
“I don’t know if it was because my brain and body just decided to remember, like, audition, first day, whole thing,” Shipka said. “I’m glad for that. I mean, I’m sure there’s some days that are a blip, but that’s kind of everything.”
Despite her onscreen parents Don and Betty Draper (played by Jon Hamm and January Jones) not doing a great job of setting a good example for her young character, Shipka said off camera they were very protective of her.
Shipka added: “They were so protective over me and my kind of innocence and not exposing me to stuff that was sensitive or more adult. I always knew what I was reacting to. Like, I always knew what I was walking in on. I just didn’t have to see it over and over again.
Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper in ‘Mad Men’ CREDIT: Michael Yarish/AMC
“I think at a certain point, I was like, ‘Guys, I know what this is. Like, I’m good. I’m fine.’ But I really, like, admire and respect the way that they handled it. But I do think in my head, I was probably like, ‘I’m mature. I’m an adult. I know what’s going on here. Like, it’s fine, guys.’”
She also said that she was not allowed to see most of the Mad Men episodes as a child, apart from season premiere screenings.
But she finally watched the entire series during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shipka said: “I was watching [Sally] go through stuff that at the time [of filming] I was feeling in a really natural way. But now as sort of an adult, I can psychoanalyse and go, ‘Oh, no, she was grieving there and acting out.’ And at the time, I think I understood her as much as she understood herself.
“As I get older, I kind of understand her the way that I hope she, you know, would understand herself one day with therapy. And there’s something really wild about seeing that because it was like, it wasn’t that I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t know what was going on the way that we don’t know what’s going on with us until later too.”
She is currently starring in the film Red One alongside Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, which is showing in UK cinemas now and due for release in the US this Friday (November 15).
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