Beth Behrs entertained fans for six glorious seasons on 2 Broke Girls as the rich-girl-turned-poor
Caroline Channing, opposite real life BFF Kat Dennings but Caroline Channing is just
chapter one of a fascinating story. Here are some things you may not know about Beth Behrs.
Behrs may be the epitome of healthy living but that wasn't always the case. When she
landed her big break as an actress on 2 Broke Girls, she was an actual, real-life broke
girl. As a result, Behrs found herself snacking on unhealthy foods and not taking proper care
of her body. Back in 2017, she told Self magazine,
"I was eating all the junk food they kept on set."
The change came not from her paychecks, but a skin rash that lasted over six months, causing
Behrs to have to cover up almost her entire body on red carpets and at public appearances.
The doctor told her it had happened as a result of stress, bad diet, and a lack of exercise.
She confessed to Yahoo! Lifestyle that her self-described "mortifying" rash was more
than likely related to what she called her "go-to breakfast [of] two sugar doughnuts,"
while she was also "eating mac and cheese from the box" for dinner.
"I consider my body a temple…"
“didn't I see your temple eat a bag of flaming hot cheetos two nights ago?"
Behrs learned to change her diet, incorporate exercise, and get healthy and soon, her skin
cleared up.
Although 2 Broke Girls might not be everyone's cup of tea, not many viewers would deny how
believable the central friendship between Behrs' Caroline and Dennings' Max is on the
show. As it turns out, the two actresses didn't have to force their chemistry. Beth told Backstage
magazine,
"From the moment I met Kat, it was like instant friendship."
The feeling is clearly mutual in a joint interview with Entertainment Tonight, the two BFFs gushed
at length about each other. When asked about the show's appeal, Dennings explained,
"Beth and I genuinely love each other and are best friends in real life, and that probably
reads. It's not like you think that these two girls are faking that they love each other,
we really do love each other."
When Behrs got engaged, Dennings was one of the first people to congratulate her publicly.
She was also, naturally, a shoo-in for bridesmaid.
"Kat and I are really great friends and I think you can see that chemistry on screen."
Behrs is open about the fact that she has suffered with debilitating anxiety and panic
attacks most of her life and it got worse when she landed her dream role on 2 Broke
Girls.
"My life changed overnight with 2 Broke Girls, I went from being a nanny and bartender full
time and then was on national television and a lot of pressure."
Through a lot of trial and error, the condition no longer rules her life she's discovered
some tools have helped her counteract the effects. The self-described Type-A personality
told Self magazine that she practices transcendental meditation regularly particularly on days
when it's not possible to eat super-healthy or get to the gym for a sweat sesh. She added,
"I notice a massive difference in how my whole day goes if I don't do it."
The 2 Broke Girls star is also a keen horse-rider and practices equine therapy twice weekly
to relieve her panic attacks, crediting it with helping her to ground herself, quote,
"when [she] feels panicky."
2 Broke Girls is a female-focused show, with Behrs and Dennings in the leading roles and
iconic female comedian Whitney Cummings working behind the scenes as a producer. But Behrs
isn't simply a voice for change the proud feminist took action, co-founding the non-profit
organization SheHerdPower, which organizes free equine-guided empowerment weekends for
survivors of sexual assault.
The origin story of the charity began with Behrs' debilitating panic attacks on the set
of 2 Broke Girls. Cummings referred her to Cassandra Ogier, who provides equine therapy.
Behrs found the practice incredibly helpful, and the two became friends. It turns out that
Ogier is a survivor of child sexual abuse, a subject Behrs feels strongly about given
that one of her close friends was sexually assaulted, and she witnessed her struggle
to get back to normal in the wake of the assault. Through Ogier and Behrs' joint commitment
to the cause, the two founded SheHerdPower together. In an interview with The New Potato,
Behrs explained,
"Women work out how to be clear, direct and confident, as well as learn tools to become
grounded and in tune with their bodies, distinct from the mind. They learn to set boundaries
and step into authentic leadership."
Behrs was an unknown entity prior to landing 2 Broke Girls, with the star-making role of
Caroline Channing instantly propelling her to well-deserved international fame. Before
that, she had just two small acting jobs on her resume. And, right up to when they began
shooting the show, the actress was still working her day job or day jobs, rather. Behrs told
PopSugar,
"I was working as a nanny five days a week and then as a bartender and concierge at The
Geffen Playhouse on the weekends."
Behrs credits this packed schedule with helping her get in touch with the role, telling the
site,
"I can definitely relate to being broke, right out of college and working tons of odd jobs
to just pay the rent."
What she struggled with, though, was portraying a rich kid who had never worked a day in her
life.
A multi-talented singer, actress, comedian, and athlete like Beth Behrs, whose Type-A
personality means she can hardly sit still on a good day, is likely to have multiple
hidden talents. And it turns out, she does. She's revealed in various interviews over
the years that, in addition to being a self-confessed workout addict, Behrs loves cooking, playing
tennis, and generally keeping as active as possible.
When she's not running lines on set, the actress tries to unwind by knitting. She revealed
in a between-takes interview with Good Housekeeping,
"I learned to knit [on set] from [costars] Kat [Dennings] and Sally Field, so my knitting
skills, thanks to them, are getting really good!"
As a genuine broke girl, Behrs didn't have to try too hard to get into the 2 Broke Girls
spirit on the hit show. Unlike her riches-to-rags character, though, she didn't come from wealth.
She told PopSugar about her humble upbringing in small-town Virginia, sharing,
"My parents both work in education my mom's a teacher and my dad's a headmaster of a private
school."
As a result of her having a super-normal family, Behrs was taught the value of money from a
young age. She explained how her parents gave her a weekly allowance and that once it was
gone, it was gone. They instilled in her the value of saving, of planning ahead, and of
counting her blessings. As a result, the actress still finds it difficult to spend money, confessing
that Dennings had to convince her to splurge on a pair of designer shoes after she became
a big TV star.
After learning how to get fit and healthy, Behrs turned her attention to other women,
realizing she could help them through her own experience. The actress wrote a book called
The Total ME-Tox, loaded with recipes and advice. The book encourages readers to take
it easy, making changes gradually, as she did. They can start off incorporating short
walks into their daily routine, or swapping out sweets for fruit when sugar cravings hit.
The main message, however, isn't about weight loss. Behrs teaches self-care above all else.
She explained to Her Campus,
"As I've started to make self-care a priority in my life, I've noticed a massive shift in
my happiness and my overall state of well-being. I wrote The Total ME-Tox in the hopes that
it will empower women to be authentic and the best version of themselves, without striving
for perfection. I wanted to bring it back to what TRULY matters: loving yourself, serving
others and enjoying the journey."
A woman as multi-talented as Behrs couldn't possibly allow herself to get bored, so the
revelation that she was instrumental in the creation of a web comic should come as no
surprise. Behrs co-created Dents, a dystopian, young adult web comic exploring themes of
sexuality, feminism, and environmental issues, with one of her best friends, Broadway vet
Matt Doyle.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Behrs explained that she and Doyle discussed
the idea over dinner years beforehand, but she thought of it in terms of TV show or movie.
Years later, she got into comics. Soon after, an opportunity presented itself, so they jumped
at the chance. Although she found it a challenge, Behrs relished the opportunity to work in
a new medium, and to include issues both she and Doyle care deeply about. Discussing the
comic's real-world focus, she explained,
"[Matt and I] are both very passionate about the outdoors. [...] The series includes elements
of climate change, which was really important for us. We wanted to include sociopolitical
elements into it, too."
Although Behrs is a super-healthy eater and an exercise fanatic, the one thing she's still
learning about is cooking. In fact, she joked in a 2015 interview with People that she didn't
even know where to locate kale in the supermarket before she met her husband, actor Michael
Gladis let alone how to cook. She explained that he opened her eyes to the world of delicious
cooking, saying,
"We cook together. He actually has taught me about cooking."
In keeping with her environmentally conscious lifestyle, Behrs and Gladis chose the unconventional
theme of "bees" for their wedding. According to HuffPost, they tied the knot in July 2018
in a stunning outdoor ceremony in Victor, Idaho.
One of the couple's favorite activities is to create a healthy meal together from scratch.
Behrs also credits cooking with helping keep her mind at ease, comparing it to meditation.
In an interview with Self, she said,
"In cooking you're allowing your mind to just focus on the task at hand, and you're able
to escape and put your mind at rest."
Nowadays, she's a comedic actress, but Behrs struggled just like everybody else upon first
arriving in Hollywood. As she recounted in an interview with Thrive Global, her first
big job taught her one of her biggest lessons in the business. She admitted,
"My first film set was American Pie 7... yup, number 7. I had done theater my whole life
but never film."
On her first day, they were shooting on a ski lift. Behrs was ready to impress, but,
as she explained,
"First take. The director screams over the megaphone: 'Hey Beth. How about the next take
you DON'T SHOW US THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR YOUR MARK.'"
Behrs was understandably mortified about messing up in front of the entire cast and crew on
her very first shoot. However, she can look back now and see it as the educational experience
it really was even if, at times, the shoot was a baptism by fire. She reasoned,
"I had to learn really quick and, on the fly, which I think ultimately really served me.
I know how to act gracefully under immense pressure."
After 2 Broke Girls was canceled, Behrs was eager to get back to work as soon as possible.
However, as she told CineMovie during a set visit on her follow-up show The Neighborhood,
not just any show would do. She explained,
"I knew I wanted to be a part of a show that had some sort of social impact as my next
show because I think our country is so divided right now and I think as artists, one of the
main things we can do, is try to help bring people together because comedy is universal
and feeling is universal."
Behrs stars alongside actor Max Greenfield as a young couple living in a predominantly
black neighborhood. Although Behrs noted her character is similar to Caroline Channing
because they're both nerds, there are a lot of important differences too, and she's learning
from her costars how to be, in her words, "a little bit cooler."
Discussing her first big role after 2 Broke Girls, Behrs gushed to Decider,
"This is my favorite job I've ever had. It's really been my favorite group of all time,
everybody's such good humans."
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