In her series, How to Die Alone, Natasha Rothwell explores one of the scariest notions we humans encounter during our existence: “being alone.”
Well, she’s got an answer for that. Rothwell wants you to love yourself, period.
“If you stop prioritizing romantic love over other kinds of love—self-love, platonic love, familial love, etc.—you’ll begin to recognize the love in our lives that we’ve regrettably ignored,” she said of the lesson she’s learned from creating and starring in the series.
“In doing that, your life will become inherently richer.”
Rothwell plays Mel, a self-described “broke, fat, Black JFK airport employee” who almost succumbs when the bookshelf she just built falls on her and knocks her into a concussion. It catapults her on a journey to take flight and start living by any means necessary.
Rothwell relished the opportunity to delve into finding your happiness and depicting that search through a real-sized woman onscreen. “Feeling seen is a fundamental part of belonging. And to belong is what makes us feel like we matter,” she shares with EBONY.
“I hope those who see themselves in me feel that they are loved and matter and are worthy of having their stories reflected and told…Mel is the unhealed version of myself in my early twenties. The show is kind of a love letter to her saying, ‘I see you, and I thank you.’”
Rothwell tapped into something else that made her feel alive while working on her series.
“When I was given the chance to have my own show, I wanted to make the most of the opportunity—I didn’t want to pull any punches. So, I dove headfirst into the thing that scared me the most—dying alone,” she says.
It didn’t hurt that she also had a real-life jarring experience while pitching her comedy.
“I had an allergic reaction to aspirin around that time that landed me in urgent care alone. So, it was like the universe was begging me to face my fears.”
Catch the season finale of How to Die Alone on Friday, September 27, on Hulu.
