Keala Settle on life after the Greatest Showman: I ran from fear I drank, took pills, all of it'

"Cast as former first lady Mary Lincoln in Mrs President, a sombre and haunting stage production that begins a six-week run at London's Charing Cross theatre this month, she grapples with the turbulent inner world of Abraham Lincoln's wife, vilified by the media and eager to rewrite herself in the eyes of the US after her husband's assassination and the civil war."

"she grapples with the turbulent inner world of Abraham Lincoln's wife, vilified by the media and eager to rewrite herself in the eyes of the US after her husband's assassination and the civil war. As an actor, and woman, Settle known globally for her performance in The Greatest Showman as bearded lady Lettie Lutz is also done with being what people tell her to be. It has, she explains, taken 10 years to reach this point. But her own encounters with celebrity"

Keala Settle stars as Mary Lincoln in Mrs President, a sombre stage production opening at London's Charing Cross theatre for six weeks. The play imagines Mary Lincoln confronting public vilification and seeking to rewrite her image after Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the civil war. The drama stages an encounter in Mathew Brady's studio that yields a historic portrait, written by John Ransom Phillips and directed by Bronagh Lagan. The production contrasts with Oh Mary!, a darkly comic Broadway portrayal of the same figure. Settle, known for The Greatest Showman, draws on celebrity and personal grief to shape a raw, assertive performance about self-definition.

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