Sad Details About The Cast Of The Handmaid's Tale

The gorgeous cast of "The Handmaid's Tale" understandably found it difficult to say goodbye to the show they had worked on for more than eight years. While speaking at an international roundtable, Amanda Brugel, who plays Rita in the wildly popular dystopian series, admitted that she hadn't quite accepted the fact that it was ending until she received the final script. Brugel had an emotional reaction afterwards, describing it as, "I had a full-fledged breakdown," (via the Hollywood Reporter). The actor continued, "I texted Elizabeth [Moss] immediately. I was in tears and cast members were texting one another. It suddenly hit me, realizing this was the last time I was going to read a script for this series." 

Meanwhile, fellow cast-member Yvonne Strahovski told the Sydney Morning Herald that she initially figured she would be pretty stoked about letting go of Serena Joy because the character carried tons of emotional baggage. However, she ultimately felt "devastated." In May 2025, Moss shared with Vanity Fair that although she witnessed and took part in numerous heart-wrenching scenes throughout the show's 6-season run, she only cried when she watched the final shot. The "Mad Men" alum was in awe of the cast and crew's razor-focus because they wanted the show to get the perfect ending it deserved. 

In fact, Moss hadn't properly bid farewell to "The Handmaid's Tale" at the time because she was still fine-tuning the finale as its producer and director while also working on spin-off "The Testaments." As the Emmy-winning actor reasoned, "I don't know if I have to say goodbye, which is good, because I don't really want to."

Elisabeth Moss had a whirlwind romance with fellow actor Fred Armisen that found them getting married after only about a year of courtship. However, the couple's union sadly ended only eight months after they walked down the aisle. The "Invisible Man" star reflected on their short-lived marriage in a 2014 interview with Vulture. "Looking back, I feel like I was really young, and at the time I didn't think that I was that young," she contended. "It was extremely traumatic and awful and horrible." Notably, at the time of their marriage in 2009, the "Mad Men" alum was 27 while Armisen was 43. 

As Hello! magazine reported, the notoriously private actor also addressed her split from the "Saturday Night Live!" alum in a chat with Page Six. Moss recalled how people she had known complimented her now ex-husband's onscreen impersonation talents. However, she developed a different perspective after marrying Armisen, professing, "The greatest impersonation he does is that of a normal person," per HuffPost.

Meanwhile, the "Wednesday" star opened up about their marriage during a 2016 appearance on the "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast. The comedian detailed how he entered into it with "the fantasy of this person from 'Mad Men,' you know, [a] great actress," (via Pajiba). However, one fine day, he realized that Moss was essentially a stranger to him and it snapped Armisen back into reality. Additionally, the actor hinted that his infidelity and lies may have also played a part in the downfall of their relationship. However, Armisen asserted that he was "neither ashamed nor proud" of cheating.

In an October 2022 Self magazine article, Madeline Brewer disclosed that she had an abortion when she was 20. At the time, the aspiring actor was working two jobs to make ends meet and devoting her limited free time to auditioning. Although Brewer knew that she wasn't financially or mentally prepared for motherhood, she still felt the brunt of the decision: "I felt a deep well of shame — feelings that I binged and drank my way through." 

In a 2022 Instagram post, the "Cam" star clarified that even though she grew to hate her body and "punished" herself for years afterwards, she never regretted it. Fortunately, with the passage of time and the support of her loved ones and therapist, Brewer eventually learned to let the shame go. In her Self essay, she also revealed that the stresses of being an aspiring actor had given her undiagnosed depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. 

A tragic detail of Brewer's life was that it was overwrought with anxiety, and she felt as if she couldn't go a moment without feeling its weight. The actor opened up about how her anxiety impacted her in a 2017 interview with Cosmopolitan, saying, "I was more concerned with my now-ex-boyfriend than I was about my life and my career. I was so insecure and scared all the time that I drank to not deal with my thoughts and my fears." However, she had a breaking point where she realized that she needed to walk away from a major stressor in her life: acting. Subsequently, she decided to become a yoga teacher.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who does, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

While speaking to Nancy Solomon for WNYC, Samira Wiley sadly divulged that one of her "Orange Is the New Black" castmates outed her by naming Wiley as a prominent LGBTQIA+ actor during an interview. As she reasoned to The Guardian in 2022, although critics may argue that the revelation wasn't a huge deal since the world already suspected she wasn't straight, it still hurt Wiley tremendously, and she naturally teared up afterwards. 

The decision to come out should have been hers alone, with the "Nerve" star adding, "It's not yours to give someone. I felt like they took something from me." Notably, in the Emmy winner's chat with Solomon, she confessed that it took a lot of inner work for Wiley to finally accept her sexuality. And, during an appearance on the "Make It Reign" podcast, Wiley further acknowledged that she worried it would prevent her from landing roles. 

"So I really pored over what should my strategy be in terms of how to hide who I really am so that I can be accepted and then if I'm accepted, then maybe I'll get opportunities for jobs that I wouldn't get if I just was me," she elaborated. At one point, Wiley even asked her gay male friend, who was also an aspiring actor, to accompany her to events so that people would believe they were a couple. Thankfully, things changed for the better once her wife, Laura Morelli, the real-life partner of "The Handmaid's Tale" cast member, came into the picture and helped Wiley on her journey to self-acceptance.

In a 2022 Instagram post, Amanda Brugel reflected on her dad's sudden passing in 2019. "I lost my Father to an accident. I refuse to say 'tragic accident,' for there was nothing tragic about him," she wrote at the time. Additionally, the "Handmaid's Tale" star proclaimed that her dad would not want people to mourn his loss on the anniversary of his death, so she had penned the tribute to celebrate his life instead. When she spoke to the Firecracker Department in 2023, Brugel confirmed that she went through an exceptionally hard time when he died, as she had separated from her then-husband that very same weekend. 

At one point, the weight of the tragic situation got too much to bear, and she fell to her knees in her home and let out a cry that closely resembled a werewolf's howl. In the aftermath, Brugel learned to let go of the control she had desperately held onto in the past. In fact, in a 2018 essay for Fashion magazine, the prolific actor opened up about another one of her life's major struggles: identity. 

Growing up, Brugel felt that she needed to pick a race out of her white, African-American, and Jewish backgrounds. However, when she entered Hollywood, people didn't see her biracial roots and only recognized her as Black, and Brugel sadly wound up playing roles that leaned into age-old stereotypes. Taking them on gravely affected her, with Brugel writing, "I leaned into every ugly stereotype created by our collective unconscious. And I was suffocating. Slowly." With time, though, she grew more selective with jobs.

During a 2018 chat with the Los Angeles Times, beloved actor Ann Dowd revealed that her father wanted her to follow in his footsteps and attend his alma mater, the College of the Holy Cross. Although she initially agreed to abide by his wishes, her love of acting drew her to take part in summer theatre. While her father backed Dowd's decision, she decided to put acting on the backburner after learning that he only had a couple of years to live. 

A few months after she started attending the College of the Holy Cross, her father passed away. Although the "Handmaid's Tale" star had an incredibly hard time balancing college while grieving, she still had no regrets about her decision because it took away the chances of having a lifelong regret about not fulfilling his wishes. Additionally, the "Mass" star's choice only propelled her towards acting as she found a respite in her studies and work. 

In a 2019 Parade interview, Dowd detailed how the early years of her career were wrought with struggles as she desperately tried to land gigs while also tending to her family and holding down a job at a pet store. The "Rebecca" star recalled some of her heavy feelings from the time: "I had moments when I would just be in despair trying to figure out when am I going to get to a place that's just a little more sound and secure?" The only thing that kept her going was her unyielding drive. And eventually, Dowd's perseverance paid off.