Amanda Seyfried opened up about how she felt about Elizabeth Holmes, who she played in the Hulu series The Dropout, starting her prison sentence, during an interview on Good Morning America on Tuesday, May 30. The actress, 37, said most of all, she felt sad for Elizabeth’s two kids, both of whom are under two years old. Despite feeling bad for the children, Amanda did say that sentence was “fair” for Elizabeth, 39.
Before going into questions about her new series The Crowded Room, Michael Strahan mentioned the coincidence that Amanda was on-set the same day that Elizabeth began her 11-year prison sentence. The actress admitted that it felt “weird” but mostly showed sympathy for the kids who won’t have their mom early in their life. “Today’s the big [day],” she said. “I feel for those kids. There’s two kids that are hanging in the balance here. As a parent, as a mom, I don’t know.”
Even though Amanda admitted that she felt bad for the children, she did seem to think that the sentence was fitting for Elizabeth, who was found guilty of fraud in January 2022. “Life’s not fair, but in a lot of ways, it’s fair. For her in particular,” she said.
Amanda’s performance as Elizabeth was widely popular. Many reviews celebrated her portrayal as the Theranos founder, and she even earned a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Anthology Series or Movie.
The Theranos founder arrived to begin serving her prison sentence at a Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas on Tuesday, May 30. During her time in prison, she’ll be required to work, and she’ll be allowed video calls with family and weekend visits from her two kids and husband William Evans.
While Elizabeth never shared her direct reaction to The Dropout, she did speak about the public perception around her in a New York Times profile earlier in May. After the piece’s writer Amy Chozick said that she had heard about Jennifer Lawrence turning down the opportunity to play her, Elizabeth said the impressions weren’t true to who she really is. “They’re not playing me. They’re playing a character I created,” she explained.