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T
aylor Schilling has come a long
way since a supporting role in
her first film, Dark Matter, with
Meryl Streep. In the 12 years since
then, she’s secured her status as one of
the most recognisable names on the
small screen thanks to her turn as Piper
Chapman in Orange Is The New Black.
Despite being one of Netflix’s most
watched shows, the prison drama is set
to end with the seventh series, which was
released last week. ‘It feels incredibly
poignant to say goodbye to the show,’
Taylor, 35, reveals, adding: ‘It has
changed my life tremendously.’
While there are constant rumours
about her love life, Taylor has made
a point of never revealing who she is
dating. Opening up about her sexuality,
she once said: ‘I’ve had very serious
relationships with lots of people, and I’m
a very expansive human. There’s no part
of me that can be put under a label.’
Here, the actress opens up about
her life in the spotlight, saying goodbye
to Orange Is The New Black and the
souvenir she stole from the set...Orange Is The New Black propelled
you to stardom.
What were the perks
that came with that?
Without a doubt, the
most magical thing
that happened to
me was that I got to
attend a Netflix party
a couple of years ago.
A friend introduced
me to Jane Fonda and
it was mind-blowing
to hear that she was
familiar with my work.How do you feel about the show
coming to an end?
It feels incredibly poignant to say
goodbye to the show because it has
changed my life tremendously. I get
emotional thinking about it, because
we’re all very close as a cast and I feel
so privileged to have been a part of the
show. However, I am also thrilled that
we’re getting a chance to move on. I
think that’s important, too.What went through your mind when
you read the final script?
I felt intense gratitude that it was so
good. I was so happy that it was a good
ending! I remember reading it and
thinking, wow, this is great.Did you take any ‘souvenirs’?
It’s funny, every day that I was working
on the final season, I would look around
the set and say: ‘Oh, that thing is cool.
I would love to take that home.’ But by
the time we finished the show, it was like:
I’ve got to get out of here. I did take my
name tag. It has a photograph of my face
from when we started the show, so that’s
pretty special.What will you miss the
most about the show?
On a personal level, the
greatest gift of this show is
the fact that I feel creatively
fulfilled and that I’ve got to
meet a lot of really good
friends. I always felt deeply
inspired by the talent and
the tenacity of the women
that I worked with.What luxuries would you miss if you
were in prison?
I have discovered that I would really
miss being able to take a shower with
bare feet. I would miss that terribly,
because in prison you can never go into
the bathrooms without wearing shower
shoes. Also, I would really miss being able
to connect with the people that I love at
times of my own choosing.Has there ever been a time you’ve
felt trapped?
I certainly feel like I am at a different
place now than I was in my twenties. I
was definitely ready for my twenties to be
over. Looking back, my thoughts and my
ideas about life might’ve been confining
and I was so hard on myself. Things were
so much tougher than they needed to be.
The transition from being a teenager to
being in your early twenties; to getting
your sea legs with work and things like
that weren’t necessarily easy, but you
grow and you evolve.We hear your dad is a prosecutor...
Yes, that’s true. He was prosecutor for the
state, so my dad worked in prisons. I grew
up hearing these stories about how
the good guys are not necessarily
good all the time. I heard about how
the guards aren’t necessarily on their
best behaviour. It’s funny, I didn’t
realise until I got this part, but I have
been talking about these issues my
entire life.The show can be quite raunchy at
times. Were you comfortable with
those scenes?
I don’t think I was particularly
comfortable with those scenes, but I
really trusted the story that we were
telling, so it made sense to me. It felt
exciting to take risks for this character,
which is why I’ve always felt so
passionate about the project.How does your dad react to
those scenes?
Oh, my gosh! I don’t talk with him about
that. There are parts of this show that he
is not allowed to talk about with me. It’s
like: ‘Nope, we don’t discuss that.’
‘ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’ SEASON SEVEN IS STREAMING
NOW ON NETFLIX.INTERVIEW BY ALAN TANNER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BARRY J HOLMES/GUARDIAN/EYEVINEOK!AS‘ORANGEISTHENEWBLACK’COMESTOANEND TAYLORSCHILLING
TALKSABOUTPRISONLIFETHEFINALSERIESANDHERFONDESTMEMORIESyRight and below left:
Taylor says she has made
‘a lot of really good
friends’ on the show