Hemingway's dual penchants for comedic roles and serious subject matter convene in an upcoming film she is especially excited about, My Suicide. She describes her character as a saccharine housewife who is still in denial about her son's suicide when she's faced with her daughter attempting to follow suit. The filmmakers collaborated with teens in coming up with the concept for the film, and its novel approach to the subject has been endorsed by a leading authority on suicide prevention, Edwin Schneidman.
As Hemingway sees it, “It's a way that kids will really tune in to the issue without thinking it's a documentary saying, ‘Oh, you shouldn't do this. Get help.' It's not so dry and unpalatable.”
The subject resonates personally for Hemingway: “I got involved because, obviously, there's a lot of suicide in my family, a lot of mental illness.”
Her grandfather Ernest, the illustrious author, as well as her aunt, uncle, great grandfather, great uncle and sister Margaux have all taken their own lives. The latter was 41 years old when she died in 1996 on the 35th anniversary of their grandfather's suicide. For a long time Mariel was constantly grilled about her sister's death. The family originally defended it as accidental despite the coroner's ruling that the sedative overdose was intentional.
Over time, Mariel came to a different perception, and now she reflects, “For a long time I denied that that was a reality.” Now she speaks publicly about suicide and depression on a regular basis.
While the public has long associated her family name with tragedy, Hemingway exudes contentment with her personal life, citing the yogic principle of being present as a central focus of her life. She and husband Steve Crisman live just outside Los Angeles and have two daughters, ages 16 and 18. “ Their friends don't even know who I am,” she says. “ They call me Mrs. Crisman or say, ‘I saw somebody in a movie who looks just like you.' It's quite funny.”
Hemingway says having teenage daughters isn't the nightmare many think it to be. “We have really strong communication,” she says. “ They've learned to be communicative, deal with their problems, be emotional, and express themselves. It makes them able to deal with a lot of things. I think they're just amazing people.”
T he older of Hemingway's two daughters is also an actor. Hemingway says she tells her: “You never have to compromise yourself. You don't have to please people. Because in the end people are only trying to please themselves anyway. So you trying to do this dance for other people, you're never going to win.”
Hemingway has had to learn many lessons the hard way, such as when stills of her from the 1983 film Star 80 appeared in Playboy. “I was really disturbed because it made it look like I had intentionally done that as me, but I had really only done it for the film,” she says. She starred as Dorothy Stratten, the 1980 Playmate of the Year, who was murdered.
Just as Personal Best was released, Hemingway appeared in Playboy of her own volition, in what she calls “semi-nude, you-can't-see-anything pictures.” Was her agent or manager pushing her to appear on the cover of a very heterosexual-male-oriented magazine in order to make it clear she was straight? “ That's so much more intelligent than my thinking at the time,” she says. “Maybe they were thinking that but I just thought it would be fun. I wasn't dumb; I was just naive.” She adds, “Sometimes I did things without thinking them out because I wanted people to be happy. But in truth, I never crossed my own boundaries.”
Speaking about her life in general, Hemingway says, “I never regret my experiences. They all lead you to who you are now and the person you become.” This is an approach to life that she practices as well as preaches. She is a longtime Yoga practitioner and has put out a DVD collection on yoga. She is also an ambassador for a spa company aiming to make holistic living affordable to the masses.
And now she is writing her second book, which she describes as “a 30-day experiment in how to live in balance—tangible ways to create peace and harmony in your life, to be calmer and more present.”
“The biggest focus in my life is yoga and living in balance,” she says. For her that involves not only yoga, but food, nutrition, and her external and internal environment. One thing her work and her approach to life make clear: This is one woman who's sure to keep topping her own personal best.
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