Buffy's Eliza Dushku reveals milestone in shock new career nearly 10 years after walking away from Hollywood
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star, 44, shared a video clip of her receiving her degree on stage and walking off with it.
She also shared several photos to her Instagram Stories including one photo posing with her classmates all looking very happy to be done with their studies.
'Graduating with my master's degree (!!) feels like more than an achievement—it feels like a deep calling realized,' her caption began.
'True growth, energy, and passion—manifested. After nearly a decade of inner work and building a new life, I'm so grateful for this moment in time.
'To my highest self—for taking this wild leap away from everything I knew and making it happen. To my boys + ♥️—for the little sacrifices made & love you gave, each day to honor and support this dream.'
She then went on to thank her 'family, friends—new and old—my colleagues/classmates, professors/teachers, and community.'
'I give thanks: for rooting me on, encouraging me day in and day out, and affording me the grace, strength, and space to step fully into these past years of clinical training.
'Today, I stand grounded and ready to support others on their journeys of becoming—through self-discovery, healing, and transformation.
'The connectedness I feel in holding safe, compassionate space for those who seek the undertaking is such lifeblood now,' her caption concluded.
The post also featured a photo of her young kids' handwritten notes, which read 'Good Job Mommy' and 'I Love You Mom.'
Alongside her husband, real estate developer Peter Palandjian, Eliza is funding groundbreaking research and clinical trials on the potential of psychedelics, according to 2024 interview in Boston Magazine.
'I had the means to shift directions and choose a course in my life that focused on healing myself so that I could help heal others. I would be remiss if I didn't now share the transformation and the peace and the passion that I have,' Dushku said.
'This is just absolutely so clearly my real calling, my real purpose,' she continued at the time.
Dushku hasn't been seen on screen since 2017, when she appeared in Netflix's The Saint and played J.P. Nunnelly in CBS's Bull.
That year, she stepped away from Hollywood after accusing her Bull co-star Michael Weatherly of sexual harassment.
In the wake of the allegations, which Weatherly has denied, Dushku was written out of the show and told that her role as a series regular had been abruptly canceled.
Mediation with CBS resulted in the network agreeing to pay Dushku a confidential settlement of $9.5million - roughly the amount she stood to earn if kept on the show for four seasons.
Weatherly apologized for his behavior toward Dushku in a statement to the Times, saying: 'During the course of taping our show, I made some jokes mocking some lines in the script.
'When Eliza told me that she wasn't comfortable with my language and attempt at humor, I was mortified to have offended her and immediately apologized.
'After reflecting on this further, I better understand that what I said was both not funny and not appropriate and I am sorry and regret the pain this caused Eliza.'
Dushku first rose to fame in 1998 when she was cast as Faith, the rebellious Slayer, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Her standout role as Faith, which she portrayed until 2003, earned her a devoted fanbase and solidified her status as a rising star in Hollywood.
Dushku also starred in the hit cheerleading film Bring It On (2000), which became a cult classic.
In her personal life, Eliza married Peter in 2018, and the couple has since welcomed two children.
The family has since made a home in Boston, Eliza's birthplace, where they are enjoying life away from Hollywood.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
3 minutes ago
- Reuters
Tom Lehrer, musical satirist and math prodigy, dead at 97
July 27 (Reuters) - Tom Lehrer, the math prodigy who became an influential musical satirist with his barbed views of American social and political life in the 1950s and 1960s, has died at the age of 97, according to news reports. Lehrer died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Saturday, his longtime friend David Herder told the New York Times. No cause of death was specified. Lehrer's career as a musician and revered social commentator was little more than a happy accident that began with composing ditties to amuse classmates at Harvard University. His heyday lasted about seven years and, by his own count, produced only 37 songs before the reluctant performer returned to teaching at Harvard and other universities. "There's never been anyone like him," Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the Broadway producer who created "Tom Foolery," a revue of Lehrer songs, told BuzzFeed in 2014. "Of all famous songwriters, he's probably the only one that ... is an amateur in that he never wanted to be professional. And yet the work he did is of the highest quality of any great songwriter." As the U.S. nestled into the post-war complacency of the 1950s, the liberal-leaning Lehrer was poking holes in the culture with his songs while maintaining an urbane, witty air. Some of his works reflected his mathematical interests - "New Math" about subtracting 173 from 342 and "Lobachevsky" about a 19th-century Russian mathematician - but his meatier songs were deemed by some to be too irreverent and shocking. In 1959 Time magazine lumped him in with groundbreaking comics Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl as "sicknicks" who had "a personal and highly disturbing hostility toward all the world." The song "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie" looked at racism in the South ("The land of the boll weevil where the laws are medieval") while "National Brotherhood Week" took on hypocrites ("It's only for a week so have no fear / Be nice to people who are inferior to you"). "Be Prepared" exposed the dark side of a Boy Scout's life, "I Got It from Agnes" was about venereal disease, and "We Will All Go Together When We Go" addressed nuclear Armageddon. "If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while," Lehrer wrote on the notes that accompanied one of his albums. Thomas Andrew Lehrer was born on April 9, 1928, in New York. He grew up in the Big Apple listening to musical theater and one of his first works was "The Elements," a recitation of the periodic table set to a Gilbert and Sullivan tune. He enrolled at Harvard at age 15 and his "Fight Fiercely, Harvard" with the line "Won't it be peachy if we win the game?" became a popular spoof of the school's sports fight song. He performed at campus functions and, while in graduate school, compiled enough material to record an album in a Boston studio. He sold "Songs by Tom Lehrer" around campus and it developed a word-of-mouth cult following around the country. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957, Lehrer began performing and recorded more albums but was losing his zest for music. By the early 1960s, working on his doctorate - which he never finished - and teaching became greater concerns, although he did contribute songs to the TV news satire show "That Was the Week That Was" in 1963 and 1964. Lehrer taught math at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and musical theater at the University of California-Santa Cruz. He said he found math and songwriting to be similar - both a matter of fitting the pieces together in search of a proper and satisfying outcome. When asked why he abandoned musical satire, he said cultural changes had created issues such as abortion and feminism that were too complicated to satirize. Famously, he quipped that "political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize" after the award was given to the controversial secretary of state in 1973. Lehrer, who never married, also said the things he once found to be funny were now scary. "I often feel like a resident of Pompeii who has been asked for some humorous comments on lava," he told People magazine in 1982. Lehrer's impact lasted decades after he stopped performing. His work was often featured on the syndicated Dr. Demento radio show and "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe dazzled a talk show audience by doing "The Elements" on a television show in 2010. The rapper 2 Chainz sampled part of Lehrer's "The Old Dope Peddler" in a 2012 song.
Daily Mail
3 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Sopranos star reveals mental health issues almost 'destroyed' his life
A Sopranos star has revealed his struggle with mental health issues nearly 'destroyed' his life and family. Joe Pantoliano, 73, who is one of many Hollywood A-listers considering moving to another country, shared he struggled with clinical depression for nearly a decade before getting a diagnosis. To relieve his symptoms, the actor, who starred as Ralph Cifaretto in the Emmy -winning crime drama told Page Six he would self-medicate via what he called his 'seven deadly symptoms.' ' Alcohol, what was available, women, you know, risky behavior, act first and then ask questions second,' the actor told the outlet on Thursday. The Goonies actor admitted he was a 'mess for a long time,' and attributed some of his problems to growing up with a mother who also suffered from mental health challenges. 'My wife [actress Nancy Sheppard] and my kids were ready to throw me out,' he said. 'The only people who were happy to see me weren't people. They were my dogs.' the actor recalled. The Last of Us star, who is currently starring in the off-Broadway show Ginger Twinsies, also credited his pups with saving his life. 'It was the only spark that was left in me. I was like Tinkerbell and the light was dying,' he explained. Pantoliano finally received a diagnosis in 2007. Two year later her found an organization called, No Kidding, Me Too! to help take away the stigma around mental health struggles. 'We've done such a great job,' he said. 'Our mission for No Kidding, Me Too! was to make the discussion of mental disease cool and trendy,' he said, adding, 'And we've succeeded. You can't get them to shut up now!' After his show closes on October 26, Pantoliano and his wife may pull up sticks and move to Europe amid all the political chaos in the United States. 'It's hard for me to think about people's bulls*** like making a TV show. The world is on fire; it's hard for me to concentrate,' Pantoliano said. In a recent video on social media he told his fans, 'Nancy and I were in Portugal for a couple of weeks.' 'We actually looked into getting visas so that we could live there part of the time, or most of the time.' 'It's a great place to retire,' he added, saying, 'It suits me. I love to walk; I take amazing walks there.' Other celebrities such as Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi, designer Tom Ford, along with Ryan Gosling and partner Eva Mendes have already moved abroad.
Reuters
33 minutes ago
- Reuters
George Lucas makes Comic-Con debut for Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
SAN DIEGO, July 27 (Reuters) - Excited fans waved glowing "Star Wars" lightsabers on Sunday at the San Diego Comic-Con panel for George Lucas' latest project, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Along with Lucas, the panel included director Guillermo del Toro and Doug Chiang, vice president of Disney's (DIS.N), opens new tab Lucasfilm, with Queen Latifah moderating at the San Diego Convention Center. Attendees shouted "Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!" and clapped their hands in anticipation of the "Star Wars" creator's arrival, and gave the 81-year-old Lucas a standing ovation as he took his seat. "Opening in 2026, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is a first-of-its-kind institution dedicated to illustrated storytelling across time, cultures, and media," a press release from the museum said. The 11-acre campus, in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, will include a green space and a 300,000-square-foot building with galleries, two theaters, a library, restaurant, café, and retail and community spaces. Some of its collection will include art from comic book artist Jack Kirby, painter Norman Rockwell and illustrator Kadir Nelson, as well as a Lucas archive with models, props, concept art and costumes. "I love all art, no matter what it is," Lucas said after showing a video that gave a sneak peek at the museum. The video included renderings of the museum interior and exterior, as well as the museum's broad range of art ranging from more traditional fine art and comic book strips to "Star Wars" sculptures and installations. Lucas began the panel recalling his days as a college student struggling to pursue his dream of becoming an art collector due to the steep cost of fine art. But the filmmaker found an affordable exception with comic books, sold cheaply in "underground" markets. Now, rather than selling art he collected over around 50 years, Lucas said he prefers to create what he calls a "temple to the people's art." Lucas kept the conversation focused on the museum and did not discuss "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones." For del Toro, the museum offers a visual past that belongs to everyone" and can't be erased, noting that he may move some of his personal art collection to the Lucas Museum. Part of the liberation that comes with narrative art for the "Pan's Labyrinth" director also means that art can't be made with a computer app, as it lacks "personality and knowledge."
