Eliza Dushku Graduates With Master's Degree After Acting Retirement: ‘Deep Calling Realized'
'Graduating with my master's degree (!!) feels like more than an achievement — it feels like a deep calling realized,' Dushku, 44, wrote via Instagram on Friday, June 6. 'True growth, energy, and passion — manifested.'
Dushku received a Master of Arts degree from Lesley University late last month.
'After nearly a decade of inner work and building a new life, I'm so grateful for this moment in time,' she captioned her Friday post. '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.'
Eliza Dushku Reveals She Transitioned From Acting to Revolutionizing Trauma Care in Boston
Dushku has been married to Peter Palandjian since 2018, and they share kids Philip, 5, and Bodie, 3. Palandjian, 61, and the couple's kids were on hand for Dushku's graduation ceremony.
'And to my 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,' she wrote. "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.'
She concluded, 'To possibility, hope, and healing, all. Non sibi sed toti 🤍.'
Dushku took a step back from acting in 2017, turning to a new career in mental health counseling. In a 2024 profile for Boston Magazine, Dushku revealed that she is certified in psychedelic-assisted therapy.
'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,' Dushku told the outlet. 'I would be remiss if I didn't now share the transformation and the peace and the passion that I have. This is just absolutely so clearly my real calling, my real purpose.'
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According to Dushku, she had previously used psychedelics to help recover from past traumas.
'I found myself feeling so wholly unwell,' she recalled. 'So painfully vulnerable, raw, exposed — terrified and suffering from what was diagnosed as PTSD. I finally surrendered and began to feel a release and a sense of peace and security and calm whooshing through me.'
Dushku revealed past struggles with alcoholism and addiction in 2017.
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