Jackson White Reflects on Difficult 'Tell Me Lies' Scenes and His Mother's Role in Recovery

At 29, jackson white has spoken candidly about the emotional strain of acting opposite his real-life mother, Katey Sagal, on the Hulu series Tell Me Lies and about how her example influenced his decision to get sober. He made the remarks during interviews tied to a television festival appearance and on a popular podcast, framing both the creative challenge and a personal turning point.

Jackson White on Working with Katey Sagal in Tell Me Lies

White described sharing scenes with Sagal as “trippy” and unexpectedly difficult because the material asked them to inhabit a manipulative and gaslighting family dynamic. He said the father–son–mother interplay on screen—he plays Stephen DeMarco—required a kind of intense, repeated rehearsal: the pair “ran it a ton, ” he said, leaning on instinct rather than overanalysis. The work took place in the context of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s TV Festival in Atlanta, where he discussed the process during an interview tied to that event.

White emphasized that Sagal arrived on set deeply prepared; her long career left her “all baked in already, ” allowing scenes to unfold through repetition and real-time reaction. Because she had internalized the role, White could respond in the moment rather than labor through technical adjustments. What makes this notable is that the real-life closeness between actor and parent amplified the psychological demands of scenes meant to be ambiguously manipulative, turning routine rehearsal into an emotionally charged exercise.

Sobriety, Family Examples and the 'Call Her Daddy' Conversation

Beyond the set, White has been open about using alcohol as a coping mechanism while growing up between divorced parents and drinking early with his father. He has credited his mother’s example—her having “got her s--- together, ” in his words—for showing that personal change was possible. That message emerged during a podcast conversation on Call Her Daddy, where he discussed the personal consequences that pushed him toward action and the self-knowledge he said was necessary to stop destructive patterns.

White linked tangible signs—missing auditions, poor reactions, and stalled goals—to the realization that behavior must change when consequences accumulate. He framed that pressure as the inflection point: without consequences, he said, people can continue in harmful ways. Sagal’s visible turnaround served as a model that the actor could point to when deciding to recalibrate his life and career choices.

On-Set Dynamics: Blurred Lines with Grace Van Patten and Professional Tradecraft

White also spoke about the added complexity of working with real-life partner Grace Van Patten, who plays his love interest on the show. He acknowledged that the demands of making believable drama can blur boundaries between performance and private life, and that layering those personal relationships onto a narrative of toxicity intensified the emotional workload.

He credited a practical rehearsal approach for helping manage those pressures. Rather than conducting exhaustive scene analysis, White and his co-stars relied on repetition and on Sagal’s seasoned instincts to find truthful responses in the moment. The combination of the actress’s preparedness and the repeated runs of difficult scenes allowed the cast to execute emotionally fraught material without sacrificing authenticity.

Career Impact and Public Conversation

The public conversations—spanning a festival interview and a high-profile podcast appearance—have positioned White’s observations about craft and recovery squarely within the publicity cycle for Tell Me Lies. He continues to discuss the show, his role as Stephen DeMarco, and the ways personal history intersects with performance. Sagal’s pedigree in television, which includes long-running roles and a Golden Globe, was part of the context he cited when explaining why her presence on set was both intimidating and instructive.

White’s comments link immediate creative choices to longer-term personal change: because he could see a credible example of someone close to him make substantive life adjustments, he found a roadmap for addressing his own alcohol use. The timing matters because the dual exposure—working through intimate, manipulative scenes on screen while publicly discussing sobriety off camera—frames his artistic work and recovery as intertwined processes rather than separate trajectories.

In interviews and on the podcast, White has presented a clear through line: intense collaborative rehearsal and a prominent parental example contributed to both stronger performances on Tell Me Lies and momentum toward personal recovery. The conversation underlines how professional environments and family dynamics can converge to prompt meaningful change.