Whatever Happened To Sarah Michelle Gellar?
Sarah Michelle Gellar will always be known as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." In fact, Gellar is so synonymous with "Buffy" that she (almost) can't be brought up without mentioning her signature character. Fortunately, Gellar seems fine with that. Even though the show has since been faced with accusations from Charisma Carpenter and others against its creator and showrunner Joss Whedon, Sarah Michelle Gellar can be proud of what she put on screen over those seven seasons between 1997 and 2003. But it's been 20 years since that show ended, and a slayer's gotta keep herself busy somehow. Gellar has done so in a variety of ways.
Gellar has had the typical ups and downs of any film and TV career, but she's also launched a food and lifestyle brand called Foodstirs and published a cookbook while taking a break from the rigors of Hollywood. Now that she's back in the fold with the TV drama "Wolf Pack," she's also taken an executive producer credit and used her influence to ensure the show's young stars don't have to deal with the things she did in her career. Gellar can be characterized as a real-life superhero, whatever she's chosen to do. Here's the lowdown on what Sarah Michelle Gellar has been up to.
She acted in movies after Buffy
During her time on "Buffy," Sarah Michelle Gellar also started a movie career. She acted in comedies like "Scooby-Doo," teen dramas such as "Cruel Intentions," and horror movies, including "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scream 2." All of those movies were a success. After playing Buffy, she looked poised to continue that trend. She starred in "The Grudge" and "Scooby-Doo 2" immediately following the end of the popular vampire show, and they both achieved box office success, even if critics didn't love them — especially the second "Scooby-Doo."
There were signs of trouble, though. She starred in movies like "Southland Tales" and "The Air I Breathe," which failed to make their budgets back. By the time she decided to take on "The Wonderful Maladys," an HBO TV show, her film career was faltering and she was hoping to try her luck with TV again. But she was disappointed, as HBO decided not to pick up the pilot. It was around this point that she decided to take two years off.
She took a two year hiatus after her daughter was born
After Sarah Michelle Gellar's daughter Charlotte was born in 2009, she decided to pause her career. Even though she would have shot "The Wonderful Maladys" close to her daughter's birth, when the pilot wasn't picked up, she decided to stay home and experience motherhood for around two years. While it's easy to wonder what could have been had the pilot gone ahead, it might have been for the best, because she experienced postpartum depression after her daughter was born.
She talked about having the condition publicly for the first time in 2017 on Instagram. Posting a photo of her with her then-baby girl, she wrote, "Having kids is wonderful, and life-changing, and rarely what you're prepared for. I love my children more than anything in the world. But like a lot of women, I too struggled with postpartum depression after my first baby was born." She continued, "I got help, and made it through, and every day since has been the best gift I could ever have asked for." She wrapped up with words of comfort and a call to action, "To those of you going through this, know that you're not alone and that it really does get better. And if you believe that postpartum depression should be covered by healthcare, please take a moment and go to callmecongress.com today, find your rep's numbers and let them know."
She tried to mount another major series ... twice
In 2011, Sarah Michelle Gellar attempted another TV series, and this one was picked up. "Ringer" was the tale of a twin who assumes her sister's identity only to discover that her sister's life may be more complicated than her own. "Ringer" was high concept and perfect for its CW home, and with Gellar in the lead, it got a lot of initial hype. "When you have a show like 'Buffy,' you can't just do anything after," she told Parade. "It was worth the wait." Unfortunately, the show wasn't picked up for a second season, which Gellar attributes to her personal life. "I got pregnant with my second child, which was a surprise, so I turned to CW like, 'I can't,'" Gellar told The Hollywood Reporter. "They would've picked it up again. I just couldn't do it."
This was followed by creator David E. Kelley's "The Crazy Ones" in 2013, which received perhaps even more hype because, in addition to Gellar, it starred Robin Williams. Gellar lobbied for the role of Williams' daughter, who works at the same advertising agency as him. It seemed like the half-hour comedy would be a slam dunk, but it suffered the same fate as "Ringer," lasting only one season. And this time it wasn't because of Gellar, who said to The Hollywood Reporter, "I loved that show. I could have done it for five or seven years and seen my kids grow up." Only three months later, Robin Williams died by suicide.
She let acting take a back seat for years
Following Robin Williams' death, Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to take a break from acting. She reflected on what an impact Williams had on her. "My life is a better place because I knew Robin Williams," she said in a statement to People. "To my children he was Uncle Robin, to everyone he worked with, he was the best boss anyone had ever known, and to me he was not just an inspiration but the Father I had always dreamed of having." Given that she was estranged from her father until his death in 2001, that's a big compliment.
Of the break, she claimed that Williams' death made her decide to take some time away to be with her kids. It's unclear how long she was initially planning the break to be, but in 2014, she launched Foodstirs, a kid-friendly cooking brand that took up her time. She explained that while looking through the shelves of the local grocery store, she and her co-founder Galit Laibow couldn't find baking mixes that met their rigorous standards of nutrition, so they made their own. "My goal is to create memorable experiences in the kitchen," Gellar told Good Housekeeping. Within two years of founding the company, they were selling baking kits in 7,500 U.S. stores.
She co-authored a cookbook
Sarah Michelle Gellar's foray into food entrepreneurship went so well that she even co-authored a cookbook in 2017 called "Stirring Up Fun With Food." The cookbook took Foodstirs to the next level with easy recipes for kids. "I think right now there's a great gap between inspiration and execution," Gellar told Tasting Table. "Although we all kind of know what we're supposed to be eating, that doesn't mean we have access to it." She tried to make that process easier with both Foodstirs and her cookbook, with recipes that kids can cook in six steps or less.
Gellar seemed to enjoy her time as someone in the food world instead of Hollywood. She even felt that acting and being a food entrepreneur have a lot in common. "As an actor, you get rejected every single day," Gellar explained. "This, too, is about sticking with something, about being creative and inspiring people. That's what art is."
But Foodstirs didn't last. The company's supplier was hobbled by the pandemic, and by 2022, Gellar had sold off her stake in the company.
She still did the occasional voice role or guest spot
Of course, while she was taking her elongated break, she occasionally did a voice role or guest spot if it suited her or she could help someone out. She voice-starred in "Star Wars Rebels" as the Seventh Sister, a role that she undoubtedly took on because Freddie Prinze Jr., her husband of 20 years, was one of the stars of the show. She also did guest voice spots on "Robot Chicken" in a variety of roles, including as Doc McStuffins and Bambi's mother, because her friend Seth Green was its showrunner.
In addition, she did a guest spot on the finale of "The Big Bang Theory" in 2019 playing herself as Raj's companion, although she makes clear in the episode that it is not a date. The appearance was a genre cameo the audience appreciated, and it helped the cast bid a final farewell. These roles were limited and didn't occupy much of her time during her break, but they kept her at the front of the audience's minds.
In 2016 she was attached to a Cruel Intentions revival
There was one role during Sarah Michelle Gellar's hiatus that generated a lot of publicity for her and would have meant she was obligated to a series: The character of Kathryn Merteuil in the "Cruel Intentions" revival. In 1999, the teen drama "Cruel Intentions" made a huge splash. A remake of "Dangerous Liaisons," it starred Gellar as the scheming step-sister of Ryan Philippe's Sebastian Valmont as the pair make a wager on Valmont's ability to deflower the headmaster's daughter (Reese Witherspoon). It's hard to say how they would have updated the story almost 20 years later, but Gellar was in — albeit reluctantly.
Apparently, the director Roger Kumble and producer Neil Moritz sold it to NBC without ever talking to Gellar. She said "no" several times, but they eventually wore her down and got her to sign on. "On the first day, I was like, 'This isn't working.' It's just not a network show," Gellar explained in an interview with The New York Times. "And if it is a network show, it's not my 'Cruel Intentions.' So I was actually grateful [when NBC shelved the pilot]." Ultimately, it sounds like it was better for everyone that the NBC version of "Cruel Intentions" didn't move forward, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a streaming version of the show at some point.
She spoke out when people from Buffy made allegations against its creator Joss Whedon ...
In early 2021, Charisma Carpenter started a media storm when she came out against creator and showrunner Joss Whedon and his behavior on the set of "Buffy" and its spinoff "Angel." While Sarah Michelle Gellar's castmates, including Amber Benson and Michelle Trachtenberg, directly criticized Whedon, Gellar took a different tack, saying she supported her colleagues sharing their stories but refused to speak out herself, except in the most cursory way. "While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don't want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon," Gellar stated on Instagram. "I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out."
She later talked about being on an "extremely toxic male set" at The Wrap's Power of Women Summit in 2022, which was taken to be a comment on the working conditions she faced on "Buffy." She said at the time she was under the impression that women couldn't be friends because they'd become too powerful. Clearly, a lot happened on the "Buffy" set that we've only scratched the surface of.
... but she refuses to tell her own story
Of course, Sarah Michelle Gellar ultimately refused to reveal all the ins and outs of her story on "Buffy," and it appears to be a path she's going to stick to. "I'll never tell my full story because I don't get anything out of it," she told The Hollywood Reporter. But her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., and her friends who were on the set of "Buffy" with her are less diplomatic. Emma Caulfield Ford, in particular, indicated in the same interview that "it was obvious that Sarah lacked the support to be the leader she needed and wanted to be. There was a tremendous amount of resentment and animosity [toward her] from a certain someone — and I suppose now we can all guess who," referring to Joss Whedon.
Still, Gellar remains optimistic in the face of the criticism of the man who masterminded the show. "I hope the legacy hasn't changed," she said. "I hope that it gives the success back to the people that put in all of the work. I will always be proud of 'Buffy' ... Was it an ideal working situation? Absolutely not. But it's OK to love 'Buffy' for what we created because I think it's pretty spectacular." Time will tell if "Buffy" is rejected because of its problematic creator, or if its merits will stand on their own and continue to attract new fans.
She decided to get more involved in acting when her daughter expressed interest
By 2022, Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to return to acting because her daughter had declared her intention to get into the business. In fact, Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. both decided to get back into acting to show their daughter the way they think acting jobs should be approached. Not to mention, it enabled them to satisfy their own acting itches. Prinze starred in the holiday rom-com "Christmas With You" on Netflix, but Gellar started more slowly, first taking a supporting role in the movie "Do Revenge."
The movie stars Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke as a pair of students who've been bullied and decide to ... well, do revenge. It nods to great teen dramas of the past such as "Clueless" and "Cruel Intentions." To make this more clear, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson rewrote the part of the prep school headmaster that Gellar plays with Kathryn from "Cruel Intentions" as her inspiration. "To me what's even better than paying homage is to redefine and bring something to a new generation," Gellar told Tudum. "And that's exactly what Jenn does with this film ... There is definitely a version where the headmaster is the adult Kathryn, but that will be up to the audience to decide."
She starred in and executive produced Wolf Pack
Once "Do Revenge" and particularly her performance in it were well received, Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to move on to bigger roles. She took a part in "Wolf Pack," another genre show where she plays arson investigator, Kristen Ramsey. Initially, she wasn't even going to read the script, but ultimately she's glad she did. "It reminds me of Buffy," Gellar told The Hollywood Reporter, "not the show itself, but the way it addresses the horrors we're facing today: anxiety, the stress of daily life, feeling isolated."
In addition to her starring role, she also received an executive producer credit — and it isn't just a vanity title. She makes sure that her four younger co-stars, all between the ages of 19 and 21, are cared for and heard. She's distributed her personal phone number to the cast and set up an infrastructure so they can feel comfortable voicing their concerns. As she said in the same interview, "My generation just didn't have that," which is what makes it so important that young actors working today have a healthier environment on set.
There's no word yet on whether "Wolf Pack" will get a second season. According to Gellar, the writing and acting strikes in Hollywood have paused everything. Nonetheless, the show attracted viewers, so she's hopeful that Season 2 will be announced eventually.
She says she won't let either of her children act until they're 18
Despite the fact that Sarah Michelle Gellar has been working since she was 5 years old, she has made it known that neither of her children can act in anything until they've graduated from high school. Charlotte, 14, and Rocky, 11, don't appear on their parents' social media feeds for the most part and neither of them are allowed to have their own social media accounts. Still, they've periodically appeared in publicity photos with their parents. For instance, Charlotte made waves when she appeared in a photo with her mom at the "Do Revenge" premiere when she was 13.
Still, Gellar has no problem letting her daughter, who's interested in acting, accompany her to the set of her shoots. Charlotte joined Gellar on both "Wolf Pack" and "Do Revenge," but when the crews asked her to give her daughter walk-on cameos, Gellar refused. Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. are strict about their kids not acting on camera until they're out of their house. "There'll be different expectations for her, so she needs to learn everything there is first," Gellar explained to The Hollywood Reporter. Perhaps that's true. One way or another, though, we hope to see Gellar acting — perhaps with her daughter when she's old enough — for years to come.