Abi Morgan on the importance of hope and the power of the tiny superhero acts of support, love, and kindness. | Brought to you by ZocDoc (https://www.zocdoc.com/passionstruck).
Abi Morgan is a playwright, author, and screenwriter. Her plays include Skinned, Sleeping Around, Splendour, Tiny Dynamite, Tender, Fugee, 27, Love Song, and The Mistress Contract. Her television work includes My Fragile Heart, Murder, Sex Traffic, Tsunami – The Aftermath, White Girl, Royal Wedding, Birdsong, The Hour, River, and The Split. Her film writing credits include Brick Lane, Iron Lady, Shame, The Invisible Woman, and Suffragette. She has several films currently in development and has won several awards, including Baftas and an Emmy for her film and TV work.
Abi Morgan is the author of the new book, This Is Not a Pity Memoir, where she writes about the trials and difficulties of steering a new life where her own cherished husband doesn’t remember her.
If people took one thing away from my book, it would be hope. Hope you’re not alone. Hope that there can be joy again. Hope that you can survive something truly, leftfield. Hope that you can turn the world back upside down the right way. That’s what I would hope for hope.
Abi Morgan
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What I Discuss With Abi Morgan About The Importance of Hope, Everyday Superheroes, and the Moments of Magic
Abi Morgan came home to discover her husband, Jacob, crumpled on the bathroom floor. After that moment, their lives would never be the same. Jacob suffered from multiple sclerosis, and this collapse left him with brain encephalitis, causing his doctors to place him in a medically induced coma.
When Jacob came out of the coma many months later, he saw Abi before him and was convinced she was not his wife. Jacob developed Capgras Syndrome, a rare delusional misidentification condition where one thinks their beloved ones are impostors. And then, in a twist of poor fate, Abi was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Morgan was faced with navigating an unimaginable new reality with her husband while ensuring he received appropriate care while she cared for her children. She relied on what she calls everyday superheroes to assist her day-to-day, but ultimately her writing helped her process the trauma of the experience.
In This Is Not a Pity Memoir, Abi Morgan invites readers into her world. She writes with a refreshing sense of authenticity, frustration, and the importance of hope.
We discuss:
- How growing up in a nomadic family had a profound impact on her life.
- Discovering her love for storytelling.
- Her most famous movies and the power of the actors who portray the characters she developed.
- Abi explains how she created her hit series, The Split.
- We then detail the love story in her memoir.
- How her life has been altered, and her advice to others about how she weathered the storm.
- Have any questions, comments, or stories you’d like to share? Drop us a line at [email protected]m!
- And much more…
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More From My Interview With Abi Morgan On the Importance of Hope, Everyday Superheroes and Why There Are Moments of Magic Everywhere
During our interview, Abi Morgan and I discuss her mantra that everyday superheroes come in many forms. I asked her why was that so important to her?
Abi Morgan explains, “The tiny acts of kindness, the tiny acts of bravery, the tiny acts of support, the tiny superhero acts as I call them, were everywhere. They were the neighbor who left me a lasagna or a jar of honey on my front doorstep. There was my amazing sister, a neighbor who, you know, planted bulbs so that they came out on my birthday. There was the kindness of my kids. There was the oncologist the very unassuming mastectomy surgeon that you would pass on the street, and you wouldn’t notice those people saved my life. They saved my life.
I guess I rethought what a superhero is. Then when we had the global pandemic, then it became the buzzword, the new superheroes were our National Health Service. The new superheroes have been the responders, the medics, the nurses, the consultants and doctors who’ve got us through, and those who found vaccines. Those are the superheroes to me. I love Marvel and superhero films, but actually, it made me see the kind of moments of magic in my day-to-day life. Moments of miracle and genuine moments where I could have hope and belief.
There’s nothing more terrifying, where you see someone you love intently, and who you’re dependent on hanging between life and death. When your life is in question, you must find magic everywhere. One of the things that I talk about in the book is that a friend gave me this sound therapy. A session with this woman, although parts of it, were kind of hokey. I’m sorry to get that, but parts of it were quite a sort of mystic, actually.
What came out of it was this beautiful idea there are moments of magic anywhere.
If you see a feather, it’s an angel feather. If you see a bee, it’s a symbol of empowerment. I realized it was how you decode and see the world. And I find that very useful. So that’s where the superhero thing came from. I suddenly realized I had to lean into the most normal-looking people and the most domestic elements of my life to survive. Really, that was how I survived it.”
Thanks, Abi Morgan!
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Resources From The Show With Abi Morgan
Please note that some of the links on this page (books, movies, music, etc.) lead to affiliate programs for which The Passion Struck podcast receives compensation. It’s just one of the ways we keep the lights on around here. Thank you so much for being so supportive!
*This is Not a Pity Memoir is Being Adapted for TV
* The Split Can Be Viewed Now In the United States: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/abi-morgan-the-split-iron-lady-b2078275.html
*Instagram: https://whttps://www.instagram.com/abimorgan9/
* My solo episode on Why Average Choices Lead to an Average Life: https://passionstruck.com/why-average-choices-lead-being-mediocre/
* My interview with Kara Robinson Chamberlain on how she escaped from a kidnapping by a serial killer: https://passionstruck.com/kara-robinson-chamberlain-be-vigilant/
* My interview with Jean Oelwang on the power of partnerships: https://passionstruck.com/jean-oelwang-what-will-you-love-into-being/
* My interview with Sara Mednick, Ph.D. on the power of the downstate and its impact on performance and health: https://passionstruck.com/sara-mednick-recharge-your-brain-body/
* My interview with Katy Milkman, Ph.D. on how to create lasting behavior change: https://passionstruck.com/katy-milkman-behavior-change-for-good/
* My interview with David Yaden, Ph.D. on self-transcendence, psychedelics, and behavior change: https://passionstruck.com/david-yaden-on-self-transcendence-experiences/
* My interview with Jeff Walker on the importance of collaboration in systems change: https://passionstruck.com/jeffrey-c-walker-collaboration-systems-change/
* My interview with Admiral Sandy Stosz on how to lead in unchartered waters: https://passionstruck.com/admiral-sandy-stosz-leader-with-moral-courage/
* My solo episode on why micro choices matter: https://passionstruck.com/why-your-micro-choices-determine-your-life/
* My solo episode on why you must feel to heal: https://passionstruck.com/why-you-must-feel-to-find-emotional-healing/
About Today’s Guest Abi Morgan
Abigail Louise Morgan OBE is a Welsh playwright and screenwriter known for her works for television, such as Sex Traffic and The Hour, and the films Brick Lane, The Iron Lady, Shame and Suffragette.
Abi Morgan was born in Cardiff, and after initial ambitions to become an actress, she decided to become a writer while studying drama and literature at Exeter University. She went on to take a postgraduate writing course at the Central School of Speech and Drama (London).
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