This is how it’s done. Actress Chrissy Metz invited Us Weekly to tag along for a whirlwind 24 hours!
4 a.m. Positive Start
In a Birmingham, Alabama, hotel room April 4, the This Is Us star’s alarm blares an Adele hit. “That way I’m not angry in the morning,” says Metz, 37. “It’s really early, though. It’s basically the middle of the night, let’s be real!” Before getting out of bed to kick off another leg of her This Is Me book tour, she goes over her gratitude list: “I say what I’m thankful for and how I want the day to go.”
5 a.m. Fresh Face
Since her hair air-dried overnight, best friend and travel companion Donnie Berry styles her locks quickly. Then it’s makeup time. (Essentials include mascara, brow gel and a pink lip.) “I don’t want to throw on a full face,” she says of her 45-minute routine. Next stop: Minnesota! Well, the airport.
11:30 a.m. Country Queen
Mid-flight, she rocks out to her current obsessions Kacey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton. “I’ve been traveling so frequently lately that I’m not an anxious flyer.” Finally touching down in Minneapolis — there was a brief layover in Chicago — she heads to their hotel, where she orders a turkey burger and caesar salad from room service. Now, time for some shut-eye: “I’m becoming a napper. I try to get one most days, but it doesn’t always happen.”
4:30 p.m. Pinch Me
While she’s in the shower, Berry runs into the bathroom with news. “He’s like, ‘Chrissy, you need to come here!’ I get out, but I’m sopping wet.” With her entire team on the phone — “that means it’s either great news or not so great” — she learns her memoir is No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list. “I’m like, ‘Yay! I have to go wash the conditioner out of my hair!’ It hasn’t sunk in yet and it probably won’t.”
7 p.m. Slowing Down
At the University of St. Thomas she gives a speech, then sits down with a psychologist for a discussion. “I don’t get stage fright, but I tend to talk quickly. It’s nerves. I just try to breathe because I will seriously go so quickly nobody will know what the heck I’m saying. I’m excited!”
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10 p.m. Tear Up
After, she she signs copies of her books. Don’t worry, her hand doesn’t cramp, but her cheeks do ache from smiling. “A teacher who works with kids with disabilities asked me what advice I could give her kids about self-esteem and how to love ourselves. It was an emotional moment. I typically carry tissues.” Back at the hotel by 10:30 p.m., she crawls into bed. “I have to be up early to catch another flight!”
Metz’s memoir This Is Me is on bookshelves now.
