This week's 'Private Practice' was the storyline of a lifetime for actress KaDee Strickland.
KaDee Strickland still finds it difficult to talk about the episode of Private Practice that New Zealand audiences will watch this coming week.
Her character, the ballsy yet effervescent Dr Charlotte King emerges injured and emotionally bereft as the victim of a sexual attack.
She says the storyline is the most intense she has encountered in her acting career, which has included horror films The Sixth Sense and The Grudge.
"This a touchy subject matter because it is so real," she says. And the feedback she had from rape victims after the event made it even more so.
Usually actors in dramas like Grey's Anatomy and its spin-off, Private Practice, are lucky if they have days, let alone weeks, with their scripts, but in this case, writer Shonda Rhimes forewarned Strickland of her character's fate. She worked alongside rape victims and their families in Los Angeles, encountering children as young as five undergoing professional help following sexual assault.
"It is the greatest opportunity I've ever had to really utilise what it is to do this work. Be an actor. In my opinion, when you have the opportunity to put the storytelling process to use, it is the highest and best form of it," she says.
Since the episode aired in America last year, Strickland has been overwhelmed by the responses from victims and their partners who thanked her for such an honest, gruelling performance.
"I think one of the most beautiful things Shonda did was show how much it affects everyone around Charlotte. And I think that's something we don't get to see.
"You don't often think about the ripple effect it has on a person. Shonda does a beautiful job of acknowledging that, and exploring how one can heal after such a damaging experience."
Dr King was always incredibly thick-skinned, independent and capable. Coming from that very level-headed space made the transition to rape victim even more of a challenge, Strickland says.
"It was a very specific kind of attack and Charlotte is a very dominant force in her own right, so the way she responds is not going to be like anything I've ever done before. We have such a very full, present person, and for that person to be stripped down to their absolute shell is an interesting thing for the audience to be part of."
Having recovered from her physical wounds, Dr King tries to forget about what happened by throwing herself into her work, a common response among victims. "This is a woman who doesn't ever want to go down without a fight," she says.
Her character eventually finds it in herself to confide in her friend Addison (Kate Walsh), who finds her position as a friend and colleague compromised, as Dr King asks her to keep it a secret.
Strickland says she has been in Addison's shoes.
"I can say from a personal experience, I have taken a friend to the hospital, you feel horrible and you feel ingratitude. You are able to be there for that person, but you don't really know how to be there. There's nothing to be done."
Dr King's husband Cooper also feels like he is drowning in grief. "He has an incredible passion and he's lost. On a very primal male level what do you do when you can't protect the person you love from this? He supports Charlotte during the most traumatic thing she's ever been through."
Strickland's prior research revealed that not many relationships survive the intimacy issues following a sexual attack, and husbands of rape victims have since thanked the show for Cooper's portrayal of a partner's torment.
The experience has been life-altering, and Strickland says her awareness of the issue has not subsided since shooting the episode.
"The result of that script was that a lot of people got help for their sexual assaults. Some people came forward for the first time and that was a really powerful experience, to feel a part of healing. It's the most profound thing I have done as an actor for sure."
Who: KaDee Strickland plays Dr Charlotte King on Private Practice
When and where: Tuesday, 9.30pm on TV2
- TimeOut
