Julia Sweeney is discovering there's life after "Saturday Night Live," and there's even life after the cruel treatment her androgynous character "Pat" suffered in the nation's movie houses.
Last year, Sweeney, 35, was freshly divorced and still stung by the nearly straight-to-video release of her film comedy "It's Pat." That's when she learned her younger brother, Mike, had lymphatic cancer.Months later, she discovered she had cervical cancer and underwent a radical hysterectomy. Much of the money she'd saved during a rising show business career flowed out quickly to pay medical bills for herself and her brother.
She's taken her troubles and plowed them into a one-woman comedy show that's running in West Hollywood after a successful run in San Francisco.
In an interview published Saturday in the Daily News of Los Angeles, Sweeney said she doesn't bemoan the loss of her nest egg.
"I think `Wow. That worked out wonderfully. I saved up all that money and I was able to spend a year and a half supporting someone who was sick. And being sick."