Subscribe
Hellobeautiful Featured Video
CLOSE

I don’t know about the rest of the female sex, but it is rare that I can get through a bad work day, break-up or any emotional drama without one thing: processed sugar, usually manifested as Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. You know the days, ladies, when you are riding the subway or driving in your car, struggling to keep the tears from flowing like the Nile, and if someone even dared bump into you or cut you off, you might rip their eyes out? Well, nothing is a better cure than a personal pint of American Dream.

I recently had ‘that’ day. I got out of the subway, made a beeline for the closest Duane Read drugstore, and bought myself a pint of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, fully intent on getting ‘chip-faced.’ I promptly walked back to my apartment, peeled back the plastic, got the spoon you use to serve mashed potatoes with (no time for cereal spoons, people – I was on a mission) from my silverware drawer, dug in and clicked my TV to LIFETIME– what a cliche. I was speedily making my way through the delicious caramel and chocolate swirls when my roommate came home. She saw my slightly depressing state and said, ‘Jeez, can’t you at least put that in a bowl? You look like a Neanderthal.’

At first I was a little affronted by this, but then I replied, “What’s the point? If you make the choice to buy the pint of ice cream, there is no need to portion it and dirty a bowl; you are eating the whole pint.” Frankly, I don’t even know why Ben n’ Jerry’s bothers to put the fact that a pint of their ice cream is really 2.5 servings… I don’t need the extra guilt that I am eating enough ice cream for two and a half people.

Wouldn’t it be great if your comfort food were something like celery? Mine definitely is not, and most people’s isn’t celery either. So, the next time you are dealing with a flailing career and break-up that feels like that person reached inside your chest and ripped out your heart along with your happiness, it’s ok – just grab your ice cream, or M&Ms, or whatever helps, and just feel it.

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.