Cynthia Erivo Reveals the Self-Care Routine Fueling Her Wicked 2 Performance

Some actors detox with a beach and a blender. Cynthia Erivo goes with sleep, therapy, and, when the job finally stops buzzing in her head, a long cry at 30,000 feet. Honestly? Sensible.

Her wind-down, straight from the source

Erivo sat down with Hugh Jackman (yes, the X-Men guy) for Variety's Actors on Actors, and he asked the question every actor gets eventually: what happens when the curtain comes down or the cameras stop rolling?

"Sleep and then a therapy session."

That was her immediate answer. The longer version: she tends to hang onto the emotions she digs up for a role all the way through production and beyond. Only after the process is actually over and the film is out in the world does she give herself permission to drop the weight.

Her most vivid example: after the awards run, she got on a plane to South Africa to start a new project and cried through the flight. Not a meltdown, more like a pressure valve finally turning. As she explained it, the feelings stack up because there is never time to process them while you are in the machine. When you finally get a quiet minute, you let them go.

Where Wicked stands in all this

Erivo is back as Elphaba in Wicked: For Good, the follow-up to 2024's musical blockbuster Wicked, both adapted from the long-running Broadway hit. The first film pulled in a lot of love from critics and added another Oscar nomination to her resume.

Wicked: For Good opened in theaters on November 21, 2025, and is currently playing worldwide.

• Her reset in short: sleep first, therapy next.
• She holds onto the character's emotions until after release, then lets them go.
• Recent example: post-Oscars flight to South Africa, cried the whole way, then moved on to the next gig.
• Why it works for her: processing takes time, and the job rarely gives you any until it is over.