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Sep 24, 2021 · Jessica St. Clair and Dan O’Brien hit the red carpet in Beverly Hills on Nov. 2, 2018. (Getty Images) Our Cancers chronicles the day-to-day reality of fighting the disease as partners and parents, including scenes of O’Brien bathing their daughter and singing lullabies while St. Clair languishes in bed.
Sep 21, 2021 · September 21, 20213:00 AM ET. 51-Minute Listen. Playlist. Enlarge this image. Jessica St. Clair and Dan O'Brien attend PEN America 2018 LitFest Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Four...
Feb 1, 2021 · Feb 01, 2021 Nicole Levine. A text flashed on Dan O'Brien's phone while he was casting one of his plays in 2015. "It is cancer," his wife, Jessica St. Clair, wrote. Six months later, as Jessica wrapped up her final chemotherapy treatment for stage 2 breast cancer, she received word that her husband had stage 4 colon cancer that had spread to ...
Jessica St. Clair and Dan O’Brien attend the book launch event at Diesel Bookstore on September 07, 2023 in Santa Monica, California. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images
- Escape to The Chateau
- Brené Brown
- Super Soul Sunday
- Radio Dramas
- Midsomer Murders
- The Property Brothers
- World War II Novels
- Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag
- Option B by Sheryl Sandberg
St. Clair:"During the early days of the pandemic, this was my comfort watch. I would watch maybe 15 minutes a night, and it was my little treat. The moment that theme song plays, Dan instantly falls asleep. It's like old literature in that way, but I like the idea of escaping. I daydream about selling everything and living in the countryside."
St. Clair: "During the Big C, I became obsessed with audiobooks. I would go walking constantly because sitting felt too passive, so I would walk for three to four hours sometimes. Rising Strong by Brené Brown was very important to me. Also, Amy Poehler's audiobook of Yes Please." O'Brien: "I would call her to find out where she was, and she'd find ...
St. Clair: "I would binge Oprah's Super Soul Sunday because I needed to hear other people talking about going through hard times themselves, and how they recovered. I think it's part of why Dan and I both wanted to write about our story, because we obsessively searched for cancer happy endings and there aren't many — there are a lot of scary storie...
O'Brien: "I also went back in time [laughs]. During Jessica's treatment I became obsessed with radio dramas. I was going back to the '30s. Like, shows with the organ music where people were having melodramatic affairs or solving murders. This only lasted as long as Jessica's treatment, but then during the beginning of COVID, I did pop back into old...
O'Brien: "During my treatment I found comfort in British comedy, like Toast of London, and also the Midsomer Murders. It's kind of a mix of Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order. Each week they solve another mystery, and it takes place in this idyllic, fictional county in England. There's satisfaction in the control of the mystery being solved. It seem...
O'Brien:"During Jess' treatment and then mine, I didn't have as much time to write as I would have liked. I couldn't read to escape, because that felt too passive, so I turned to home makeover shows." St. Clair: "He was recovering from one of his surgeries, and let's just say I made a mistake on the dosing of some of the medications, and he was on ...
St. Clair: "I've said this on my podcast, but I'm deep into these novels — and I'm sure there's a huge market for this type of book — about two girls who, like, get through the Blitz. My friend [actress-writer] Danielle Schneider is always recommending books to me, and anytime she does you know the war or the Holocaust is going to sneak into that p...
O'Brien: "I couldn't write about what we were going through at the beginning of treatment, and I had no interest in books about cancer, but I did read Susan Sontag's [1978] book about her experience with breast cancer — she also relates it to AIDS. It's called Illness as Metaphor. But for the most part I couldn't quite handle the topic, and I still...
St. Clair: "One book I did love and that I always recommend to people having their own People magazine moment is Option B. It seems like it would be too sad, but it is hopeful. It's actually crazy optimistic because what happens is her husband dies suddenly and then Sheryl contacts her friend, who is a psychologist, and inquires about what makes so...
- Seija Rankin
- 7 min
Jun 15, 2020 · Dan O'Brien ’96, a playwright and poet, and Jessica St. Clair ’98, a comedian and writer, join President Patton for our final check in with the community during COVID-19 self-isolation. Dan and Jessica are a true power couple in the arts that met in a Middlebury improv group.
St. Clair is married to playwright and poet Dan O'Brien. They have a daughter. In 2015, St. Clair said that she and Lennon Parham had both learned Transcendental Meditation.
