When a Sunshine Girl Learns to Glow in the Dark

In this electric and deeply human episode of The Powerhouse Diaries, Yaela Raber sits down with Kimberley Crossman, an actor, comedian, producer, creator of Pretty Depressed, grief survivor, mental health advocate, marine biology nerd, and the woman who somehow lives ten lives at once without losing the plot or her light.

For years, the world saw Kimberley as the sunshine girl. Cheerful. Bubbly. Always on. But what most people never saw was the grief she was carrying through auditions, deadlines, miscarriages, and the pressure to stay “fine” on screen and online. This episode opens the curtain on that truth but not in a tragic way rather in a way that shows how softness and strength can co-exist in one woman who absolutely refuses a small life.

We explore the wildly parallel worlds she moves through. Los Angeles sets. New Zealand bush walks. Comedy stages. Shark tagging adventures. Solo healing. Creative entrepreneurship. And a career built on resilience that would break most people long before the ten thousandth no.

This conversation is bright, funny, disruptive, emotional, and full of moments that make you feel like you are sitting with a woman who has lived enough for three seasons of her own show. Kimberley brings receipts on what it means to keep going after loss, to redefine resilience, to stop performing for approval, and to let your messy and magnificent parts all have space at the table.

If you’ve ever felt split between who the world sees and who you actually are or ever carried grief while still building a big life this episode feels like oxygen.

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In This Episode We Explore

00:00 Episode trailer

02:10 The duality of being Kimberley in Hollywood and Kimberley at home

07:40 How 10,000 rejections shaped her optimism without hardening her

12:15 The quiet heartbreak of miscarriage and the identity rebuild that followed

18:20 Why joy became her compass and not a personality trait

23:50 The moment she stopped performing for approval and started choosing truth

28:30 Finding purpose beyond visibility and the story behind Pretty Depressed

35:10 The sunshine reputation and the shadows people never see

41:20 Bees, sharks and the passions that keep her grounded and alive

48:00 Living parallel lives and the freedom of being multidimensional

55:40 Letting herself be loved in the mess instead of the performance

01:03:00 Boundaries that saved her from burnout and performative wellness

01:08:45 What resilience and delusion really look like behind the scenes

01:15:00 How she chooses a big life without apology

01:21:30 What she hopes her audience feels, not just sees

01:24:00 Closing reflections

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Episode Links

Kimberley Crossman on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/kimcrossman

Pretty Depressed Podcast

https://open.spotify.com/show/04dZVSSbP7A3hQAyHx4s2B

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