Sarah Michelle Gellar Returns to the Spotlight After a Decade Away
Sarah Michelle Gellar is stepping back into the spotlight with new projects including the horror‑comedy sequel Ready or Not 2. The actress reflected on her years focusing on motherhood and why she now feels ready to return to acting full‑time.
via People:
After becoming firmly embedded in pop culture via her soap opera start on All My Children and her roles in the Scream franchise, classic teen movies like Cruel Intentions and, of course, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gellar became something like a patron saint to American millennials, to whom she’s often been a friend, hero and North Star. But in 2014 Gellar, 48, wanted to be more of a mom.
“I had my second child. I was on The Crazy Ones. Robin [Williams] passed away,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story, on stands March 18. “And then I just . . . I think my world shifted. It was this moment of, ‘Holy s—, things change in a moment.’ For the first time I wanted a break, and I had never wanted a break before. I was so defined by my work and my career that that was the propeller. And I’m so glad that I did, because it’s time I can never get back with my kids.”
During this time, she learned another valuable lesson: taking time for herself. She says it was Prinze who helped her see that some “me” time was needed.
“And therapy!” she says, laughing. She bottom lines where she’s at today: “I’m happier than I’ve ever been and I’ve got nothing left to prove.”
Other than some sporadic TV parts, she kept a low profile while raising her daughter Charlotte, 16, and son Rocky, 13, with her husband, actor Freddie Prinze Jr., 50. But 2026 marks a splashy return for the actress back onscreen as a judge on Netflix’s Star Search and in a wickedly funny role in the new horror-comedy movie Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.
She knows her fans love her in slasher-type movies, and she’s not worried one bit about being labeled as a scream queen. “Well, first of all, no one ever says to comics, ‘How come you did seven comedies?’ But people go, ‘Oh, you were in, like, seven horror movies.’ Well, let’s see,” she considers. “I’m a female working in the industry: Where are the best roles? When is the woman the last man standing? Plus, being bad is always fun, let’s be honest.”