The Marvelous Mrs Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan admits to finding her role on show terrifying

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan has admitted her role on the show is ‘the scariest thing’ she’s done, as she doesn’t see herself as a natural comedian.

Currently shooting her fourth season as the titular character – a suddenly single 1950s housewife who embarks on an unlikely career as a stand-up comedian – the actress, 30, has told Cosmopolitan UK she finds the role increasingly terrifying.

Wisconsin-born Rachel said of the Amazon series: ‘It’s definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever done. It continues to get more terrifying as we go on.

‘As someone who had never done comedy before, I justified [the role of Midge] to myself in the beginning by thinking, “Midge isn’t a stand-up comedian, she is just a funny lady having a breakdown. I can do that, I’m an actor.

‘”I can act this mental breakdown with this great dialogue!” But as the show has gone on, Midge has had to become much more technically accomplished. She is a stand-up now and the audiences keep getting bigger, so I’m nervous all the time.’

Part of that nervousness is the screen star’s belief that she wouldn’t be a hit if she had followed the same career path as Midge by going into stand-up comedy. 

‘I would not fare well,’ she said of possibly doing stand-up herself. ‘I have a whole new respect for stand-up comedians; I don’t know how they do what they do

‘I became an actor so I didn’t have to be myself all the time. Being a stand-up, you are putting your whole self on the line for a laugh. When it works, I imagine there is no greater high, but when it doesn’t… I would just want to crawl into a hole and die.’

While she has amassed legions of fans in her role, for which she has garnered an Emmy Award and two consecutive Golden Globes, Rachel admitted she has often battled to be taken as seriously as her ‘male counterparts’.

She explained: ‘I definitely have felt that I haven’t been taken as seriously as my male counterparts.

‘They can call out an elephant in the room or an issue in the workplace and they’re not labelled ‘difficult’ or ‘bossy’ in the same way that so many women I know have been. 

‘I’ve met women who I had heard through the grapevine were ‘difficult’ but then recognised in real time that the reason they were labelled that was because they weren’t afraid to say what they meant.’ 

And the actress went on to describe how she is coping being in the public eye following the success The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. 

Rachel said is thankful to have the support of her friends and her husband, Jason Ralph, to remind her she is ‘beautiful’ when her confidence is knocked. 

‘It doesn’t feel great when I get dressed up for a public event and people talk about how much they hate my outfit or my hair and tag me on Instagram.

‘It can do some knocking to the old confidence, but I feel fortunate that I’ve always been surrounded by people – from my friends to my partner – who are vocal about the fact that I am most beautiful when I look like myself. 

‘So the noise from outside is more easily blocked out. But it’s still there. Whether you are seen on a public platform or you’re being seen at your workplace, it’s something women constantly have to contend with. The noise doesn’t ever go away.’

The March issue of Cosmopolitan UK is on sale now, and the full interview with Rachel can be found here.