Miriam McDonald Gets Candid About Growing Up On Degrassi In Whatever It Takes Documentary
When Miriam McDonald was in eighth grade, she had no idea the cultural impact she’d be a part of when she got the call that she booked a role on Degrassi: The Next Generation. “I just thought, ‘This is going to be a fun summer job,’” she told Pop Culture Planet. “The show very quickly took on a life of its own and here we are almost 25 years later talking about it, which is mind-blowing.” The iconic Canadian franchise had already been known for tackling important topics through a teen lens, but The Next Generation took it global. With its authentic and raw storytelling, Degrassi has been a rite of passage for generations of young viewers. Now the curtains are being pulled back as we get to learn what went on behind-the-scenes of the defining franchise in the new documentary Degrassi: Whatever It Takes.
While McDonald’s character Emma Nelson was the catalyst to jump start Degrassi: The Next Generation, that didn’t mean it was an easy choice to participate in the documentary. “It was a really complex journey […] making the decision to participate knowing what it would stir up, knowing the type of conversations that it was going to inevitably open up,” she explained. “It took a lot of […] inner, coming to terms with things to decide to do it.”
“I'd made peace with all my experiences, the good and the bad,” McDonald continued. “But I really did feel that with our fan base being ever supportive and ever present, it would be really nice for them to get a little peak behind what they already know. What this documentary really does is it strips another layer back. In previous interviews, I think a lot of us very much felt like we were a little more robotic in how we were presenting ourselves and in what we were sharing and what we were allowed to share. I think the documentary really gives a much deeper look into the whole experience of the show.”
After speaking with the documentary crew for four hours, the footage was then cut down to mere minutes of content. Degrassi: Whatever It Takes addresses some of the tougher aspects of the show, but it was impossible to include everything. “For me, the actual filming of the show was such a small part of the entire experience, so what really stands out is absolutely the friendships that we made, absolutely the fan encounters, and the experiences and interactions that we were able to have beyond the show. Being at the studio and doing our job was microscopic compared to the impact that it had on all of us and certainly for the people watching as well,” McDonald said about what she felt didn’t quite make it into the documentary. “I think we touched on the lows and I think we touched on the hard things in ways that we hadn't before, but I absolutely would not want to discount all the super fun, amazing memories that were made, friendships that were forged, and how thankful I am to have had the chance to get on that crazy ride.”
While fans loved Emma and Sean (Daniel Clark) together, a shocking twist found Emma and Spinner (Shane Kippel) getting married in a storyline that had viewers divided. “It was certainly abrupt. It was certainly out of left field. My jaw dropped,” she laughed. “Everybody always likes to go: are you team Sean and Emma or are you team Emma and Spinner? My instinct was always go with the history. Go with the Sean and Emma. That was from season 1. Let's give them a fighting chance. I was shocked. Honestly, I don't know if the writers were just like, ‘Well, gee, we have to write these two characters off the show. How are we going to do it? Oh, I know. We'll let them get married.’ I don't know. I don't know where this idea even really came from. I was shocked, that's for sure.”
Degrassi’s tagline was “It goes there.” And it did. Sometimes so much so that the storylines paralleled the actors’ own lives, like a particularly challenging episode that found Emma struggling with an eating disorder. “For me, my eating disorder was most prevalent season 1, 2, and maybe a little bit into season 3. My sister dealt with an eating disorder from the time she was 12 until 28 when she passed. The filming of the episode was around 2005, so my sister was still in the midst of her battle at that time,” McDonald shared. “So just from a timeline standpoint, the documentary didn't completely clarify that — and I think it was again just this mixed bag of emotions. I was so thankful to be able to talk about something that was hitting so close to home for me that I could see firsthand the extremes that it can take a person and how severe of an issue that it really is. I also felt this sense of needing to protect myself because it's such raw and vulnerable content.”
Despite the difficult subject matter, McDonald is grateful to be able to use her experience to help others. “My recourse as a kid and a teenager was self-protection, going more into introvert mode. I'm going to just deal with this quietly on my own, internalize everything. It's only really since leaving the industry that I've almost gone the opposite where I'm much more vocal and it's why I'm able to share now. I would never have dreamed of speaking about any of this up until maybe a couple of years ago,” she said. “I was super cognizant of the weight that it carried for so many people watching and just wanting to do the episode justice, while protecting myself, while watching what my sister was in the throws of going through. It was a lot, but absolutely the takeaway is that if that episode or anything I'm talking about now can be in any way a light for someone who was experiencing a challenge, then absolutely it's all worth it and I'm so thankful.”
Another episode arc that continues to have a huge impact is the school shooting, which is even more relevant in today’s society when these fears have become a daily occurrence. “The shooting episode was terrifying. That's really the only word that I can use to describe it. Having an actual gun on set was this feeling that I've never experienced before. There was a somber tone. A lot of the time during the episodes, we'd be joking around in between takes. This episode had this completely different energy because we did all realize the weight that the story line carried,” McDonald explained. “And you're absolutely right, I mean, it's terrifying to read the news and see how frequently these things are occurring. I think what's most important is that it didn't only show the buildup in the episode, but the repercussions and the aftermath even. I think you could argue that it was part of what led Emma to even her eating disorder episode, to the bracelets in the ravine, to all these difficult, ugly experiences. The after effects too that it has on the survivors of horrific situations, psychologically, and what it does to you. It's terrifying and horrifying that these things are still occurring, but I'm thankful that the show at least touched on it — even if there was much more that they could have expanded on.”
Rumors have been swirling that former Degrassi alumni Drake could be working on a reboot of the franchise. If so, would McDonald want to return to her roots? “It's not something I've ever been a part of a conversation on. I certainly haven't heard that it's being rebooted. I have spent the last several years now just really embracing my life outside of the business. I love living a private existence. There's certain parts of the media that maybe I miss like going to get to see old friends and stuff like that, but I really, really love life outside of being on camera, so I don't know,” she shared. “But I'm also the type of person that says never say never. I would have to see where I'm at if that opportunity ever arose.”
Degrassi: Whatever It Takes premieres September 13 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
