Laverne Cox says filming new show ‘Clean Slate’ was initially therapeutic but ‘mostly triggering’

Clean Slate is officially on Prime Video, a new series chronicling the reunion of an old-school car wash owner named Harry and his child, who returns home a proud trans woman named Desiree after more than 23 years away.

Laverne Cox stars as Desiree, and serves as creator and executive producer of the show, and she tells ABC Audio her experience was both triggering and therapeutic.

“As we were developing the stories, before we started shooting — the multiple years that we were working on this show before we got picked up. That was fun. Like, I’m pitching story ideas with Dan [Ewen] and George [Wallace],” she says. “And then when it came time to play it and to relive it, I was triggered every day, if I’m honest. But sometimes that’s what is required to be an artist.”

“Desiree is definitely in a different time in her life,” she continues, noting she herself started therapy at about 30 years old. Though she says she’s past “dealing with my childhood trauma,” “every day I was that, like, 30-year- old Laverne, angry at my mom/dad here and lashing out and acting out.”

“It was triggering every day,” she adds. “But sometimes that’s the job.”

While there were similarities between her and Desiree, co-star George says that like his character, Harry, he’s also pretty receptive.

“I love everyone. I love people,” he says. “Isn’t it great to just be able to live and let live? And I travel all over the world so I can learn [from] other people how they live. And I learn a lot. I just love to learn the lesson. Life and love does just great.”

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