Sasha Pieterse was 21-years-old when she finished portraying Alison DiLaurentis, the manipulative “queen bee” on Pretty Little Liars. She started the role as a teenager, and just a few years after the hit series ended, she took on the role of motherhood, welcoming son Hendrix, now 5, with her husband Hudson Sheaffer when she was 24.
Her next project is the title role in the Rosemary Kennedy thriller Rosemary. The upcoming biopic will portray the tragic life of JFK’s sister from her perspective. For this week’s Meet a Mom interview, we asked Sasha to share more about this new project, motherhood and more.
What drew you to this new role?
Rosemary’s story has been told in fragments for so long. She’s always been a footnote in someone else’s history. But there’s also something deeply personal for me here: Rosemary had seizures, and so do I. That connection made her feel less like a character I was researching, and more like someone I already understood in my body. What pulled me in was the chance to play her as a full person—not a symbol. She had dreams, fears, a voice, and it was taken from her. I wanted to be part of putting her back at the center of her own story.
Would you let your son follow in your acting footsteps?
I would. I wouldn’t pressure him into it, but I’d never hold him back either. I adored growing up on set. He actually shot a fake scene in a movie I did recently and loved every second of it. Honestly, I could just as easily see him behind the camera as in front of it, he’s constantly building entire worlds out of his Legos, and he’s an incredibly creative drawer. Whatever direction that creativity takes him, I’ll support it.
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Messina
You became a mom at 24 — how did that affect your career choices?
It changed everything about how I choose roles. I got a lot more selective; time away from my son has to be worth it. I started saying no to things that didn’t feel meaningful and yes to projects that actually challenged me or said something real. I also have so much more to pull from as an actress now. Becoming a mother changes you in so many intricate ways, and I feel like I know myself in a way that I didn’t before having him.
How did motherhood influence how you approached Rosemary Kennedy?
Being a mom made me think about her from every angle: as a daughter, as someone who was failed by the people who were supposed to protect her. It gave me a different kind of empathy going into her story, and made her feel less like a role and more like someone whose pain I had to carry carefully.
Why have you been so open about your PCOS and epilepsy? And how are you doing now?
Because silence is exactly what made both of those things so hard for me in the first place. When I was diagnosed, I felt so alone, I didn’t see anyone talking about what PCOS actually does to your body and your confidence. I share it because I needed to hear it from someone when I was going through it. I’m in a much better place now, still managing both, but I finally feel like I understand my body instead of fighting it. It’s been a long road to fully understanding what works for my body in particular. It’s never a quick fix or a one size fits all. It feels good to be on the other side, and it heavily fuels my drive to help other women and improve women’s healthcare. I know that my body will continue to change, and it’s comforting to know that the community I’m building will be there to support me, like I support them.
How do you take care of yourself as a busy working mom?
Honestly, it’s the small stuff: my morning routine, drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, and giving myself grace on the days that don’t go as planned. I’ve learned that “self-care” isn’t a spa day, it’s the boring consistent stuff that actually holds me together. It’s actively making better choices throughout the day as well. That’s why I made Hippie Energy and Hippie Brew to begin with.
Can you tell us a bit more about both?
DrinkHippie.com, is actually two beverage brands under one roof: Hippie Energy and Hippie Brew. We formulated them for everyone, but especially with women’s bodies in mind. I launched it because I was dealing with major fatigue and brain fog, and over-caffeinating just made me feel worse, not better. I wanted to create something so women didn’t have to overthink their favorite ritual.
Everything we make is clean. Our energy drinks have less caffeine than most, 75mg, from arabica coffee beans instead of anything synthetic, plus electrolytes, functional mushrooms, L-theanine, and prebiotic fiber, all at 35 calories or less with no added sugars, sweeteners, or sugar alcohols. All our sweetness and flavor comes from just 15% juice. Our Coffee Concentrate on tap goes even further, with zero sugar, 500mg of functional mushrooms, prebiotic fiber, and only 15 calories per serving.
Sasha Pieterse on the set of her upcoming film Killing Time with her son
You also have a WITN podcast — where’d the name come from?
WITN stands for Women in the Nude, and it’s not about being literally nude, it’s about stripping away the filters. No performance, no polish, just women being real about the stuff we usually only say to our closest friends: motherhood, career, body image, all of it. My dream guest is Jane Fonda. She’s been reinventing herself and speaking her truth for decades, through every era of her life, and that’s exactly the kind of raw, unfiltered honesty WITN is all about. But truly, every guest is a dream guest. It takes a lot of guts for women to tell their stories openly and honestly. We center around our health journeys because they aren’t talked about enough, but affect every part of our lives.
What’s next for you?
Rosemary is one of the most challenging roles I’ve taken on, and I want to give it everything. I’m also so excited for Killing Time, a project I shot this summer to be released later this year, as well as a short film I’m producing with Summer Willis and Monica Lewinsky. I’m also in the process of adapting Sherrilyn Kenyon’s best selling romantasy, Infernal Affairs. Beyond that, I’m continuing to grow Drink Hippie and the podcast, and just trying to keep building things that feel true to who I am, not just what’s expected of me. I build everything with women’s wellness in mind, including my own.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Yes, I’d love to talk more about Drink Hippie’s Energy for Change mission and Summer Willis, our first Energy for Change leader. Summer is a sexual assault survivor who turned her own healing into a movement. She ran 29 marathons in a single year, helped pass the Summer Willis Act in Texas redefining consent law, and founded the Denim Run, a national race series for survivors and by survivors. I stood at the starting line of the inaugural run in Santa Monica, surrounded by survivors and the people who love them, and it changed something in me.
That’s the whole philosophy behind Energy for Change. We didn’t want to wait until Drink Hippie was some billion-dollar company to start doing good. We’re starting now, at every stage, because women doing meaningful work in the world deserve real support today, not someday. When women are fueled, we change the world.
