Former Cosby Show star Geoffrey Owens defended himself on Good Morning America against reports shaming him for working at Trader Joe’s. 

“I was really devastated, but the period of devastation was so short because so shortly after that there were responses … of support,” he shared. “So, fortunately, the shame part didn’t last very long. It hurt, but it’s amazing.”

By the time reports surfaced that he was working at TJ, he’d already been working there for over a year. I’ve been teaching acting directing for 30-plus years, but it got to a point where it just didn’t add up enough and you gotta do what you gotta do,” he told Robin Roberts. “I wanted a job where I could have some flexibility, try to stay in the business.”

“I was not ashamed of it,” he clarified. “I felt I had to be careful.”

He added, “I hope what doesn’t pass is this idea that people are rethinking about what it means to work—the honor of the working person and the dignity of work. I hope that this period that we’re in now where we have a heightened sensitivity about that and a reevaluation of what it means to work and a reevaluation of the idea that some jobs are better than others because that’s actually not true.” 

FULL INTERVIEW: @GMA EXCLUSIVE — “There’s no job better than another…every job is worthwhile…” Actor Geoffrey Owens speaks out, responding to job shaming and backlash after a photo of him working at a grocery store was posted online: https://t.co/0wZJnpowI9 pic.twitter.com/aNiG5fV2yf

— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 4, 2018