Being an actress is hardly about red carpets and rolling in the dough of the Hollywood pools — Chrissy Metz knows this firsthand. After all, before booking the lead in TV’s biggest show this season This is Us, she had 81 cents in the bank.

“I kept auditioning, with no savings and no money, credit card debt gaining interest,” Chrissy said to Glamour magazine. “I went on unemployment. I bought ramen noodles at dollar stores. I never had to — God forbid — live on the streets; I moved in with a roommate who told me, ‘Stay with me until you can afford rent. Don’t give up…’ I am so grateful that I had such an amazing support system, but when I booked ‘This Is Us,’ I had 81 cents in my bank account. I could cry right now just thinking about it.”

Today, she still lives with her roommate, only this time she “pays her proper share of the rent now.”

“Meeting my car payment on time? That’s new,” she joked. “I paid my friends and my stepdad back. And three months ago, I finally paid my credit cards off! I just got my first pair of Alexander McQueen shoes. I’m so convinced I shouldn’t have bought them, I still haven’t busted them out of the box.”

Oh Chrissy, bust them out! You deserve it.