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No crosses or stakes were present\u2014not even the Slayer Scythe. Instead, Sarah Michelle Gellar<\/strong>\u2019s dressing room featured items of mundane, not-vampire-slayer sensibilities: a craft services table with white roses, raw honey, and a Diptyque Baies candle.<\/p>\n Standing in the wing, waiting for our conversation, I observed her lightning-fast speaking cadence\u2014bubbly and dripping with sweetness, like the notes of blackcurrant that filled the Brooklyn film studio. The leather and crop top-laden Y2K style she shaped\u2014ironically, stakes never caught on\u2014was swapped for a practical, ribbed-knit black cardigan, charcoal trousers, and a pair of white slippers most often seen in five-star hotels or Emirates flights. She is aspirationally cool, dressed comfortably for a day of press, celebrating her global ambassadorship with Olay, where she is the face of their newly reformulated Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream. It\u2019s also worth noting that, at five feet four inches, she is diminutive enough (at least to this 5\u201911\u201d reporter) to evoke the same level of cute aggression as a teacup Chihuahua or a Precious Moments figurine.<\/p>\n Our conversation began with an admission that would strike a pang of dread into the hearts of fact-checkers. According to an online encyclopedia of dubious reporting, we are living in Gellar\u2019s “resurgence (2021\u2013present),\u201d following \u201chiatus and sporadic roles (2011\u20132020),\u201d as listed under her biblical-length career summary. She is a cookbook author, a mom, a star of film and television, and an MTV Movie Award winner for Best Kiss, alongside her Cruel Intentions<\/em> co-star, Selma Blair.<\/p>\n \u201cI call it my second act,\u201d she says of her current state. \u201cI think that I’ve been working for such a long time, and I had these two young kids, and then after we lost Robin Williams, I just needed a break.\u201d (Gellar starred alongside Williams on the CBS sitcom, The Crazy Ones<\/em>, which became Williams\u2019 last television role before his passing in 2014.) She returned in 2022, appearing in the Netflix comedy-thriller Do Revenge<\/em>, after buckling to the age-old adage that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Or, when the cult of SMG screams \u201cmore,\u201d you must meet their demand. \u201cI realized how much I missed [acting],\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Of her return, though, she says her approach to work has shifted. After all, she\u2019s a mother of two and started working as an actor before many of her peers could read books without pictures. \u201cMy priorities for now are doing things that are fun, that feed my soul,\u201d she says, thoughtfully selecting each word, as if scrutinizing what does feed her soul. \u201cI don’t feel this need to prove I’ve accomplished more in my life than I probably ever thought I would accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n