Once Upon a Time's Lana Parrilla Says She Was Once Homeless: 'It Terrifies Me Still'

Lana Parrilla is opening up about the early days of her career and how she was homeless for several months.

The Once Upon a Time actress, who can be seen in the new Netflix movie Atlas, opened up to host Tommy DiDario on the iHeartRadio podcast I’ve Never Said This Before.

Lana talked about how the fear of being homeless again has motivated her work ethic over the years.

“There’s always a little part of me, in the back of my head, that’s like, ‘Oh my god, don’t ever stop working so hard,’” she began. “I was homeless for two months living in a car. I just don’t ever want to end up there again.”

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“It forces me to be more creative and find new ways to make money and find all these different ways to, like, develop projects and do you own thing and take on all these new talents,” Lana said.

“There was a time, early on on my career — and it was very early on — I was living on my own, like 19 years old. It was a really hard time,” she said. “My family and I were in different places, and I was kind of left on my own. It was really hard to support yourself and, you know, chase after a dream, and also try to get an education all at the same time. I couldn’t do it all. I had to drop out of college, which broke my heart. I had to figure how to make more money to support myself.”

Lana talked about that fear again.

“It terrifies me still to this day,” she said. “That, like, that could ever be a reality for us as artists… At 19 years old, it’s different, but, at 46, it’s a lot scarier.”

Lana recently led an exciting stage production in L.A.