'This Is Us' star Chrissy Metz says she was 'broke' and 'broken' before landing her role on the show

• Chrissy Metz said at a "This Is Us" panel at PaleyFest that she was "broke" and "broken" before the show.
• She's previously revealed that she had $0.81 in the bank before landing the Kate Pearson role.

At PaleyFest's "This Is Us" panel in Los Angeles on Saturday, Chrissy Metz discussed how the role of Kate Pearson radically changed her life for the better.

"I was broke, but I also was broken," Metz said. The actress previously revealed in a 2017 essay as told to Alex Morris for Glamour that she had "81 cents" in her bank account when she booked "This Is Us."

In the essay, Metz recalled being raised by a single mom in Florida who sometimes struggled to keep the lights on and went without food so her kids could eat. Metz was discovered at a model and talent search in Gainesville, Florida that she took her sister to.

After a fateful audition singing Christina Aguilera's hit "Beautiful," Metz was offered a chance to be introduced to managers and agents if she moved to Los Angeles. She did, but she still struggled, relying on generous friends so she was never homeless, even after landing the role of Ima (Barbara) Wiggles on "American Horror Story" in 2014.

"I almost moved back to Florida, but my mom said, 'You can either be miserable here and not pursue your dreams, or you can be miserable in LA and at least pursue what you want,'" Metz said in Glamour.

"I bought ramen noodles at dollar stores," she recalled in the essay.

At the PaleyFest event attended by Insider on Saturday, Metz described what it meant to her that "This Is Us" creator Dan Fogelman gave her the chance to play Kate.

"Having someone choose me as Dan did" meant a lot to Metz, she said, especially because she didn't have a long acting resume at the time she booked the role. She also noted how significant it was for the show "to choose a woman who didn't look like every other woman or every other person" on TV.

"Through Kate's healing, I got healed," the "This Is Us" star said about how her character has impacted her life.

Throughout the series' six seasons, Kate has been on quite the journey. She is currently on the verge of divorcing her husband Toby (Chris Sullivan) in the present day, but has also told her boss she wants to be considered for a promotion.

The final season of "This Is Us" airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.