Her iconic impressions of Oprah Winfrey and Whitney Houston made Debra Wilson one of Mad TV’s most popular cast members in the late ’90s and early ’00s.
But after she quit the sketch comedy show in 2003 over a salary dispute, the comedian says that her life started to unravel.
‘Everything was a challenge,’ the 64-year-old told Hype+ in a new interview this week.
‘I wasn’t working a lot, my marriage was falling apart – it was a new marriage and it was already falling apart,’ she continued.
‘My home, I couldn’t keep it. I had purchased it and I had been there for almost 12 years and it was like, I can’t keep this.’
The star said that she felt like a ‘failure’, but reveals that losing everything led to a spiritual awakening that brought her closer to God.
Mad TV star Debra Wilson says that she lost her home and that her marriage fell apart after she left the sketch comedy series in 2003
Wilson was one of Mad TV’s founding cast members.
She was with the series from its inception in 1995, lasting eight seasons until she quit in 2003.
‘I stepped away from the show because I felt as if I didn’t have the growth potential, creatively and financially, that other people were getting,’ she told Hype+.
‘And at the same time, on a spiritual level, it was important to step away in order to grow myself.’
Despite exiting Mad TV in 2003, Wilson continued to make occasional guest appearances on the show until Fox canceled it in 2009.
During her tenure on Mad TV, Wilson was best known for her impressions of Winfrey and Houston, along with the original character of Bunifa Latifah Halifah Sharifa Jackson.
Her impressions of both Winfrey and Houston were so popular that Wilson played the divas in a number of other projects, including American Dad and Scary Movie 4.
Despite experiencing some career struggles after Mad TV ended, Wilson was able to reinvent herself as one of Hollywood’s most successful voice actors.
Wilson was best known for her celebrity impressions, including her iconic impression of Oprah Winfrey (pictured)
She was also known for portraying Whitney Houston as an eccentric drug user
Her voice has appeared in big budget animated projects like Marvel Zombies, Eyes of Wakanda, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, Star Trek, Mortal Kombat Legends and more.
She’s also wildly successful with voice acting in video games, voicing characters in blockbuster gaming franchises like Destiny, Spider-Man, World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Call of Duty, Fallout, Grand Theft Auto, The Walking Dead, Final Fantasy and more.
Wilson isn’t the only big name to come out of Mad TV.
The sketch comedy series also helped launch the careers of Artie Lange, Bobby Lee, Nicole Sullivan, and director Jordan Peele.
Mad TV was launched in 1995 by Fox as a rival to NBC’s long-running sketch show Saturday Night Live.
It suffered from mediocre ratings and divided critics due to its edgy, politically incorrect humour, which was considered more lowbrow than SNL.
Wilson, 64, is now a hugely successful voice actress who has appeared in blockbuster animated shows and video game franchises
Mad TV’s Will Sasso, Aries Spears, and Michael McDonald are pictured with Wilson in 2001
Despite this, Mad TV eventually grew a cult following and has now been critically re-appraised as one of the greatest sketch comedy shows of all time.
The CW attempted to reboot Mad TV in 2016 with new cast members, but it was canceled after just one season.
Some of the original Mad TV cast members reunited last year on Bobby Lee’s TigerBelly podcast.
During the episode, Lee admitted that the cast weren’t paid much by Fox, but says that it was still more than what most actors earn today.
‘They make less than what we made on Mad, which was the lowest that you can make,’ he said.
Lee said that he started off making just $4,000 an episode, but eventually had his salary bumped up to $20,000 an episode by the end.
Wilson said that she eventually hit $15,000 an episode, but said that it was a ceiling and that there was no room for her to earn more, despite being an original cast member.
