Helgenberger Has 'Strong Roots And Strong Wings'

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation star Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) credits her parents for giving her the strength to follow her dreams.

Helgenberger grew up in North Bend, Nebraska, which has a population of 1,213. Her mother was a school nurse, and her father worked as the inspector at a meat packing plant. "There's an old saying that the job of good parents is to give their children roots and wings—values to keep them grounded and the courage to follow their own dreams," Helgenberger wrote in Guideposts. "I feel blessed because my mom and dad gave me both strong roots and strong wings."

When the actress told her parents she was going to move away so she could study acting, her father encouraged her. "'You should do what you believe in,' he said. Time to spread my wings," Helgenberger shared. When she came home for the summer, her father would get her a job trimming fat and boning raw meat at the plant he worked for. "It was brutal work, physically demanding and exhausting," she continued. "There were days I wanted to quit. 'Hang tough,' Dad would say, and that's just what I did."

Helgenberger watched her mother battle cancer, and her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her mother's cancer went into remission, but her father's condition got worse over time. Helgenberger eventually moved to New York City to act, and when she got a role on the soap opera Ryan's Hope in 1982, she was able to send money home to help with her father's medical expenses. "But sometimes in the loneliness of the big city, the struggles of making it in acting got to me, and I wondered, what was the use of spreading my wings if I couldn't be with the people I loved most?" The actress revealed.

"Dad, though, wouldn't hear of me giving up my dream, even when his condition went downhill," Helgenberger continued. "'If the sun's not shining on me,' he'd still say, 'at least I can think of it shining on someone else.' That's what life was for him to the end. Keeping positive, keeping focused on others, not wallowing in self-pity." Her father was in a coma the last time she saw him. "I sat by his bedside, holding his hand, fighting back my sorrow," she said. "'Someday,' I told him, 'I'll put this town on the map.' That was a someday he always believed in."

Recently, Helgenberger returned to North Bend for a ceremony. "They were renaming Locust Street, the block where our old house was, in my honor," she explained. Locust Street became Helgenberger Avenue. "'Dad,' I wanted to say, 'if I haven't put North Bend on the map, well, at least they've put us on their map,'" she shared.

"I'm very grateful for the success I've had," Helgenberger continued. "Success can either go to your head or totally humble you. Gratitude keeps everything in perspective. My role on CSI has been fascinating, and every time I make a movie I wish Dad were still around so he could see it." She followed her dreams in spite of any difficulties she encountered "because of him and Mom, their prayers and their faith in me," she said. "I couldn't have come this far without them. Roots and wings. Yes, they gave me both."

The original article is from Guideposts. Thanks to Shane on TalkCSI for the link.

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