Zibby Allen may not have all the answers, but she’s got plenty of wisdom to share. As Brie Sheridan in Virgin River, she’s been captivating audiences, navigating the intricate journey of trauma and resilience. With Virgin River returning for its sixth season on December 19th, we sat down with Zibby to explore why the show has grown into a global phenomenon. Beyond her role on the hit Netflix series, Zibby shares insights on her international lifestyle—living between the US, Canada, and Scotland—and her newest creative venture, the podcast I Like You Very Much, co-hosted with her Virgin River colleague Alexandra Breckenridge. The podcast, celebrating friendship and meaningful connection, perfectly captures the same genuine warmth Zibby brings to all her projects. Here’s a look at our candid conversation, where Zibby opens up about everything from herbal remedies and custom teas to her unique perspective on marriage and her passion for giving back.
SD – Virgin River has become a global phenomenon and Netflix top binge show. How do you think this series continues to capture the hearts of such a devoted fan base six seasons in?
ZA – Well I don’t know if I have the perfect answer for that as it sometimes blows my mind as well. I don’t fully understand it, but I can understand that it’s a really comforting show. That’s what I hear repeatedly. I think there’s something about a fantasy fulfilment, but accessible about this idea of living in a small town surrounded by beautiful nature, with people who are good and trying to do right by each other while they figure out their relationships and their lives. You also have like these steamy romances, right? Like some incredibly good-looking people falling in love and having moments. I do think that there’s something about that recipe that just works.
SD – Brie Sheridan’s journey on Virgin River has resonated with so many viewers. What has been the most rewarding part of portraying such a multifaceted character?
ZA – Thanks for that question, I like the fact that you see her that way. The most rewarding thing I think is that she is multifaceted, and I am really proud of the way the writers have created a storyline that doesn’t wrap up her issues in one, perfect little bow in a matter of a few episodes. Brie, over the course of the seasons, has been navigating the realities of what it’s like to be sort of post traumatic event, her sexual assault and trying to integrate into a new life with this new sense of self. It’s fun and really cool to play a character long form because it means I get to be with Brie for a long time and go on a journey. And that’s just a pleasure to do, in general as an actor and rare.
SD – Your podcast ‘I LIKE YOU VERY MUCH’. Co, hosted by Alexandra Breckenridge. It’s the celebration of friendship and connection. What inspired you in Alexandra to start this project and how? Has it enriched your bond as friends and colleagues?
ZA – Oh, great question. So, Alexandra Breckenridge plays Mel on the show. We met on the show, and we forged an extraordinarily strong friendship that we are both so grateful for. I think that there’s something so medicinal and nourishing about friendships in our lives. We are both married and have great partnerships, but your romantic partner, can’t tick every box, it also helps that we are in the same field of work. So, we really understand what it’s like to be in our arena anyway. That’s just to say, when we first started filming and going out for dinners on the weekends and whatnot, we would get into these long, I mean, hours and hours conversations that had us both walking away, being like, gosh, I just feel so much better and my perspective has shifted. So, we thought, why not bring our conversations to the mic? We already have a fan base that’s that likes our friendship and the name of the podcast.’ I LIKE YOU VERY MUCH’, is really a celebration of each other and the people that we know in our world. And so, we start every episode, really outlining what we like about our guests very much and we found that it’s a wonderful way into meaningful conversations and to get to know who they are on another level. It’s crazy to watch people squirm and feel uncomfortable by complement them and we’re like, oh, this is cute and interesting. I even struggle with it. So, the first season of our podcast just happens to be interviews with almost all of our cast and creatives. We will branch out if there’s a season 2 and interview more people in our field, but yes, it’s a celebration of our friendship and an extension of ‘friend-shipping’.
SD – You have a passion for herbal remedies and costume teas, can you share your favourite go to tonic and how it helps you unwind during your busy filming schedule.
ZA – Yeah, I love herbs. I’ve just learned over the years that they’ve been such a fair and effective support for me, whether it’s fighting off getting sick, fatigue, skin, hair, digestion or sleep anxiety. I’ve just really found an ally in herbs and gone onto to study them. To share a favourite tonic would be hard, but right now, probably because I’m doing a lot of press, I’m always aware of my skin and so I’m drinking a lot of skin blends. A blend that I make for myself is liquorice root, which is surprisingly good for your skin. It’s tightening, it’s anti-ageing, I mean, I could go on and on about each herb, but the blend is: burdock, calendula, hibiscus and oh gosh, there’s one more… Oh, and nettle. All those herbs independently have all these other benefits. So, I use them a lot in different blends, and it’s great because I just have a to go tea maker, that I bring it with me everywhere I go. It keeps me from getting sick, keeps my energy up because my job is so inconsistent. I don’t have a normal schedule, so I need that stuff. It has been a gentle way to stay healthy.
SD – Your personal style and skin care routine have become topic of interest for fans. What are your top tips for glowing skin? And which products can’t you live without?
ZA – OK wow, I can’t imagine that anyone cares about my skin or any of it. But thank you. Well, like I said, I try and get herbs in my body every day and I have seen a difference in my skin, a kind of glow from within, the products that I cannot live without are going to be shockingly very inexpensive and straightforward. I love products and there’s so many out there, but I have found that for me, the simpler and the less expensive the better. Probably my most expensive can’t live without is it’s called Old Facial Recovery Oil by Eminence, it’s amazing for onset because you can just dab it on over your makeup, which keeps it from caking but also highly moisturising and can be put it on under my moisturiser. I use Cerave daily exfoliator wash; great for my skin and Clinique Moisture Surge because I have sensitive skin, so I need products that are clean and not packed with a bunch of things that can clogged my pores. I have worked hard on my skin If I’m being honest, I didn’t always have great skin. I tend to be dry, have bigger pores so, I’ve gone on a journey with products, and I ended up on the simple end of the spectrum, to be honest.
SD – Fantastic. But it looks like you found the perfect combinations.
ZA – Totally, yeah, totally. The other thing I will say is zinc, Omega 3s and oregano oil, those are pills I take every week. It sounds like I’m a health freak, but I’m not. Those have been so good for my skin as well.
SD – Oh. I’m sure our audience would love to know that too. Thank you. You once said you were opposed to marriage. But later fell in love with someone in Scotland. How has your international lifestyle and marriage shaped your perspective on love and relationships?
ZA – Yeah. I mean, if I’m being really honest, I’m very happily married, but I am still not sold that marriage is a good idea for everyone; I think that it’s become such a thing where culturally, we’ve made it the end goal and we’ve almost made it more important than the actual quality of a relationship.
I think that in relationships in general, if we’re not careful, we can treat each other like emotional love ATM’s, you know, where if you’re not feeling loved up enough, you start to resent the other person, that puts a lot of unnecessary burden and blame on the other person. So, I think when people get married and they lock themselves into marrying each other at a point when they’re getting what they want out of that relationship, it can make it really oppressive and rigid to go through life together and then start to, resent one another for not making the other feel the way you felt when you chose to marry them. So, I did meet my partner, and I said all of this when we met, I met Adam in Scotland, and I was like: I think marriage is a sham! I don’t think it’s a good idea! I am never going to do it! and he’s like Sure, sure, sure. And then over time aside from the fact that I deeply love him as an individual, having nothing to do with me, just who he is as a person and aside from the fact that we’re very compatible, what I started to understand, is that for me, if I chose to marry, I got excited about the idea that marriage, for me is more of a practise in commitment; that I’m interested in what the long term effects are on that for me, it doesn’t sound very romantic, but it leaves a lot of room for Adam to grow and evolve as an individual, and I get to love him not because of how he makes me feel or what sort of husband he is, but because I’m married to the commitment that I’ve made to this person in a life with him and that’s interesting too. So, that’s my different take on marriage. Some people don’t think it’s very romantic, but it really works for us.
SD – Well, and I think that’s what’s important. It’s what works best for you. Thank you so much. Having worked on such wide range of projects from Grey’s Anatomy to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What have you learned about navigating the entertainment industry and finding roles that resonate with you?
ZA – I’ve learned that I really must have myself in the sense that, to be in this business even for as long as I have, which isn’t as long as a tonne of people, but it’s been nearly two decades, he biggest learning curve for me has been about sort of backing myself when no one else will and not placing a sense of worth on what is or isn’t happening in in my business, of course I want to find roles that always resonate with me but sometimes I get job offers that don’t necessarily resonate with me and I must find ‘the’ resonate afterwards because it’s not always up to me. But I do trust that in a general kind of a woo woo way roles do find me that really need what I have to bring to their character like Brie, you know, I’m much more sensitive and deeply feeling than Brie is on the surface, I think that she can borrow a little of what I have to give her, and vice versa. I can borrow a lot more of her strength and her ‘hard charginess’ she’s hard charging, I can borrow a little more of that in my life. She’s taught me a lot and I do think roles just come to us, that sort of give us an opportunity to heal anyway. Just by nature of being in them. My singular job is to just be available to be an artist that I’m proud of and not be down on myself if things don’t look like they’re going my way.
SD – With 10% of speed broadcast profits going to Save the Children, your work reflects a powerful sense of giving back. Why was it so important to you and Alexandra to connect your podcast to a philanthropic course?
ZA – The nature of the show I LIKE YOU VERY MUCH, ends up being sort of a feel good. We’re trying to reflect to our guests what’s wonderful about them? We’re also a podcast that’s behind a paywall. So, you pay to subscribe, and it ends up being only a dollar an episode, it’s not that much, but that’s because Alex and I are producing it independently We didn’t want to involve advertisers or big networks as we really wanted to make it feel like ours and a direct to consumer like us and build a community. You cannot do that when you get a bunch of, say so’s involved which meant that we must charge for the podcast and keep it as minimal as possible so we could pay the few people that we’ve enlisted to help us. We are just this little gang of four people. But it felt important that especially because we’re charging that and are not trying to profit of it to give the profits to another cause that matters and Save the Children is remarkable, they don’t discriminate anywhere in the world they go and they’re a resource for the children who are some of our world’s most vulnerable, and that feels really important to us, that feels like something tangible that we can contribute to. So, when you sign up for the podcast, you’re getting your entertainment, but you’re also doing a something good. I just love that concept!
SD – Balancing life across three countries was fascinating. How do you manage such a dynamic lifestyle and what do you cherish most about living in? US, Canada and Scotland.
ZA – I’ve learned to pack lightly or strategically or I’m learning, I should say.
And that’s been cool because you sort of start to understand what you really, really need and what you don’t, there’s some kinks still to work out there. The most special thing about being able to live in three different countries is that it keeps my perspective so broad, so exposed culturally to so many ways of life, currencies, geographical landscapes and temperatures, I mean all of it just keeps it really fresh for me and I like that, my biggest fear is complacency and sameness and so, I think I probably designed a life where I never get stuck in the same thing for too long for better or for worst. But my husband’s up for the ride and we quite enjoy it and his people. Now my people are here in the UK, and we really get to spend quality time with them when we’re here. Canada is such an incredible place. It’s where we filmed Virgin River, you’ve seen it It’s so visually beautiful. You’re just bathing in nature, and the US, I was born in California. I have a huge community there, I now live in Georgia not far from Alex, and that also feels good because we get a touchdown and be a part of my homeland. So, it feels well-rounded, slightly hectic, but always exciting.
SD – Fantastic. This is a personal question of mine that I always like to ask my talents when I interviewed. From all the roles you’ve played so far. If you were go. To the pub for a pint with one of your characters. Who would it be?
ZA – That is a brilliant question. I absolutely love that you asked that. Wow. This is so good. I mean, I’d love to go have a drink with every one of my characters, but honestly, I know this sounds lame, but Brie is the one right now, partially because I’d love to sit down with her, have a drink, and thank her for the things that she’s taught me. About myself and thank her for the time that we’ve got to spend together and ask her like, you know, have I done anything for you? You know, because it sounds cheesy, but she really exists in this metamorphic field that feels like. You know, I’m rooting for her, and I want things for her, and I feel like. To get to play her means I hopefully influenced like the direction that the writers ultimately want to take her. So yes, that’s my answer to your very cool question.
SD – It has been a pleasure talking to you Zibby. Thank you so much.
ZA – You’re lovely. I really appreciate your warmth and your awesome questions. So, thank you for having me.
