Jennifer Esposito Holds Back Tears Revealing She Has to Move Out of Home She Mortgaged to Finance First Movie
- - Jennifer Esposito Holds Back Tears Revealing She Has to Move Out of Home She Mortgaged to Finance First Movie
Colson ThayerFebruary 3, 2026 at 11:17 PM
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L: Jennifer Esposito in 'Fresh Kills'; R: Esposito on Instagram
Fresh Kills Productions; Jennifer Esposito/Instagram
Jennifer Esposito is moving out of the home she mortgaged to make her directorial debut film, Fresh Kills
In a Friday, Jan. 30 social media video, the actress and director, 52, reveals she was "crying" because she has to leave her home
Jennifer Esposito is sharing her sadness about moving out of her home.
On Friday, Jan. 30, the 52-year-old star took to social media to reveal that she is moving out of the home she mortgaged in order to finance her film, Fresh Kills.
“Yeah, I’m looking like a– right now ‘cuz I’ve been crying ‘cuz I’m moving out of my home that I mortgaged to make my film," she says in the selfie video.
She goes on to ponder the support the film has received and what she would've hoped had played out differently.
"And then have people who are in the spotlight not be able to just throw one back and say, 'Hey, thanks, watch this film,'" she says in the clip. “I said to myself, ‘You know what? Nobody owes anybody anything.’ And then I thought, ‘Do we? Do we as human beings? I think actually we do owe each other something. We owe each other decency as human beings.”
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In the caption she added, “Imagine if we all actually had one another’s backs. Systems that are meant to divide actually might fall.”
In the comments, fellow actors and collaborators showed their support for Esposito.“So sorry, Jen. I WILL BE ON THE LOOKOUT. Promise!” says Jerry O’Connell.
“Your film was exquisite and I’m better for seeing it,” writes Debra Messing. “The fact that you have to leave your home in order to give your art to the world is maddening.”Don Cheadle chimed in: “Here for you, kiddo! Ya’ll check Jennifer’s movie out. She put and puts it all on the line. A real artist in the pursuit of truth!”
Jennifer Esposito attends the New York Women in Film and Television's Muse awards on March 27, 2024 in New York City.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty
In June 2024, during Esposito’s press tour for Fresh Kills, the actress revealed her passion for the project actually led her to mortgage her home.“This town tells you what you can be and what you can’t be for so many years. I was just so over that and thought, ‘Why am I asking the world to believe in me, I have to believe in me,’ So I’m going to put my money down,” she said in an interview with KTLA. “At the end of my life, am I going to be happy that my house was paid off? Or am I going to be so happy that I gave myself the opportunity that I’ve been waiting for for far too long? So I thought, I’m going.”
According to the film’s synopsis, Fresh Kills follows the loyal women of an organized crime family that dominated some of the boroughs of New York City in the late 20th century. The film was written and directed by Esposito and stars Emily Bader, who most recently starred in Netflix’s People We Meet on Vacation, and Odessa A’zion, who’s been in the spotlight for her role in Marty Supreme and her controversial casting in — and then exit from — the film adaptation of Deep Cuts.
L: Jennifer Esposito; R: Odessa A'zion
Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage; Amy Sussman/Getty
But the process to get the film made wasn’t easy.“I was offered $5 million if a male would direct it instead of myself. I was offered a lot of money for stars to be in it,” she revealed to KTLA.
During an interview on Live with Kelly and Mark in July 2024, the Summer of Sam star added there were difficulties in casting too.“No one wanted to make it. I couldn’t even get people to read it. And then when [they] did read it, it was like, ‘We’ll give you $5 million if you cast it with a big-name man. Because females don’t sell movies.’ ” she said.
In order to finance the film on her own, she approached her husband Jesper Vesterstrøm, whom she wed in 2020, with a proposal that would impact them both.
Jennifer Esposito in 'Fresh Kills'
Fresh Kills Productions
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.“I went to my nice husband and was like, ‘Hey, I got an idea. What do you think about mortgaging the house?’ I do believe if you don’t bet on yourself, who is going to bet on you?”
Fresh Kills made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Red Sea International Film Festival in 2023. It is available to stream now on Hulu.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
