Sterling K. Brown Opens Up About How This Is Us' Emotional Episode Affected Him After Real-Life Loss

Get the scoop directly from Brown and his TV dad Ron Cephas Jones

By Chris Harnick Feb 22, 2017 6:30 PMTags

For Sterling K. Brown, saying goodbye to his TV father was therapeutic. In fact, it was sort therapeutic for his TV dad, Ron Cephas Jones, too. In This Is Us' "Memphis," Randall (Brown) and William (Cephas Jones) took a father-son road trip that ended just the way William expected it to: with his death.

"I think the crazy thing about it was while we were shooting this thing I was thinking about my dad, right. My dad passed away when I was 10," Brown said on the This Is Us after show. Brown was too young to visit his father in the hospital, he said, so there wasn't that final moment like Randall had with William.

photos
Going Behind the Scenes of This Is Us With the Adorable Cast

"It was really powerful moment to have that opportunity to be there. I would look at you, and I would see you and I would see my dad," Brown said, getting emotional.

Cephas Jones said scenes like the final one between William and Randall are "pseudo therapeutic."

"We both know as actors one of the bravest things to do is be able to open yourself up and let a lot of the personal stuff come to the fore, as opposed to acting it," Cephas Jones said. "That's always scary because you really don't know what's going to come up and you're open, the floodgates are open, so one of the fears is that whatever comes up you hope you can hold it together while the camera's on."

read
Behind the Scenes of This Is Us' Saddest Episode Yet: Improv, Crying Babies, Secret Songs and More

Creator Dan Fogelman attached a letter to the script of "Memphis" and tweeted an image of it for fans, since the message applies as well.

"A note to the reader from Dan, and particularly to Mr. Ron Cephas Jones:

It's never easy writing the death scene of one of your favorite characters (and actors). I hope we've done you proud—you certainly always deliver for us.

And if anyone is extra sad about the ending, I'd urge you to remember the words of a wise young actor named Justin Hartley who once said:

People will die in our lives, people that we love. But it's kind of beautiful if you think about it, the fact that just because someone died, it doesn't mean they're still not in the painting."

The painting was a part of an episode where Hartley's character explained death to Randall's kids.

Brown also opened up on Facebook after the episode aired. He revealed he had seen it a number of times, but it still made him cry. See highlights above.

This Is Us airs Tuesdays, 9 p.m. on NBC.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)