Lauren London has received praise for her work in the Netflix comedy You People, but there is one person whose opinion she would have liked to hear: her late boyfriend Nipsey Hussle.
On Monday’s episode of the PEOPLE Every Day podcast, London, 38, opened up about her latest role, and how she’s “still a work in progress” these days, nearly four years after the death of her love Nipsey Hussle.
London says that while she has been focusing on trying to find peace and celebrate her parenting and career triumphs, including the “success of having a job and meeting people and people showing me love,” she still experiences “the feeling of there’s one person you wished was here to watch the movie with you.”
“I also don’t want to give a misconception that I’m at peace and I’m walking around on a cloud,” London told PEOPLE Every Day host Janine Rubenstein. “I have to wake up with the intention of this every day because there are days I don’t want to, and I’m like angry about it. And that’s what healing is. It is up and down, side to side, all over the place. You know what I mean? And with each new level, there’s something else.”
“And I wish he was here, so it’s really a choice,” London continued. “And so I’m making a choice every day, but I don’t wanna give off this perception that, you know, ‘Oh, everything’s all flowers…’ But I think if you make the choice and that you’re intentional with how you would like to show up in life, it could be more gentle than harsh.”
The film also stars Sam Jay, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovny, Elliott Gould, Travis Bennett, Molly Gordon, Rhea Perlman and others.
As London explained, she and Hill share a special friendship, and even bond over “anxiety and work and grief.”
“He’s a real genuine person and I think I would consider myself a really genuine person,” she said. “And I think when you have a mutual respect for each other and you’re both mature and grown and you really want to do good work, it created like a friendship. And outside of that, we are both from Los Angeles — we actually have a lot more in common than you would think.”
London also spoke on one of her favorite days on set, when she filmed a scene with Long, Murphy, Hill, Louis-Dreyfus and Duchovny, all “in the same room” together.
“It was just fun and it was really, you know, like a masterclass watching Eddie and Julia and David and Nia and even Jonah,” she said. “I say Jonah’s an improv master and so was Eddie and you know, all of them. So it was just a lot of laughter, you know, Eddie and Julia talking about their SNL days. I’m asking Mia about Boyz n the Hood because I grew up watching that stuff. And she’s an LA girl and, yeah, it’s just, those are my favorite days.”
You People is currently available to stream on Netflix.