“You are going to be so in love with your life”

The ‘Friday Night Lights’ Star Reflects on Her Personal and Professional Journey in a Candid Instagram Post

Minka Kelly couldn’t be happier about where she is in life.

In a touching Instagram post on June 24, the actress celebrated her 44th birthday by offering some positive words to her younger self. The social media post also came as Kelly finished filming season 1 of her new Netflix show. Ransom Canyonwith Josh Duhamel.

“If I could have talked to my younger self when I was here as a scrappy young girl at Valley High School, here’s what I could say: Hey mink, guess what. In twenty years or so, everything will be fine. More than ok! “” she wrote in the caption alongside several production photos and a throwback image of her from years ago. “You will feel safe enough to finally let down all your guards. You will release all the survival mechanisms that have protected you for so long because you will no longer need them. Your heart will be wide open and you will be so in love with your life. Personally and professionally.

On the same subject: Everything about the parents of Minka Kelly, Maureen Kelly and Rick Dufay

“There’s going to be this really cool company called Netflix and they’re going to build huge fancy studios about 15 minutes from here and you’re going to shoot a big fancy TV show with some of the coolest, most talented actors and l crew your little heart can dream of and you will all love each other so much!!!” she continued. “You’re going to grow so much and you’re going to deserve all the love and joy and fulfillment you’ll have in your life when you’re 44. It seems like a long time ago, but it’s all happening so fast. it will be divinely timed. All the clichés are true. None of this makes sense right now, but it will.

THE Friday night lights former – who was romantically linked to Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds – continued to reflect on her life, adding that she is “exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

“For my birthday this year, right now, I feel content,” she also wrote. “This is all I ever wanted. Peace and ease for my nervous system. Finally. Grateful doesn’t even come close to cutting it. But thank you anyway. I love you. See you in 2025 🤠♥️”

Kelly’s path to success was not easy. In his 2023 memoirs Tell me everythingshe spoke candidly about her difficult childhood.

“My childhood was colorful and chaotic, unstable and inconsistent, unpredictable and difficult most of the time,” Minka told PEOPLE ahead of the release of her memoir. “But the positive side is that it has made me a very adaptable person.”

Raised by her mother, Maureen, an exotic dancer at the Crazy Girls strip club in Los Angeles, Kelly’s father, Rick Dufay, is a guitarist who notably played with Aerosmith in the 1980s. (She and her father formed a relationship later in life.)

Related: Minka Kelly Says Becoming a Mom One Day ‘Would Be a Wonderful Gift If the Time Is Right’

Kelly grew up watching her mother work to make ends meet while battling addiction and domestic violence. When the actress was 17, she performed in peep shows at an adult video store in Albuquerque, determined to support herself after growing up among family, friends and acquaintances when her mother left her for years. weeks and months.

“I started with the scariest part,” she says of her memoir. “The part I was most ashamed of, the part I felt most embarrassed about, the part I hid my whole life and the part people made me feel bad about. And I felt like that. It was precisely where I had to be the most courageous.”​​

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Kelly landed her starring role as Lyla Garrity in Friday night lightswhich ran for five seasons from 2006 to 2011. In the years that followed, the actress appeared in television and film projects, including Almost Human, The Butler, Euphoria And Joan the Virgin.

His next Netflix show Ransom Canyon — which is created, written and produced by All American creator April Blair and also starring Duhamel and James Brolin – is described as “a romance-fueled family drama and contemporary Western saga that traces the intersecting lives of three ranching families, all set in the rugged expanse of Texas Hill Country,” according to Tudum. .

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