The Emotional Toll of Playing a Pedophile

If the goal of acting is to become another human being, what happens when that human being is a monster? In OWN's hit drama Greenleaf, GregAlan Williams has faced just such a challenge. Robert "Mac" McCready was the hulking personal attorney for the Greenleafs. He knew the family's secrets like the back of his hand—and he used them as blackmail on more than one occasion. However, all his other sins paled in comparison to his sexual predation of underage girls.

Grace, Mac's niece, knew of his vile predilections and tried to put him behind bars. When she couldn't, she killed him. GregAlan says the moment it truly hit home that Mac was going to die, he happened to be driving, and he pulled over to the side of the road and started crying. He hadn't realized just how much emotional baggage he had been carrying throughout the run of the show.

In this digital exclusive, GregAlan opens up about the emotional toll of putting oneself in the head space of a pedophile.