Sister Monica Clare owes her divine path to none other than Jimmy Fallon.
The TikTok-famous nun said on the Today show Thursday that she didn’t realize God’s plan for her until she went to the talk show host’s birthday party at Hollywood’s star-studded Chateau Marmont.
Her celeb-filled life before the Church was complete with Los Angeles parties, her husband, tons of friends, and a “glamorous career in Hollywood.”
Along with a day job in advertising, Clare was an aspiring comedian who came up alongside major stars like Jennifer Coolidge and Cheri Oteri. She was part of the Groundlings improv troupe, a sketch theater and school that’s attracted famed entertainers for over 50 years.
But despite all the glitz and glam, Clare started to feel unhappy. She wasn’t living her truth.
“Why was I so depressed that I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning sometimes?” she remembered thinking.
She turned to the church in search of enlightenment and before long started interviewing to become a nun. But as she made her way to God’s good graces, she decided to have a last hurrah with the affluent VIPs in the City of Angels.
“Saturday Night Live” star Oteri had invited her to Jimmy Fallon’s birthday party, which he was hosting at the iconic hotel Chateau Marmont. Clare was hesitant. “I thought, I cannot imagine anything worse,” she recalled.
She decided to go anyway, and she was just as disappointed as she had anticipated. “Every single person at that party was famous except me,” she said. She left the event in tears and decided that it was time to change her entire life.
“That’s it. I do not fit in in Hollywood,” she remembered thinking. “I got divorced, I started to go to therapy and really started exploring what my authentic self actually was.”
But although she’s created some distance between herself and the world of elites, some old friends still keep up with her.
During her conversation on Today, Clare got a surprise message from an old buddy.
It was Oteri, who announced in a video message that she followed the nun on Instagram. Her account, she added, makes her “smile from ear to ear.”
Clare’s account, @nunsenseforthepeople, has nearly 2.8 million likes and over 215,000 followers.
“When I first came here, the sisters were terrified of social media,” she said. “But I said, ‘Ladies, I used to work in advertising. And social media is free advertising. My gateway drug to TikTok was cat videos.”
Clare uses the platform to defy stereotypes and teach God’s message.
Clare’s new book, A Change of Habit, details her journey from comedy into her fellow sister’s open arms.
“When I look at my life before I entered the convent, I had so much anxiety at just about every moment of my life,” she said. “I’ve never felt that my life has so much meaning, total joy [as now] and [it’s] hard work, but the prayer life feeds me every day.”
