Sherri Shepherd understood the weight of getting the opportunity to portray real-life 9/11 survivor Genelle Guzman-McMillan in Lifetime’s Angel in the Rubble: The Genelle Guzman Story. Given the importance of the story, the multi-hyphenate wanted to make sure she gave it her all to get the narrative just right.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that plagued New York City in 2001, Guzman-McMillan was the last person pulled from the rubble. At the time, she was a New York City Port Authority staff member working on the 64th floor of Tower 1 (a.k.a. the North Tower). Ten years later, she recounted her experience in her 2011 memoir Angel in the Rubble: The Miraculous Rescue of 9/11's Last Survivor.
Guzman-McMillan’s story was turned into a televised film in September 2026 around the time of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. The film is a part of Lifetime’s ongoing “Robin Roberts Presents” series, with the first feature—Stolen By My Mother: The Kamiyah Mobley Story—starring Niecy Nash-Betts as a real-life woman who kidnapped a newborn from a Florida hospital in 1998. Follow up films were centered around disco era icon Gloria Gaynor (Joaquina Kalukango) and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (Danielle Brooks).
Shepherd tells MyLifetime that it was vital to get “every single scene” right while filming Angel in the Rubble.
“It’s hard,” the actress, 59, says. “It’s a lot of pressure playing someone that’s still alive because you want to make sure you get their life right and your words right and their feelings right.”
Shepherd hadn’t seen the film ahead of its N.Y.C. premiere, admitting she felt pressure: “I'm scared to death.”
Despite the former talk show host’s nerves, her co-star (and longtime friend) Dondré Whitfield had nothing but praise regarding her performance—and he was “ready” to see it all unfold on the small screen.
“I was her first on-screen kiss, so, it was great to be able to be back on screen again,” he shares with MyLifetime. “We knew that that kind of camaraderie and built in, you know, relationship in terms of how long we've known each other, we knew that that would instantly be on the screen. So we were both excited about that.”
For the 57-year-old All My Children alum, getting to work with Shepherd on Angel in the Rubble after doing Less Than Perfect together in the early 2000s was an added bonus for him. However, being a native New Yorker made his involvement in the project feel all the more personal. “I really take great pride in being from New York. I wear it like a badge. When I was in Los Angeles and this was happening, I felt a little helpless, if I'm being honest, because it felt like, you know, this is my home,” he says.
Whitfield admits the tragedy brought up complicated feelings for him.
“It's tricky as a person of color in the country. I’ve never felt patriotism the way I wanted to feel it. But in that moment, I felt what patriotism felt like. Because it wasn't an attack on a community or group, it was an attack on all of us,” he explains. “It was like, I don't care what your political affiliation is, what your religion is. I don't care if you're black, white, male, female—didn't make a difference what it was. Hey, we are all under attack.”
Recalling the period after the tragedy occurred, Whitfield says that “for a while, it felt like such a great feeling in terms of what the country should feel like.”
“Somehow we kind of lost that feeling. And now, it feels like we're under attack again,” he continues. “It feels like we're getting back in touch with the feeling again. So telling this side of the story, I think, is a perfect time for where we are with all of the divisive stuff that’s happening in the country. I feel like it’s a perfect time to tell this story.”
As for why Shepherd joined the project, she says she initially connected with Guzman-McMillan and her story because of their shared Christian faith.
“It’s funny because Genelle asked me—her first question was, ‘Are you a woman of faith?’ And I go, ‘Jesus is my jam,’” Shepherd recalls. “We connected there and we connected as mothers. We connected as people.”
Shepherd also notes that the pair both “have a strong sense of purpose.”
“Hers is very different from mine because of what she’s gone through,” she adds. “I was just drawn to her strength and resilience after coming through being buried for 27 hours and to [now] be able to laugh and love life.”
