Nearly a decade after her role as Sally Draper ended, Kiernan Shipka has a new take on the character.

The Crazy men alum recently reflected on how the AMC show’s cast and crew were “so protective of me” during the filming of the ’60s adult series, which ran for seven seasons from 2007 to 2015.

While she “definitely had context” for what she was responding to, Shipka explained on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner is for me podcast that she was ultimately shielded from some of the show’s more risqué material.

“They were so protective of me and my kind of innocence and not exposing me to things that were, you know, sensitive or more mature,” Shipka said. “I always knew what I was responding to. For example, I always knew what (my character) was up against. I just didn’t have to see it again and again.”

She continued, “I think at some point I was like, ‘Guys, I know what this is. So, I’m doing well. I’m doing well.’ But I really admire and respect the way they handled it. But I do think in my head I was probably thinking, “I’m an adult. I’m an adult. I know what’s going on here. It’s fine, guys. ”

Since Shipka was 7 at the time Crazy men started, she was rarely allowed to watch the episodes when they originally aired. But the actress noted that she had the chance to binge the entire series during the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave her a new perspective on the character.

“I saw (Sally) experiencing things that I felt at the time (of filming) in a very natural way. But now, as some sort of adult, I can psychoanalyze and say, “Oh no, she was there grieving and acting out.” And I think I understood her at the time as much as she understood herself,” she explained. “And as I get older, I understand her a little bit in the way that I hope she would, you know, understand herself one day with therapy.

“And there’s something really wild about seeing it because it was like I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t know what was going on along the way so we don’t know what’s going on. See you later with us too,” Shipka added.

Created by Matthew Weiner, Crazy men follows New York advertiser Don Draper (Jon Hamm) as he juggles his work life at a Madison Avenue agency with his family life with wife Betty (January Jones) and their children, plus numerous extramarital affairs. The series earned 16 Emmy Awards during its run.