Rebecca Rittenhouse On Finding a Love of Fitness, Her Favorite New Hair-Care Products, and Dating In Your 30s

You know when someone asks you if you could have one superpower, what would it be, and you say something like "be invisible!" or "see the future!" Well, take a second to actually consider what that would look like IRL — you could end up hearing or seeing something you wish you hadn't, and then things get complicated.

That's exactly what you see play out in Maggie, the new Hulu series led by Rebecca Rittenhouse who plays Maggie, a 30-something woman who seems like she could be your best friend…if that friend had psychic abilities. Viewers watch as she struggles to open up to potential partners with the aim of safeguarding herself from the potential of being hurt, but she often ends up turning into her own worst enemy.

"Maggie falls into her own trap of creating self-fulfilling prophecies," says Rittenhouse during a call while on vacation in Italy (aka her "happy place"). "That's why it's such as clever premise. Dating, family, friends — at this stage in life, everyone does the same stuff, whether or not they have psychic visions." It's this common ground, the experience that is dating in your 30s, that makes Maggie — both the show and the character — so relatable, regardless of her future-telling skills.

"In your 30s, you start to feel like you want to move forward in your life and make the right decisions, and there's more pressure," says Rittenhouse of how dating changes after your 20s. "All of a sudden you're like wait, I don't have as much time as I thought, especially for women if you want to have a kid." But, on the flip side, there's also something special about looking for love as a fully formed adult. "You put up with so much less [in your 30s], and you care so much less about being liked," says Rittenhouse of her own dating mentality. "If I work for you great, but if not, we can move along."

Ahead, Rittenhouse shares her unfiltered take on using fitness as a mental health tool, how to take care of your skin for life, and showing herself some love with lots and lots of flowers.

The Role Fitness Plays In Her Life

While she played volleyball in high school, the actress didn't really consider herself athletic growing up, she says. It wasn't until she set her sights on an acting career and began working with a vocal coach, who encouraged her to improve her posture, that Rittenhouse began to discover her love of fitness.

"It really just became such a regular part of my life," she says. "I'm one of those people who appears very calm on the surface, but I definitely have a lot of internal anxiety and have had trouble sleeping, and I have an autoimmune issue, and exercise is something that has improved my mental and physical health in so many ways."

First, she dipped her toe into barre classes (specifically at The Bar Method), then reformer-style Pilates with heavy resistance (at Lagree Fitness, SLT, and an LA-based studio called Studio Metamorphosis). And she doesn't stop cold turkey while traveling either. "I exercise on vacation because I will go insane, [if I don't]," she jokes. When on the go, she turns to on-demand virtual workouts — often via Soto Method, a digital library of cardio and strength workouts that range from five to 45 minutes — and makes sure to pack her Bala bangles and resistance bands, says Rittenhouse.

But her workouts aren't just a means to stay in shape or maintain the good posture she's worked for years to correct. They're also a mindfulness tool. "Even if it's just 10 minutes, it can make you feel so much better mentally and emotionally," says Rittenhouse of building activity into her days. "I often use [exercise] as a tool, too. If I didn't get a part or got disappointing news, I always know I can always mentally reset that way."

On active recovery days, Rittenhouse likes to get her heart rate up by walking her dog in the hilly Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles and getting in a good stretch session. And when life calls for a true rest day, she says she has zero qualms about taking it easy. "I grew up with a mom who could sense when I was feeling stressed or run down and would tell me I need a mental health day," she explains. "That was such an important lesson for me because it taught me that it's okay when you're not feeling good, to take a step back and not do anything and recharge. So, I never feel bad about that — taking a day off."

A Balanced Approach to Wellness

When it comes to self-care, Rittenhouse seems to have found her very own sense of balance. Yes, she meditates — specifically, a type of meditation called the Alexander Technique, a kind of active rest, which she likes to do with her legs elevated — but "there's no pressure on it," she says. "There's no clear-your-mind pressure, it's just being there and breathing, and focusing on relaxing your body. I find it both very calming and very energizing," adds the actress. When meditation just isn't working or life throws a curveball and she can't find center, that's when she'll lean on exercise to clear her head, she says. Plus, "it's really important to go out to dinner with friends and eat a plate of pasta," she adds. "To just not do all of the things that are supposed to be good for you and none of the things that might be a little bad for you. It's all about everything in moderation — including moderation."

When she's not working, she also loves spending time with her friends' kids. "That's one thing that always makes me feel better because kids are just living in the present moment, and they just remind you that whatever's going on in your life, there's still a future, and there's still so much hope and beauty and wonderful things that children represent," says Rittenhouse. Other things that spark joy for her? Eating and cooking for people she loves. Oh, and surrounding herself with lots of flowers. "I love getting flowers for myself," she says. "[I love] going to Trader Joe's and buying an absurd amount of flowers and putting flowers on every table in my home."

While Rittenhouse may have her go-to mindfulness tactics in her toolbox, one aspect of her wellness continues to be a bit tricky, and that's sleep, she says. Rittenhouse admits she's more or less always struggled to get adequate quality sleep — as a self-proclaimed overachiever, it can be difficult to unplug — but she recently decided to try the Oura Ring to better understand her health in a really measurable way, she says.

"I noticed one of the things happening was that I was getting like half of the REM [rapid eye movement sleep; a kind of deep sleep] I needed," she says. "That data was important, but it was hard because our culture is so geared toward staying up late at night and watching TV as a way to wind down. So, I wish I were better at avoiding those habits [including procrastination scrolling, she admits] so I could actually improve [my sleeping habits]."

Beauty Motto: Protection and Prevention

While her bedtime routine may need some fine-tuning, when it comes to her beauty and skin-care practices, Rittenhouse has those down pat. Her impeccable skin — something that's almost distracting in the best possible way while watching Maggie — is thanks to both nature and nurture, she explains. Blessed with great skin genetically, her parents instilled the importance of sun protection from a very young age, so she's been an avid SPF-wearer since her teens, says Rittenhouse.

As for what's in her bathroom vanity today? Her skin-care routine is "simple but effective," she says. "I always do a vitamin C serum and sunscreen in the morning," says the actress. Specifically, she says she likes St. Jane The C Drops when traveling because the serum includes CBD, which helps calm irritated travel-skin, she says. At home, she reached for a Skinceuticals vitamin C serum, as well. When it comes to moisturizers, "I like simple moisturizing, rich creams," she adds. "At night, I like to use a glycolic acid to get a little bit of exfoliation, but I don't use a ton of retinol because I live in a sunny place, so I just get worried about sun damage." The common thread to Rittenhouse's skin-care approach is to protect what you have. "I just try to be gentle with [my skin], and I don't use cleansers that strip my skin at all because I really believe in the barrier that your skin naturally has and your microbiome and not messing with that stuff."

Her hair-care routine, well, "the hair thing is hard," says Rittenhouse, who highlights her already naturally blonde hair and knows that makes her strands more fragile. To combat the styling that comes with the territory of working in the entertainment business, she turns to Olaplex hair-care products, and just started using K18 products, she says. "I do use that Vegamour Gro+ Serum, and that I really like. It's prevented a lot of my hair from falling out, whether it's in the shower or just in my brush."