'Phantom of the Opera' Star Sandra Joseph Says She Never Overcame Her Stage Fright

Night after night for nearly a decade, Sandra Joseph transformed herself into Christine Daaé, the leading lady in “The Phantom of the Opera.” With her incredible voice and stunning presence, the audience would never guess that Joseph was once a shy, quiet kid with paralyzing stage fright.

“I remember being terrified the night before my first rehearsal,” Joseph tells “Oprah: Where Are They Now?.” “[I was] just so intimidated to meet everybody and go backstage.”

While everyone was welcoming, Joseph recalls feeling especially anxious about meeting her on-stage counterpart. “I didn’t meet the actor who played the Phantom for quite some time because I would hide every time he’d come around, I was too nervous to meet him,” she says. “I thought he was just such a big, huge star.”

Joseph went on to perform hundreds of shows and become a star in her own right, but admits she never actually got over her stage fright. “People ask me, ‘How did you overcome the fear?’” she says. “And I really never did. I learned how to work with it.”

Joseph’s full interview airs Saturday, Sept. 24, on “Oprah: Where Are They Now?” at 10 p.m. ET.