Natasha Lyonne believes that traumatic family history — her grandmother was an Auschwitz survivor — has deeply affected her life choices.

Yes, the four-time Emmy nominee is pondering the big questions while promoting the second season of her Netflix series, “Russian Doll,” which premieres Wednesday.

“I’ve obviously had a very checkered past, to say the least, and I’ve been very open about it,” she told The Post in her signature sandpaper voice. “And it’s like along the way, you’re supposed to kinda go digging for some meaning to life other than self-destruction.”

Discussing her high-profile struggle with drug addiction in the early aughts, she told The Post, “I don’t think you can take Hitler out of the equation, the way I moved through my teenage years especially. I’ve almost not been able to reconcile the real weight of what it means that that can happen, and that that can happen within a line of family that’s so close to you.”

Natasha Lyonne in a season from "Russian Doll" Season 2. "Listen, I love Rosalind Russell. I love Barbara Stanwyck. I even love Jean Harlow," the "American Pie" vixen declared with her iconic, raspy New Yawk accent, projecting the aura of an Old Hollywood actress.
Natasha Lyonne in a shot from “Russian Doll” Season 2. “Listen, I love Rosalind Russell. I love Barbara Stanwyck. I even love Jean Harlow,” she told The Post in her iconic, raspy New Yawk accent, projecting the aura of an old-Hollywood actress.
Netflix

The native New Yorker further suggested that even trying to ponder the Holocaust’s far-reaching effects was too overwhelming.

“It’s too big a concept to process, and I think that that’s happening pretty frequently, especially because of social media,” she said. “It’s like we’re being inundated so constantly with ideas that are too big to hold.”

In the first season of “Russian Doll,” Lyonne’s character gets caught in a loop that has her attend a party and then die — only to awaken, unharmed, and live the same day again. This season once again delves into the subjects of mortality and existentialism by bouncing back and forth between generations and countries.

Natasha Lyonne "Russian Doll" Season 2
Lyonne, a native New Yorker, told The Post: “I’ve obviously had a very checkered past, to say the least, and I’ve been very open about it. And it’s like along the way, you’re supposed to kinda go digging for some meaning to life other than self-destruction.”
Netflix

While the veteran actress — she got her start as a 6-year-old, playing Opal on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” way back in 1986 — isn’t sure if she believes in time travel, Lyonne said she is at least “very curious about” the “major sort of scientific concepts” surrounding it.

“I’m a high school dropout,” the “Orange Is the New Black” star revealed, “so I certainly don’t claim to know very much about quantum physics or anything, but I definitely read a lot of books and do that kinda thing. So it certainly has sparked my curiosity.”

Natasha Lyonne Fred Armisen
Lyonne recently confirmed her split from “SNL” and “Broad City” star Fred Armisen, 55. “I honestly think we broke up because I wanted a swimming pool,” she claimed. “We love each other just about as much as two people can love each other and we’re still talking all the time, but Freddy doesn’t like a swimming pool.”
Getty Images
Natasha Lyonne attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City.
Lyonne showed off her decidedly glam side at the 2019 Met Gala for the exhibit “Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Getty Images for The Met Museum/

In terms of what’s next for Lyonne, she’s leaning into her off-camera work, too.

“Listen, I love Rosalind Russell. I love Barbara Stanwyck. I even love Jean Harlow,” the “American Pie” vixen declared with her iconic, raspy New Yawk accent, projecting the aura of an old-Hollywood actress.

“I always liked that rat-a-tat rush of the old days. But maybe throw in some of those Hungarian guys that ran the studio, cause that’s where I’m trying to get. I’m quite enjoying being behind the scenes, too, so I’ll take it all, please, ma’am, and thank you.”



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