“If you haven’t been before you have to take a mask and walk around — that’s what I tell every actor and actress that comes here,” says Sarah who is in San Diego promoting new TV series Ringer. “I have taken two-and-a-half years off which is a long time,” says the actress who had daughter Charlotte with husband Freddie Prinze Jnr in September 2009. Star says she has got so good at walking around the annual geek-fest in disguise and without security that she’s now briefing her fellow celebs on how to do the same. It’s been a long time but I’m glad to have got this chance. “I love being a mother and for a time I wondered if I would ever be back for a number of reasons. Meanwhile, Sarah admits she feared she would never be able to return to work following the birth of her first child.

If all went well, I would get to sleep with a mask and a hose and a machine every night. — my choice of a sleep mask attached to an air compressor called a CPAP. So my doctor sent me to a sleep clinic, where a sleep tech nicknamed Grouper spent 45 minutes gluing 70,000 wires to my face and body, taping a microphone on my nose and telling me to go to sleep in my wire cocoon. Recently, I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea, which basically means my airway is somewhat obstructed when I sleep, causing me to snore to the point of foundation cracks. My doctor said not only did I sleep that night, I slept bad enough to merit another visit with more wires and — hooray. Worse, apnea means less oxygen and poor sleep quality because you are snoring and snorting and, at times, not breathing at all. The better news: My wife woke up well rested, too. If mama's happy, I'm happy — even if I look like a post-apocalyptic forest critter.