Christina Hendricks plays Joan Harris, an office manager-turned-executive on “Mad Men,” who has a knack for obtaining what she wants – without worrying what others think.

Hendricks can relate to that in real life, as the award-winning actress said that her agency let her go because she took on that role.

“They said, ‘It’s a period piece, it’s never going to go anywhere. We need you to make money and this isn’t going to make money.’ They ended up dropping me,” she says in an interview with the U.K.’s The Guardian.

The promise of “Mad Men” exceeded the risk of failure for Hendricks.

“I had been on several shows that were meant to be the big ones, that would go on for ever, and they didn’t,” she explained. “So there was no sure bet and I’d already taken a chance on them and I felt, why not do the one you’re in love with and take a chance on that?”

Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) – Credit: Michael Yarish/AMC

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The actors recently completed filming the series finale, eight years later. According to Hendricks, it was a bittersweet event. The cast stayed out until 8 a.m. the next day on the final day of filming, drinking and reminiscing. “We all just stuck around,” she explained. “We didn’t want to leave.”

There’s another intriguing factoid from the interview: Hendricks claims she travels by aircraft with her service dog, Zouzou, a cockapoo. She recently had to take a picture of Zouzou “because she’s a service dog and they needed it for her ID…So she can travel with me on airplanes.” she explains.

“She’s an anti-anxiety dog. … She calms me down,” she reveals.

Hendricks also recalls her childhood in the piece (“I felt scared in high school. It was like ‘Lord of the Flies.’”) and her reaction to the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman (“I knew he’d had problems in the past but I really did think it was in the past”).

When Seth Meyers presents the Emmy Awards on August 25, she’ll find out if she’ll win her first such award, after 5 straight years of nominations. Christine Baranski (“The Good Wife”), Joanne Froggatt (“Downton Abbey”), Anna Gunn (“Breaking Bad”), Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones”), and Maggie Smith (“Downton Abbey”) are among the nominees for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama.

Hendricks’ popularity has skyrocketed since stepping into Joan’s shoes, receiving multiple Emmy nominations in the process.

The public’s reception of her today is a far cry from what she endured in high school, where she was tormented, according to Hendricks.

Hendricks told The Guardian, “We had a locker bay, and every time I went down there to get books out of my locker people would sit on top and spit at me. So I had to have my locker moved because I couldn’t go in there … I felt scared in high school. It was like ‘Lord of the Flies.’ There was always some kid getting pummeled and people cheering.”