Cybill Shepherd is speaking out about the death of Michael Jackson, which she compares to the loss of another world-famous icon: Elvis Presley.

"Losing that kind of person, who's come to mean so much to so many people, really brings us together," she tells ET. "It becomes a chance for us as a community and as the world to mourn."

While she says did not know Jackson personally, Cybill observes, "There is definitely a parallel between Elvis's death and Michael Jackson's death in the enormity of people's response to it. … That kind of fame is unsurvivable. I saw it up close. I saw the drugs with Elvis. He tried to get me some too, and you just can't survive that. It's just overwhelming."

The Golden Globe winner says that just like so many of us, she watched Michael's public memorial service.

"When Usher sang ["Gone Too Soon"], I was sobbing," she says, revealing her own personal tragedy: "I lost my sister about five weeks ago, [she] suddenly died, and I tell you it's very rare that we as a world and as a community get to grieve someone. It gives us a chance to get our own grief out."

Despite her own grief, Cybill remains as busy as ever, and her latest project, the Hallmark ChannelOriginal Movie "Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith," hits the small screen August 1. In it she plays a middle-aged divorcee who goes back to school to fulfill the dream of a college education she left behind years ago. A fish out of water at first, she comes to realize that being the oldest student in the class means that she has as much to teach her fellow classmates as she has to learn from them.

Watch ET for more with Cybill!