Honestly I just watched 2004’s Mean Girls for the first time after seeing this interview and realizing I was overdue. Parts of it don’t hold up (they use the R word too much) and it didn’t resonate with me like a John Hughes film, but I get how it became a cult classic. It was cute and the performances were fun, especially from Tina Fey and Tim Meadows, but it’s not for my generation. It’s a Millennial movie and I’m Gen X. It’s a shame how Lindsay Lohan derailed so spectacularly after that, but I digress.
That’s why, when Lacey Chabert’s name came up, I had to search to remember what she was in. (Incidentally this clickbaity article from NickiSwift.com, about Lacey’s career after Mean Girls, is one of the first results.) I know Lacey from Party of Five and she’s currently a staple on the Hallmark channel. She opened up to US Magazine about how hard it is to raise a baby, and how that’s changed her relationship. Lacey didn’t get into specifics but she was honest about it and I found that refreshing.
Lacey Chabert is in love with motherhood, but she’s not afraid of being “realistic” about how it’s changed her life.
“Everyday is just full of so much joy,” she exclusively told Us Weekly. “[But] it’s also very exhausting. The sleep deprivation, it’s hard, it’s challenging in ways that more than other things have been to me.”
The actress, 35, welcomed daughter Julia, now 21 months, with husband David Nehdar in September 2016.
“My husband is obsessed with her,” she added while attending the Step Up Inspiration Awards on Friday, June 1. “It’s amazing how for your relationship too, it creates new challenges but having her and raising her together, it’s truly brought us together in a really beautiful way.”
Chabert admits that the couple “haven’t been great” about making time for each other, but learned early on that it was important to. “We were so scared to leave her in the beginning, so we thought better realizing that we had to spend time just us. We’ll be better parents for it. We’re finding that balance,” she added. “I think with any new parent, it’s just hard in the beginning because you don’t want to ever leave her.”
Perhaps a showing of Mean Girls on Broadway could be a date night. She noted: “I haven’t seen it yet, but I want to. We’re talking about trying to go this month. I hope to go soon. It looks amazing … I am blessed to have been part of that project.” (Chabert played Gretchen Wieners in the 2014 [sic] film.)
In the meantime, they are enjoying spending time with their “fun” little girl. “Everything is new, it’s really brought a whimsical side to my life back in a way,” she told Us. “She’s obsessed with Peppa Pig and Disneyland. We have an annual pass now, and we’ve gone a few times. Everything is Minnie Mouse. She loves clothes and watches me get dressed and put on makeup, and she imitates everything I do. We do our nails together – of course non-toxic nail polish. She’s not only my precious daughter, she’s like my buddy also.”
I could really relate to this. I didn’t want to leave my baby either and it created a lot of stress in my marriage. I doubt I would admit it to the press if I was famous though. Once the baby came we had to deal with a whole new set of issues along with the fact that we had different approaches to parenting. Many people think a baby will bring them closer to their partner when the reality can be so much different. Kids are tough to raise, no surprise there. It is notable when a celebrity admits it though and doesn’t try to fake like it’s easy. (See: Tax evader Tori Spelling. She’s been effusing about how her fifth baby has brought her closer to her husband, when signs point to the opposite.)
Getting back to Lacey, even if she was mildly “difficult” as that Nicki Swift article claims, she’s been working on TV and doing voiceover work. Apart from Lohan, she’s arguably the least “successful” of the original Mean Girls troop but she’s had steady work and there’s no shame in making Hallmark movies (I watch that channel for a brain break). It sounds like she’s striving for a work/family balance. Also, she was adorable in Mean Girls, as was Amanda Seyfried’s doofus character. Maybe I do get the appeal of that movie.
Photos credit: WENN
I love all her hallmark movies. I usually don’t tell people that but….
Come sit by me Dorothy#1 I just watched her in “My Secret Valentine” and I loved the heck out of every minute of that cheesefest.
I haven’t seen that one!!! I’m going to check on demand. Super cheesy and mindless. They make you forget all your problems.
me too!!!! her’s are always my favorites!!
Party of Five, I miss Neve Campbell, and I always thought it was harder for women to admit they were happy to go back to work vs wanting to not leave the baby? Isn’t not wanting to leave the baby the default expectation?
Some new parents have a tough time leaving baby for a date night or event that is not geared to families. That can cause friction.
PPA is a thing where some moms feel extreme anxiety from being away from their babies. I didn’t like being gone-gone all day from mine but I was ok with a an hour or 2 which I think is more normal. But if you’re suffering from PPA you might now even be able to handle that.
I didn’t know that. Thank you.
I always heard women saying how they couldn’t wait to get out of the house and back to work.
I still want to know what went down for her to walk away from Family Guy. Seth has openly said no one knows. Lacey is religious so I wonder if that had something to do with it.
I totally get it. I wonder if it’s a first time parent thing? Does it get easier when you have a second? Please tell me it does hahah i have one and I really struggled with leaving him for date nights, although it has gotten better with time.
I appreciate the honesty though, having a baby is wonderful but it’s also so hard. You’re exhausted and adjusting to your new normal while trying to remember that you’re a partner and not just a parent.
For me it did! I def had (self diagnosed way too late) PPA with my first and that caused a lot of issues between me and my husband b/c I was very controlling and couldn’t go with the flow AT ALL and leaving for date nights or appointments made me feel sooo guilty (although I did go back to work full time and could conceptually understand that was okay and not a bad thing – I just felt bad not spending all my free time with my baby). I have been much better with my second child. Maybe knowing that the 1st one is okay and thriving so there’s less worry that I am going to irreparably damage my baby by leaving him with a sitter for a couple hours on the weekend, etc.
I have a 9 week old! Hubby and I have had one date a few weeks ago when my mom was in town. We don’t live anywhere near family and I’m just not ready to leave her with a sitter yet.
I’m technically a millennial being born in late ‘81 but I do not identify as one but I liked Mean Girls when it came out and then didn’t see it for years and just rewatched a year ago or so and yeah, not so much. The use of the R word dates it so bad and is so cringeworthy. There are other parts that just don’t hold up either. Amy Poehler, Amanda, and Rachel are good though. It’s like when I watched Clueless a couple of years ago, same thing when Cher casually uses it.
I’m also a Millennial. I love Clueless, but never warmed to Mean Girls. Every time I watched it, I thought Cadi seemed like much more mean than Regina. I mean, Regina wrote nasty things in a book, but Cadi got Regina hit by a bus…I just couldn’t root for her as a main character.
I’m obsessed with Hallmark movies and her movies are my favorites 🙂