Everybody Loves Raymond star Patricia Heaton told PragerU CEO Marissa Streit that women don’t need to put off having children in order to focus on their careers, adding that it made her “fiercer” and “better at fighting for what I wanted.”
“When you have children, it breaks open a chamber of your heart that can only be opened by children,” Heaton told Streit, adding, “it made me fiercer — better at fighting for what I wanted.”
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Heaton also talked about how motherhood made her a better actor:
It never seemed to me that you had to put [having children] on hold for a career, and I found out later when we did get married and had children that it actually improves the way you focus on your career, because when you know you have a solid relationship at home and that no matter what happens to you in show business, you have a person who’s there for you. So that actually gives you stability and comfort, and then when you have children it breaks open a chamber of your heart that can only be opened by children.
And it and it gives you another well of emotions to dip into for your acting, and you become more vulnerable because now pieces of your heart are walking around you outside of your body. And so you’re more vulnerable because you’re responsible for them, and that vulnerability is great for acting, that you have more fears and you have more joy, and everything is deepened.
“It made me fiercer as far as what I need, and it’s not for me it’s for my kids,” Heaton added. “I was better at fighting for what I wanted — and when I talk to actors, especially if I talk to Christian actors, I say, ‘Don’t put off your life. Don’t put off relationship.’”
After being asked if she has ever had an experience where she had to play a character that behaves “strongly against your values,” Heaton said, “I was offered a show, and I went to the showrunner, and I said, ‘I just need to tell you I’m pro-life, so I’m not going to do a pro-abortion thing, unless it’s balanced with a pro-life view.’”
“And she said, ‘We’re not going to do anything about abortion. Nothing’s funny about abortion.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, I just wanted you to know,’” Heaton explained. “Since then, I’ve had these long running shows, and God’s been very kind to me, putting me on shows that never veered into these areas.”
The actress also noted that Everybody Loves Raymond featured a Catholic family and an episode with “Deborah having a sister who’s becoming a nun,” and Ray’s father “asking Ray why he doesn’t go to mass.”
“It was a huge episode, it got such a great response,” Heaton said, adding that the family on The Middle “went to church, and it was just a part of their lives. It wasn’t emphasized, it wasn’t ignored. There would be episodes where we would be in church.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.