Parenthood’s Monica Potter on how Boston is just like Cleveland
The saying goes, “don’t cry over spilt milk.’’
Clearly that milk wasn’t promoted by the mom who had fans sobbing on the hit TV series Parenthood,which ended in January this year.
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But Monica Potter, who played character Kristina Braverman, is used to people getting emotional when they see her.
“Usually it’s at the grocery store because I am there every day,’’ she joked.
Potter was in Boston on Wednesday to promote a new milk beverage, Milkwise. Boston.com asked her about the city, about the end of Parenthood, and what’s so wrong with regular milk aynway?
Tell me about your experience on Parenthood?
It’s bittersweet. I feel like it was just yesterday that we wrapped and I miss the entire team, the crew, everybody there so much but the great thing is that they all keep in touch. My experience on the show, it just felt like an extension of my family in real life.
Max feels like he is just one of my kids. He and his mom and his family live three streets away from me and we are still in touch. Peter, Lauren, Jack, all of them I feel like they are part of my family and will be forever.
It was such a great show to work on because we all really cared about each other deeply and that sort of translated over into the show for sure. It was so fun, we had so much freedom to ad lab and bring our own sort of real life situations to the table. The creative would listen to us and say go for it, do whatever you want.
What were your thoughts on the season finale?
It was funny because Craig and I were sitting in the hair and makeup chair together and he always makes fun of me because I highlight everybody’s lines, but I like to memorize everything. And long story short, his stopped half way through the script and I just started bawling. My dad passed away a while ago and I always looked at him as like my new dad kind of. I just love him.
For as many story lines as we had to do, I thought they did a beautiful job. The only part I didn’t like was Zeke dying. I got through it and I knew it was coming; I had a feeling.
Your character was known for tugging on the heartstrings of fans. Do you ever have people get emotional when they meet you?
Yes. Usually it’s at the grocery store because I am there every day, at my grocery store in L.A. I meet people everyday, especially women who have either gone through breast cancer or have kids who are on the autism spectrum. I am so grateful to be able to play that role because it enlightened me as a person, but also it made me feel like I have a deeper connection with the people who watch television.
What have you learned about being a mom from your character Kristina?
Gosh, what have I not learned. I learned how to slow down and to appreciate everything. I know that sounds cliche and corny, and that you have to practice that every day, but time is fleeting and my boys are getting older. I had them quite young and sometimes I couldn’t wait for them to grow up quicker and it’s sort of like I missed that time. I have a 10-year-old daughter now and everything is precious now. I feel eternally grateful for everything.
And I learned that you are going to make big, fat, giant mistakes and you pick yourself up and dust yourself off, and hopefully teach your kid what you have learned from that experience and what not to do. You can try to teach them, but they are going to make their own mistakes as well.
Kristina was a bit of a hovercraft, a helicopter mom, but I am too. But I learned a lot to relax a little bit as well, and I put a little bit of myself in her and her in me so we sort of became one the last three seasons I’d say.
What have you been doing since the show ended?
I have been working on my home store in Ohio. I am flying back and forth quite a bit, and I am also filming a docu series that I’ve been filming that for over a year and a half. I bought the house I grew up in in Cleveland and it’s kind of in a not-so-great neighborhood. But I bought it for forty grand and we are rehabbing it, trying to inspire others to buy homes in the area and bring commerce back into the city.
I’ve been pretty busy doing all that, and also looking at scripts. And it’s hard because there are so many. There’s a lot of work out there, but there’s not a lot of things I want to do maybe? Like I don’t want to play a detective or a cop.
Work is work, and it’s good, but I just feel like I had such a good experience on Parenthood that I want to take a minute, take a breath, and work on the stuff that is near and dear to me right now, which is my house, my family and working on the business.
How did you decide to get involved with Milkwise?
Being from the midwest I love milk. This product was brought to me, and I always like to try everything before I sign up to be an ambassador because I am kind of picky. But I have to tell you, as I get older, I am trying to watch how I am eating and make healthier choices in my life and this milk beverage is so delicious and refreshing. So now I am trying to figure out how to get it in LA and there is nothing like this.
Why do you think this brand was a good fit for you to sponsor?
I think that it’s interesting because I didn’t represent brands while I was doing Parenthood also because I have my own brand, and I need to stay true to that itself. So I was careful with what we came up with and how we were messaging it. I believe not only as Kristina Braverman, but as a mom, you want to have things for your kids that are healthy and make healthy choices so this just seemed like a really good fit.
What’s your favorite part about Boston?
This is a crazy city; I like it. Here’s the thing about Boston I like. I’m from Cleveland and people just say what they want and that’s it. Say what you mean, mean what you say, and it reminds me of being at home. There are also a lot of Irish people here and I’m Irish.
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