The world first met Jennifer Love Hewitt in the early 1990s on hit TV show Party of Five and films including I Know What You Did Last Summer. Now, after a five-year hiatus from our screens since welcoming her son Atticus, 3, and daughter Autumn, 4, the actress is back – and loving it!
Hewitt, who is married to fellow actor Brian Hallisay, has joined the cast of crime drama 9-1-1 for Season 2, where she plays 9-1-1 operator Maddie alongside Oliver Stark (Evan Buckley) and Rockmond Dunbar (Michael Grant). “It’s really nice to be back in the business,” says Hewitt, 39. “I’m getting to start over in some weird way and it’s nice.”
What can you tell us about Season 2?
I play a woman named Maddie, who is Buck’s sister. She’s been a registered nurse for eight years. She comes in pretty heartbroken and running from an abusive relationship and needs to start over, and wants to help people but isn’t able to do that face-to-face in a hospital due to feeling nervous about who could walk in there at any moment. And so her brother comes up with the idea for her to train as a 9-1-1 operator.
Can you relate to your character in the sense of starting over?
Starting over is interesting for me with Maddie, given I have taken a little bit of a break [from acting] and I’m coming back to work, so I get what that’s like. I’m also in a new situation with new people, much like she is. I’m also a helper and a fixer in my life so I understand the need to do that kind of thing.
How does it feel to come back to work?
It’s been really good, it’s been very positive. Everyone on the show is quite lovely and we’ve been having a really good time.
In the show, you’re dealing with difficult situations. What are you like in a crisis?
I’ve been through an earthquake here. I was in the Northridge earthquake [in 1994 in Los Angeles] and I was in the middle of trying to put on some eyeliner for one of the very first times in my life. I poked myself in the eye when it started, so it wasn’t very glamorous. We had an apartment with a loft and the stairs actually disconnected during the earthquake, so I was stuck upstairs, and my mum was stuck downstairs and it was dramatic for a few minutes. But we were very lucky, and it was all fine. I handle things with more ease when it has to do with other people or when it’s about me. When it’s about my husband or my children I tend to get a little bit more emotionally involved and upset. But I’m in the process of trying to learn to stay calm so I don’t upset my kids.
Have you ever had to call 9-1-1?
I have, only once, and the woman was amazing. It was the middle of the night, my alarm went off, I was single, I was living by myself, I freaked out, I called 9-1-1, I thought there was someone in my house. I heard steps downstairs and things rummaging around. I didn’t know what was going on, so I called 9-1-1. The woman was, “OK, do you have a safe place that you can go? It’s just going to take us a couple of minutes.” She was very calm, I think of her every day at work. She was really lovely. They [police] did burst down my door, they came in and it was a raccoon! [Laughs] It was a giant raccoon.
Over the past couple of years you’ve had children and you took a good chunk of time off work. How is it all going?
I lost my mum who was my best friend, about six years ago, and that [made] me really look at where my priorities were and if I was investing enough time in my life as I was my work. I was very lucky I had met my husband right before that so he was there through that transition with losing my mum and was very helpful to me. Then I got pregnant and it just seemed to me like a really important time in my life to just stop and make some memories and have some time to myself and get to know myself better before I could come back into this beautiful but crazy business, where you don’t get to spend much time on yourself, usually.
Was it hard to leave the children at home?
Yeah, you worry as a mum – are they ready? It’s a crazy life and they’ve essentially only known me as a woman with no make-up on, in a T-shirt and sweatpants, running them to Mummy and Me classes. This is a whole different life now, even though I’m going to try to keep them separate from it, they’re old enough now to go, “Why are you dressed like that? Where are you going?” It’s just new territory. But so far, they’re loving it.
What if your children say they want to get into acting?
You know what? I don’t know. I was very lucky I had a mum that took good care of me and kept my priorities straight and never made me feel like I was in a big scary business. I never took it too seriously. And then she always made everything really normal afterwards. So if I could be a part of their journey and do that the way my mum did, I’d consider it. She does have something, my daughter, so does my son.
9-1-1 season 2 premieres Wednesday 8.30pm on 7
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