Lizzy Caplan: I dont want to sacrifice my own goals to be a mother

Publish date: 2024-05-21

LC2

I fell for Lizzy Caplan during Season 1 of Masters of Sex. She managed to seem authentic for that 1950s period, yet she maintained a vibe of “she was way ahead of her time.” Plus, Caplan’s acting that first season was splendid. The second season? Caplan’s acting was fine – if anything, they gave her more to do in the second season. But I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about the second season in general, because I think the writers really messed up. Anyway, my girlfriend covers the new issue of Elle Canada – you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

Being an Emmy-nominated actress now: “It’s just so far outside of the realm of what I thought possible for me. I thought that I’d be a journeywoman actress, and I was pretty content with that. I was making a decent living as an actress, and that felt like enough to me. But, looking back, I was playing kind of the same type of girl over and over again. Of course, when I first started, I had much bigger goals. But after doing it for 15 years, I felt the industry was telling me to stick to a certain thing. Only now do I realize that it would not have been a very fulfilling life.”

Identifying with Virginia Johnson: “I move through the world differently from a lot of my friends. I identified with how Virginia could separate sex from love—that was something that made her an odd duck. It’s a lot less harsh these days, but that’s still something that exists…. We have such a long way to go before you don’t see a ‘promiscuous’ girl. I mean, people don’t even use the word promiscuous when describing men, ever. I don’t think it’s my personal crusade to be this proud promiscuous person, but it’s a conversation that I’ve gotten into quite often since I started the show, and I find it fascinating.”

We haven’t moved passed gender stigmas: “It’s a really conscious choice to be, say, the woman who goes out and works while the husband stays at home. It’s 2014, and if your husband makes less money than you, people ask you if that’s ‘weird’ for you. It’s pretty mind-blowing.”

Love life: She was in a relationship with Matthew Perry for several years and admits it can be “sh–ty dating actors.” But she has been thinking about exes now that she sees billboards of herself, reclined in bed, dotted around L.A. “I had this moment of ‘Wow, it must really suck for exes to see that.’ But what can you do? Don’t date an actress if you don’t want to see her in bed on a billboard.”

Marriage & kids: “I don’t want it to be an assumption that I will be the one to stay home and raise the kids. Now, I could have kids and want to do that, I have no idea—but from where I sit now, that does not sound all that appealing to me. I really want kids, and I want to be fully involved in their lives, but I don’t want to sacrifice my own goals to be a mother. I actually romanticize the idea of a stay-at-home dad. Partly because I think that’s a very sexy thing, but also because if there are two working actors and both of them get a job and they have a baby, the woman is going to stay with the baby. I see it all the time. It just seems very unfair.”

Being friends with Seth Rogen: “We’re the same age, which is strange because he’s doing so much more cool sh-t. I hate that we’re 32 and he’s directing massive movies.”

[From Elle Canada]

I’m with her on the whole “I don’t want to sacrifice my own goals to be a mother” thing, but then again, I’m not a mother and I’ve never really had that urge. My own goals involve “not being a mother,” so that dovetails nicely, right? Anyway, it’s refreshing to hear a young actress talk about her mixed feelings regarding motherhood. I think more women (certainly more celebrity women) feel this way, but are forced by society to pay lip-service to this idea that every woman wants motherhood and that every woman will end up subverting their career/life goals for motherhood and marriage.

LC1

Photos courtesy of Elle Canada.

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