Teri Hatcher's parents made her think twice about London musical gig
Teri Hatcher admitted she had some qualms about taking on her new role in The Devil Wears Prada Musical in London, because she’s her elderly parents’ primary caregiver.
Teri Hatcher had to think carefully before taking on The Devil Wears Prada musical in London, because she’s her elderly parents’ primary caregiver.
The Desperate Housewives is temporarily relocating to the British capital from Los Angeles to take on the role of Miranda Priestly in the musical adaptation of the film and book.
However, in an interview with Britain's HELLO! magazine, Teri admitted her 91-year-old parents, Esther and Owen, were her first thought.
She explained: “My dad has dementia and my mom's not really doing well,” she says. “I moved them into a house up the street from me in Los Angeles, and so when this opportunity came along the first thing I considered was: ‘Can I leave and what does that look like?’
“My dad doesn't necessarily recall our conversations, because his short-term memory is quite challenged by the disease. But my mom does, and I know they want me to live my life.”
Struggling to hold back her tears, Teri, who is also a mother herself to daughter Emerson, continued: “I can't stop living my life because I have to take care of my parents, but it's hard.
“Yet it's kind of a beautiful thing that this opportunity was put in front of me as it's forcing me to look at a lot of things – like when we choose to put ourselves first, even when that feels difficult, and rising to confront our own fears that we're not good enough, or we can't do something.
“I feel like, on so many levels, this is also creating a beautiful evolution within my own spiritualness, which I think I needed as a 61-year-old woman. I'm grateful and I'm excited.”
Teri has been working with a professional care team for a few months to ensure that Esther and Owen have everything they need while she’s away, and also has close friends who can step in if they are needed to do so.
As for staying in touch, Teri said: “Thank god for FaceTime! I would love nothing more if there was a way to get them over to London, but I think it's probably just too complicated.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Teri opened up about her love life - or lack thereof - as she insisted she hasn’t been on a date in “seven years”.
The 61-year-old, who split from baby daddy Jon Tenney in 2003, laughed: “Oh my god, I'm so single. I go through life with an open heart and I would never say never, but I don't date. I don't go on dates, I don't look to go on dates.
“I haven't been on a date in... I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say seven years. I have such a giant community of beautiful friends and most of my girlfriends who are my age I've known for at least 30 years, and they're mostly married. There really isn't a new source of people. Sometimes if I go to a charity event, I'll think, ‘Oh, maybe I'll meet a like-minded person that cares about curing cancer’, but I don't.
“I'm open to it. I go every year to this festival in Napa Valley called Bottle Rock, which is like Coachella for grown-ups who like wine. I had a friend of mine there that brought along a guy she thought I might be interested in and I gave him my number, but he never called. And that was as close as I got.”
