Being success at the forties, is not a meaning that you could control your emotional, just like when being success at 11. Playing acerbic wonder mom Lois on FOX’s hit sitcom, Malcolm in the Middle, taught Jane Kaczmarek a lot about juggling her work and family.
“I was grown up, so I think I was able to take the fame in stride. It was an odd coincidence that my career took off the same decade as having babies. I often wished it had been different, that I had my big career bump in my thirties and my babies in my forties or vice versa“.
After working in the acting fields for so long, Jane Kaczmarek finally got a took off career in Malcolm in the Middle and “It was hard because my kids would want me home with them. Every time Brad [Whitford] and I went to the Emmy Awards, the kids would weep! As an actor, I was thrilled to be nominated for something and there were the kids, weeping! You’re torn”.
“I’d often work 14 hours on the set. I would go days without seeing my children. I’d see the kids at night and they’d say,
“Mommy, will we see you at breakfast?”
“No, honey, I’ve got to work at 5:30.”
“Will we see you at bedtime?”
“No, it’s going to be a late night tomorrow night.”
“We had a lot of good people helping us and the kids were okay, but you pay a price for that. I like to be with my children – not just quality time, but quantity time. I like to be there in the morning when they’re waking up. I like to practice piano with them. I like to be there at supper. I need them as much as they need me. Working is not as important to me as being a mother is“.
Losing a moment to watch your children grown up while filming Malcom in the Middle, make her learn about the important of time arrangement. That is why when the opportunity came to take part in the television series Raising the Bar, she made her conditions known to the producers of the show. “I wanted to be a full-time mom and work on a limited basis. And Judge Kessler was a character that I could do that with. I work about 20 days a year and I get to have my life the rest of the time. It’s a magnificent hobby,” shared Jane.
Thrilled to be back at work and feels better when doing a television show, getting involved to another film for another season. “That kind of stability in an actor’s life is very, very welcome. I’m also happy to go and be with grown ups every now and then. For two days an episode I get to go and have stimulating conversation with the people on Raising the Bar, who are funny and educated. People need that. Your brain would turn to mush if you were working on science fair projects all the time“.
“I’m lucky enough to make a living this way, to make choices as to how I want to spend my time. It’s important for women to be self-sufficient. To be able to make decisions about how you want to live and what you want to spend money on without having to ask someone else’s permission. That’s important to me“.
Working less also helps Jane focus time on her foundation Clothes Off Our Backs. The foundation “raises money for children’s charities by selling celebrity clothing and memorabilia through online auctions. We’ve raised over $4 million dollars all from, what I like to think of as, the embarrassment of riches.” Jane started the charity because she knows a wonderful quote from Marian Wright Edelman, who runs the Children’s Defense Fund: “Service is the rent we pay to be living.” The higher your intellectual or financial gifts, the higher your rent. “I had a really high rent to pay. I always thought that, making it in Hollywood, I have the greatest luxury of all, which is healthy children. That’s not the case for so many mothers and children in the world”.
Having so much experience to learn, just a taught from life, she hopes that her 3 children could learn something from it, especially to her daughter, “I hope they learn from my experiences and the work that I’ve done. I hope they find some kind of employment that they love doing – something that feeds their creativity and their sense of order and their sense of productivity. I want them to always be aware of people less advantaged than they are. And I hope they know that the most important products you can have in your life are your children“.
Jane Kaczmarek stars in the TNT series, Raising the Bar. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, actor Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), and their three children, Frances Genevieve, 12, George Edward, 9 ½, and Mary Louisa, 6 ½.
Such a lesson that we as a working mom should consider it.
