Patricia Heaton has really pulled away from politics, is focusing on charity instead
I haven’t been a fan of actress Patricia Heaton as she’s made it known for years that she’s a Republican, but she’s actually spoken out against Trump. She tweeted, in 2016, “If he’s the nominee then it won’t be my party.” However she did try to take that back about a year later and she’s been quiet ever since. This wasn’t always the case for Heaton. In 2012 she really showed her ass on Twitter when she went on a misogynistic rant against a woman who testified in front of Congress about the need for health insurance to pay for birth control. Heaton tweeted, among other things, “Stop buying toothpaste, soap and shampoo! You’ll save money, and no one will want to sleep with you!” She deleted those tweets, went off Twitter for a bit and then issued an apology.
Heaton’s ABC sitcom, The Middle, ended last week after nine seasons. (Seriously OMG WTF has a recap of the finale!) I watched the first two seasons but it didn’t stay as funny to me and I gave up, which is common. It’s rare that a show remains good into the third season. Anyway she’s hustling for another job I think. She talked to People about her marriage of 28 years, her four boys who are all young adults (I can’t find their exact ages) and the fact that she’s feeling blessed at 60. She should be, she looks 15 years or more younger without looking plastic. I came away from this interview kind of liking her up until the point where she talked “politics” and refused to take a stand. She tried to stay neutral and she turned it around into discussing her charity work with World Vision.
On her marriage of 28 years
The fact if you’re going to stay committed to the same person for the rest of your life you have to have a vision beyond those parenting years. We are committed to our marriage. We encourage each other to figure out how to make things better.
On “politics”
As I’ve seen the national dialogue become very hostile, very divided, I’ve really pulled away from politics. The way I can combat the tone that’s happening in the country right now is to pour my energy into those places where I can really make a difference. No matter who is in the oval office I can actually save a life today by bringing clean water to people through World Vision.
As Americans we might be fighting, we might be angry about things but really if you just step back and look at our lives we live in nirvana compared to many people living Africa and the middle east who are living in war torn countries who are being bombed, who don’t have clean water, hospitals, education… we can all do something about that. That’s where I really committed my time.
On turning 60
There’s wonderful new ways of thinking about women and women feeling that they can be all that they can be at any stage of the game. I am so aware of how blessed I am. I think the key is to keep curious. It’s important to realize there’s more you can learn. There you keep pushing yourself, the more you’re going to grow.
Her argument that people are worse off in other countries sounds like she’s using the fallacy of relative privation. We can be mad that Trump is a racist treasonist f-k who is jeopardizing the fate of the entire world AND we can do our best to help people. Those things are not mutually exclusive, but I don’t think she’s telling other people that they should do it her way, just that focusing on charity works for her. At least it’s keeping her from sticking her foot in her mouth on the regular. I wish she would take a stand but she doesn’t want to piss off other (racist a-hole) Republicans who love Trump.
As for the fate of The Middle, Patricia says that it was the cast and writers’ decision to end the show and that “We wanted to go out on top. The journeys of these five characters were feeling pretty full. That doesn’t make it any easier.” She also said that it’s hard to keep in touch after a show ends.
Patricia is shown 1-9-18 and on 4-18-17 at the ceremony for Gary Sinise getting his star on the Walk of Fame. Credit: WENN and Instagram/Patricia Heaton
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