Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Bride of Kiefer speaks
By Gustave | Season 1 | Episode 25 | Aired on 05.30.2002
But people -- the ones who approach me -- have been so complimentary about the show. What was first disconcerting -- like maybe I shouldn't be going to the supermarket in my pajamas anymore -- now feels just fine.
It seems like anyone who recognized you would recognize you from the show and not from, say, the tabloids or something.
Exactly. And the people who watch the show have watched every single episode. I finally understand the meaning of the word "fan."
Has anyone been scary? I hear that when you play a mother on TV, it can get weird.
Uh, how about a mother who gets raped? [laughs]
[laughs] Oh God, I shouldn't be laughing.
Oh, I know. Neither should I. This is very politically incorrect. But, no, I haven't had any truly scary encounters yet. I have certainly been hearing a lot from old friends that I haven't heard from in a long time.
I was bummed because my mother, who still lives back in Canada, got a phone call today from a local rag and they knew too much about me and her for comfort. They knew where my brother lived and they knew where I bought property. It was really disconcerting.
"I won't fight you" caused a lot of comment on our boards. Did you get any reactions from people after that scene aired?
Well, I was reading the Fox boards -- which are bizarre, by the way. Those people are hardcore.
I agree. But I am prejudiced.
There seems to be a great deal of confusion there between the actor and the character. Also, when I did an online chat and people get to write in questions, one of the people who wrote in asked me why I would "do" a rape scene like that.
Because it's an acting job?
It's not like I wrote it.
And it happened off-camera. It's not like you actually had to "do your own stunts," so to speak.
I'm still confused by it. It actually made all the sense in the world to me. I'm a parent in real life, and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to do anything to save my son. So many things had happened to me already. I had almost been shot execution-style in front of a grave dug beside my daughter's grave. That was far scarier to deal with as an actress than the rape.
And that's not to say that it wasn't difficult for my character. But the way I interpreted it, Teri chose to be raped. And to me that would be such an obvious choice. And in terms of the fallout from that, I heard a lot of, "Well, she couldn't possibly have been raped because she wasn't crying afterwards." There was so much more for Teri to deal with, and she's in shock to some extent, and there's so much more to come that there was simply no emotional room or time to take the luxury to sit in your feelings. All I wanted to do was get the fuck out of there alive. That made so much sense to me. And I was fascinated that it touched off so much controversy.
It wasn't even the most violent thing to happen to you on that compound.