During last week’s episode of ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager we watched as Ben and Adrian go to the hospital to give birth to their daughter who sadly didn’t make it. Now the couple will be dealing with the loss of their little one and struggling to make it as a married couple in high school. It is an emotional storyline for any actor to deal with and I was recently on a conference call with Ken Baumann and Francia Raisa and they talked about how they prepared for heart-wrenching story and what we can expect from their two characters in the future.
When I asked Francia, who plays Adrian who she prepared for the pregnancy and still birth, here is what she told me, “When I first found out she was pregnant, I was shocked but I was so excited. I was like, ‘Yay! I get to wear a belly!’ I could not wait to put on that stomach. I kept asking when am I going to do it, when is it finally coming. I was very excited, and then when I found out she lost it; I love kids and I was so excited to finally work with a baby and playing with the kids because I always play with Matthew and Joey who played John on the show. I’m always with him when they’re on the set. So I was a little upset and devastated when I found out that there was going to be no baby, but at the same time I was very excited to be able to play this role because it’s probably one of the toughest roles I’ve done since I started acting. So, I appreciated the challenge that the writers gave me, and I can’t believe they trust me to take on such tough material. So in that sense, I was very excited.” Then I asked how she found out about the sad way her pregnancy was going to take, she said, “I found out when I read the script. They were very good about not telling us. You know, they kept hinting it. They said, “I think she might lose it,†and I was like, ‘Really?’ She’s like, ‘I’m not sure yet.’ So she kept beating around the bush saying she wasn’t sure, she was sure, and then I read the script, and then I was, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I just started crying when I read it because I had been carrying this, you know it’s fake, but I’ve been seeing myself with a pregnant belly for, I don’t know how many months, and then all of a sudden it’s gone, and there’s no result coming from it.”
Another person on the call asked her how she prepared for last week’s tearjerker, not that you really can, but here is how she said she did it, “I was trying to listen to some really depressing music, and the best thing that I could have done is I went on YouTube and I typed in stillbirth and there was a few videos that popped up, and there was one in particular, I think it’s the first one that comes up when you research it, and it’s about a couple who actually went through what my character goes through. You see the woman pregnant and how happy they are and the whole process of waiting for her to be born, and then you see them hold their dead child and you see her in a coffin and you see pictures of her, and you just see the whole family just crying and grieving. So, yes, that sold me, and that’s how I prepared for it, and the song that they added in the video I had on my iPod and I just listened to it over and over again. The flashbacks of that baby just sticks and came back into my head every time they called action.” I don’t suggest looking for that video because I did and watching it just broke my heart. Just like last week’s show did.
When asked what will be coming up for Adrian, here is the preview she shared with us, “Adrian was carrying the baby for nine months and she really felt emotionally attached to it. Like I said, her whole personality and her whole character changed into this welcoming person, and she felt blessed that everything was coming together in her life: her family; her friendships; educations; and then it all just came crashing down. So she becomes very angry and bitter, and she just wants to be left alone, and handle her own sorrows. Even if people try to come and try to be there for her, she just wants to be left alone. She just becomes, I guess, some sort of a loner again, and doesn’t really want to accept anyone because all she wants to do is grieve about her baby. ” But Adrian isn’t alone in her grief, her husband Ben also lost his daughter and this is what Ken said is coming up for his character, “Well, regardless at the very beginning before this event, it’s a pretty tricky situation, but I would say that it both kind of settles any disputes or conflicts they have just temporarily because everyone kind of bonds together in grief, paradoxically enough. But at the same time, once Adrian and Ben are trying to recover, it gets pretty nasty. And naturally, you’re going to have two people who are stricken by grief, and they’re going to look to make themselves feel better, and that may involve trying to reach back into the past, and go back to how it was once was, and reignite old loves and all that stuff. So, it gets even more convoluted, but temporarily, like I said, everybody comes together in this tragic event, which is very, very painful and bittersweet.”
So even though it seemed like last week was an ending, it was really a beginning for some more emotional episodes with two amazing actors portraying the storyline. Secret Life is growing up and tackling issues most shows with actors twice their age deal with and they are doing an excellent job with. So tune every Monday night at 8p to see what Ken Baumann, Francia Raisa and the cast of The Secret Life of The American Teenager do next.
Tonight’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager is a powerful, well-done episode that is a must watch on ABC Family at 8p. The time has come for Ben and Adrian’s baby to come in to the world and something goes terribly wrong. I will not tell you what happens to their daughter because watching the brilliant job that Ken Baumann and Francia Raisa do dealing with the birth, will draw you in and you will want to watch it all play out as it happens. Seriously what these two actors do in this hour will amaze you. It is incredible that two such young actors can pull off what they do in this heart-wrenching episode.
Seriously tonight’s Secret Life is perfectly scripted and performed so realistically, it gives the network dramas a run for their money. The Emmys will never acknowledge how well done tonight’s show is, but we don’t need them to tell us this is one of the finest hours of television this year. Kudos to the cast and crew for pulling it off and I can’t wait to see how the ABC Family drama continue the storyline next week and throughout the summer on Mondays at 8p.
If you are like me after watching Monday’s episode of ABC Family’s Make It or Break It, you wondering why Chelsea Hobb’s character Emily was being told she was pregnant. I honestly thought they were copying the teenage pregnancy storyline from The Secret Life of an American Teenager that airs before it on Mondays, but I was wrong. The reason why Emily is pregnant on the show, is because Chelsea Hobbs was pregnant in real life. I say was because she Tweeted today, “Proud to announce that yesterday @terenoddo, our daughter and I welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world. Life is amazing.” So I guess that is a major spoiler because now you that she will be keeping the baby on the show. Unlike other shows, it wouldn’t be easy to hide a baby bump in a tight leotard as she does gymnastics. So now that I know why her character is knocked up, I don’t mind the teen pregnancy storyline that has become really annoying to me on Secret Life.
Now back to Chelsea, this is her second baby with her husband, Terren Oddo and her have a little girl named Wylie.
Lucy Hale Tweeted a picture of her Pretty Little Liars’ co-star Ashley Benzo and she came up with a not so pretty way to stop it. You have to admit that it really is an interesting way to plug it up, you know since you are supposed to use that thing in one of the body’s other orifices?
I wonder who suggested using a Tampon to make it stop. Can you imagine that conversation? “Does anyone have a Tampax? I need it for Ashley’s nose?” That person must’ve gotten some really strange looks, kind of like the look I gave when I saw that photo of her.
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I am so happy Joey Lawrence has decided to keep growing his hair out because I hated him with the shaved head. Don’t you think the Melissa and Joey star looks better with hair?
