The thought of adopting had crossed my mind over the years. ''I had always assumed I`d have children-I loved them. It was the first time I had ever really experienced death, other than that of my grandparents.
He was a very important part of my life-my first love in every sense of the word, a wonderful man, even though our marriage hadn`t worked out. ''Although we were divorced at the time, we were still exceedingly close. ''My ex-husband had died in a car accident,'' she said. I took it for granted, and my system got used to running on incredibly high blood sugar levels.''Īfter college, through several years on the stage in Seattle and later in New York, followed by her work in series television through most of the 1980s, she went about her business without knowing what those levels were (''Now I test my blood sugar three, five or six times a day'').ĭuring her first season as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on ''Designing Women,'' Smart-who had been married once before, in her early 20s-met Gilliland, during one of his guest appearances. I suppose in some way it was partly denial-I was trying to ignore it. Off and on for many years I was not as disciplined about it as I should have been. To hear more of Katie’s conversation with Jean Smart, including how she transformed into Deborah Vance for Hacks, make sure to listen to Next Question.Her condition had little effect on her routine during high school, but at the University of Washington, ''away from the watchful eye of my mother, I sort of got lackadaisical. You can sign it.’ So that was really sweet.” After this happened several times, my son looked at me and said, ‘Mom, it’s OK. “I remember when my oldest was young, if I would be out in public and people would ask for an autograph, I would say, I hope you don’t mind if I say no, I’m just Mom today. Her two children are almost 20 years apart, and she recalls trying to protect them from the lack of privacy that accompanied her high-profile career when they were younger: “It must be very hard to have a famous parent,” Smart explains. Despite her enduring success as an actress, Smart tells Katie that her kids will always come first. Smart is now a single parent to two kids, the youngest of whom Smart and Gilliland adopted in 2009. When he was talking to someone he just had the greatest smile on his face.” I love his little laugh lines around his eyes and his hands. “It’s been just over a year,” she tells Katie. Like anyone grieving the sudden loss of a loved one, Smart still feels the sting as though it just happened. We started talking on the phone for two hours every night, and then he invited me to see this play he was doing. I invited him into my trailer to help me with a crossword puzzle. “Lo and behold, he was sitting across the table from me.
In her interview with Katie, Smart recalls meeting him at a table read decades ago, when she was instantly smitten: “I saw him and I just thought, wow, who’s that? I wonder if he’s gonna be on our show,” Smart tells Katie. You should hire me.” Smart was right, and the role earned her both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.ĭespite her immense success this past season, Smart’s year was also marred by tragedy: Her husband of almost 35 years, Richard Gilliland, passed away suddenly last March from a heart condition. “When I walked into the room with the producers, I said, I’m absolutely perfect for this. “My agent sent me the script, and I couldn’t believe how great it was,” Smart tells Katie on this week’s episode of Next Question. From the moment Smart got the script, she knew that she needed to play this role. Hacks, a dark comedy in which Smart plays an aging comedy legend forced to mentor an entitled young writer, was one of the most popular shows of the past year, largely due to Smart’s larger-than-life portrayal of comedian Deborah Vance.
This past year alone, Smart has had two starring roles that made quite the splash: First as increasingly irrelevant comedy legend Deborah Vance in Hacks, and then as the worn down, tough-as-nails grandma trying to keep her family together in Mare of Easttown. Katie can’t get enough of Jean Smart, and she’s not the only one.
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