Jaime Pressly Opens Up About Mom Castmates After Anna Faris, Chuck Lorre Controversy.
Working on Mom was more than simply an acting honor for Jaime Pressly. The actress from Not Another Teen Movie, who starred in seven seasons of the sitcom, revealed details about her time working on it after Chuck Lorre, the show's creator, disapproved of Pressly's former co-star Anna Faris's casting.
“I was there for seven years, but there [were] eight seasons,” at the Alice + Olivia breast cancer event on October 16, which raised money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Pressly, who played Jill Kendall in the show, exclusively revealed to news reporters. “I came on in the second season, but I had seven wonderful years of working with an incredible crew and an incredible cast of women, who were, all of us, just as beautifully flawed as our characters on the show were.”
And those co-stars, along with Mimi Kennedy, Beth Hall, and Allison Janney, were what made the occasion so memorable.
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“And I think I just really thoroughly enjoyed being able to go to work with girlfriends every day,” she said. “All of us of a certain age, it was nice. It was refreshing.”
Other stars have also left an impression on Pressly over the years. The My Name Is Earl actress spoke about working with All's Fair co-stars Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, and Sarah Paulson.
“I had the best time,” she clarified. “Kim's a sweetheart and working with Naomi Watts, who I worked with most, she's a love. I fell in love with her and I know that when you watch the show, they're all intimidating because that's what they're supposed to be, but they are all some of the sweetest, most generous women.”
Pressly's remarks follow Lorre's assertion in his recently published memoir Sitcom that his initial reservations about selecting Faris were confirmed by her departure from Mom in 2020.
“I wasn’t sure Anna would be appropriate for this kind of material,” in his work, Lorre provided an explanation. "Then I thought about how badly I’d bungled my working relationship with Charlie Sheen.”
“As the years went by, it became apparent that my initial reluctance to hire Anna was, in fact, correct,” he continued. “After six years, she left the show for mysterious reasons that were not mysterious to anyone on the show.”
Faris, who has a 14-year-old son named Jack and is divorced from Chris Pratt, responded to his remarks shortly after the disclosure.
“Of course it hurts,” on October 15, Faris posted on Instagram. “Chuck gave me a job I loved, and for seven years I never took a day of it for granted. I'm proud of what we made together, and nothing changes how grateful I am for those people and those years.”
In apparent reaction to Lorre's remarks regarding her difficulties behind the scenes, the 49-year-old described how she has improved herself since playing the show's 2013 premiere as Christy Plunkett, a recovering alcoholic.
“I've been sobered for a year and a half,” she added. “I was on a show about recovery and then I lived it. Now I'm healthy, I'm working, and I'm happier than I've been in a long time.”