TV mothers have come a great distance from June Cleaver and Carol Brady, however not at all times far sufficient. Moms on tv are nonetheless too usually mired in overused (and unrealistic) stereotypes — and actress Sarah Rafferty desires to alter that.
On the Circulation House Girls’s Well being Summit LA, the Fits and My Life With the Walter Boys star sat down with SHE Media CEO Sam Skey for a refreshingly candid dialog about how moms are portrayed on tv — and why she’s pushing again in opposition to outdated and oversimplified tropes.
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Samantha Skey, Sarah Rafferty converse onstage on the Circulation House Girls’s Well being Summit LA held at Penske Headquarters on Might 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
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Finest recognized for her iconic position as Donna Paulsen on FitsRafferty has lengthy performed characters who’re sharp, sturdy, and multifaceted. Now, in Netflix’s My Life With the Walter Boysshe’s bringing that very same power to a really completely different form of position: a small-town veterinarian who’s elevating a blended household of organic and adopted children. The sequence has struck a chord with each teen viewers and their dad and mom, but it surely presents extra than simply teen drama — it supplies a platform to rethink how motherhood is proven on display screen.
“(My Life With the Walter Boys) is a household present a whole lot of dad and mom are watching with their children,” Rafferty advised Skey in the course of the summit panel. “I believe I’m fairly hyper vigilant about ensuring that we get away from any form of tropes that undermine ladies.”
Rafferty recalled one second from the present’s first season that highlighted simply how straightforward it’s to fall again on drained storytelling. “There was one second I keep in mind once we have been on set in season one, and a director was simply — she simply needed to get on with the day and she or he was being actually fast — however she was like, ‘Reply to Mother, like, Mother’s the scary one, and Dad’s the enjoyable one.’ And he or she did that and I used to be like, ‘No, don’t … let’s not try this.’”
It could have been straightforward to let it slide. However for Rafferty, whose character shoulders the emotional and logistical weight of an enormous, messy family, it felt value talking up. “I believe we’ve had actually nice conversations on set about find out how to signify the mothers which can be spinning all of the plates,” she stated. “What I believe is necessary now for me to carry to this character is that she’s a mother, she’s a vet, she’s bought all these adopted and organic children, and it’s messy, and she or he will get it flawed typically — and there’s alternatives in getting it flawed for restore.”
The concept motherhood could be imperfect, and nonetheless highly effective, is one thing Rafferty feels strongly about portraying with authenticity — regardless that she’s nicely conscious that it doesn’t at all times align with community expectations.
“Now, it’s not at all times like that,” she admitted. “That’s not essentially what the community at all times desires. But when we will simply discover moments of realness to only not do the mothers soiled, that motivates me.”
Rafferty’s feedback resonate with mothers who’re bored with seeing themselves portrayed as both nagging disciplinarians or clever, endlessly-patient martyrs. Her take was a reminder that progress in how we view ladies onscreen usually begins with refined choices behind the scenes: a line of dialogue pushed again on, a stereotype refused.
With My Life With the Walter Boys already renewed for a 3rd season, Rafferty hopes to proceed evolving the position, and with it, how audiences see moms — one TV mother at a time.
