One of ABC's most beloved hit sitcoms, Abbott Elementary makes its much-anticipated return to the 2024 TV schedule on Wednesday, February 7, and it looks like it's not just the show's legions of celebrity fans who are super-excited to see Season 3 of Abbott. This is because I think the young fellas reportedly sliding into star Lisa Ann Walter's DMs will no doubt be tickled to see her character, second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti, back onscreen.
The 60-year-old actress recently revealed in an interview with Cosmopolitan that her Abbott character has made her a sex symbol to a surprising demographic of men:
The younger generation of guys have been socialized to be attracted to my exact body type, which I was always taught to be ashamed of when I was growing up. You know, the real curvy hips and boobs and meat—we were taught we weren’t supposed to look like that back then.
The Parent Trap icon got candid with the outlet about wanting to dip back into the dating pool following her two former marriages, a fact she shared with her Abbott co-stars Quinta Brunson, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James at Essence Fest this year, who were all supportive of her wanting to get back out there. The comedian-actress joked about her romantic past to the magazine:
The joke I make is I have two ex-husbands. The first one was a lovely Jewish man, and it turned out we had too much in common—he also liked men. The second one was a cheater, which is not technically a religion, but he practiced it like it was.
However, though Walter quips that she's usually attracted to men her own age, dudes in her demo are more often attracted to "20-year-old girls with 3-year-old tits and lips that still have the tag hanging off of them." So, it's refreshing for the TV star that she has "young men coming on to [her] all the time now."
But she did need some guidance from her Abbott crew in navigating the social-media flirtations she's been receiving from those youthful gents, as she told Cosmo:
I have young men coming on to me all the time now. Some of them are famous. I won’t name names, but they slip into my DMs and then I tell my colleagues at work, like, ‘So-and-so just said they wanted to talk and they want to have lunch. Isn’t that sweet?’ Because I’m looking at it like, ‘Aw, this kid,’ and all my costars are like, ‘Girl...he wants to hit that.’
As for what type of guy Lisa Ann is looking for, she loves a Scottish accent, so maybe a hot young Scot like Citadel star Richard Madden, Outlander's Sam Heughan or Gossip Girl reboot alum Thomas Doherty would satisfy her Scotch cravings. (And she should be also tuning into this season's The Traitors, where Alan Cumming unleashes a truly ridiculous brogue.)
However, Walter says that her requirements for a partner are varied, but a good kisser is a must.
If I could choose my own partner, they’d have a Scottish accent, and they would know how to ballroom dance or Latin dance. But we don’t have a choice in exactly who we want, so who knows? I might get a guy with a Jersey accent who does the white man overbite, but I just like the way he kisses.
She does pitch a potential TV series that we would absolutely watch: a UK-based dating docuseries co-starring her The Parent Trap BFF and surprise relative Elaine Hendrix:
I do want to go to the UK—because I’m obsessed with the accents—and just have a sex tour. My bestie Elaine wants to go too. In my head, it’s going to be a docuseries called ‘Lisa and Elaine Get Laid.’
Until that amazing-sounding series materializes, all of Lisa Ann Walter's many admirers can see the actress in Abbott Elementary every Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, or stream the school sitcom with a Hulu subscription.
