Although known for her stellar comedic chops, 52-year-old actress Melissa McCarthy easily turns the serious on - especially when discussing her parenting methods and life with her two daughters, 15-year-old Vivian and 13-year-old Georgette, whom she shares with husband Ben Falcone.
Melissa, set to star as Ursula in the upcoming Little Mermaid reboot, opened up about the topic in a new interview with People, specifically "admitting" not to be "the most laid-back" mom around town.
"I'm really like, 'What are you doing? Do you want to go over your homework?' Ben is much more, 'Let them figure it out.' I'm like, 'Or I could empty their schoolbag and line up all their pencils.' I call it helping," she said to the outlet. “Other people would probably say, 'You're meddling.' They're not babies anymore, so if I could put them in a BabyBjörn and still carry my teenagers around, I would. But I'd like to also think I'm fun."
The Nine Perfect Strangers star also revealed that her daughters have a name for her own "fun" alter ego: Midway Mom.
"There's a version of myself that we call 'Midway Mom,'" she said on the record. "We were coming back from visiting my parents and we went through the Midway Airport in Chicago. And for some reason everything they asked for, I was like, 'Sure, get it. Two of them. You want a Coke?' And they were just like, 'What's going on?' 'Can we have Doritos?' 'Yep.' Anything they said. 'Can we get sweatshirts?' 'You sure can.' Like everything. I was like, 'You want a beer cozy?' And they were like, 'Midway Mom's awesome.'"
Midway Mom does not, however, make an appearance when it comes to dealing with social media - a topic that Melissa feels very strongly about.
"We keep track of [their social media presence]," Melissa said. "I think it is still something to be really, really watched. I'm sure I don't do half as good a job as I should because I'm so bad with it. We're always kind of reminding [the girls], 'Keep this in perspective. This is not real.' keep saying this is smoke and mirrors and entertainment, which is fine. I've said, 'It's as if somebody takes a character I've played and assumes that's the real me.' But that's an ongoing fistfight that concerns me all the time."
The couple doesn’t seem to be as strict, though, when it comes to all things beauty, as Melissa explains that she actually allows Vivian and Georgette to play around with makeup.
"It's really used as this tool for expression," she explains. "It's not to look older or other than [they really are]. So I really let them experiment with it and with their hair. They both colored their hair, and I was like, 'It's hair. As long as you are not trying to suddenly look 19.' I think it's more, 'This would be fun.' I dyed my hair in high school, and I did think it was fun. I think they have a good perspective."
Although confessing that her husband Ben is more laid back than she is, Melissa does explain that the couple is mostly on the same page when it comes to raising their kids and that she treasures his outlook on all fronts.
v"Ben gave me good advice when he said, 'When you're trying to get them to clean their room, organize their closet, do all these things,' he's like, 'You're 52. At 14 were you doing that?'" said Melissa. "So that has made me back off. I still want them to pick up their wet towels. I'm not going to lie."
Don't we all?
