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'HawthoRNe's' Vanessa Lengies didn't suspect her character was lesbian, either
It's one thing for the viewers to be shocked by a character coming out, but it's another when the actress who plays the character had no suspicions that she was in her second season of playing a lesbian. That was the case for "HawthoRNe's" Vanessa Lengies, who plays Kelly Epson.
When I read it, I was like, 'Really? I didn't picture that,'" Lengies, 25, tells Zap2it. "But, it's so fantastic that I didn't picture that and that it seems so unexpected."
There was some elegance in the way that Kelly came out. It was just a statement to a teen patient who was struggling with her own sexuality. Kelly told the patient she was lesbian to help her see that she wasn't alone. She then returned to her duties, just another nurse at James River Hospital, who saw no need to talk about her sexuality until that very moment.
"Again, another thing I like about what 'HawthoRNe' does - it brings awareness," Lengies tells us. "It's like you know what? No one has to be a screaming lesbian or a screaming gay person. You don't have to be so on-the-nose for every character you see on TV. People who play a gay or lesbian don't have to be stereotypes of what society deems if you're gay."
Lengies' character hasn't had an easy time of it on the show and after she went through the traumatic experience of a baby's death, she was ready to throw in the towel. In the second season, Kelly decided to come back with a new take on life and she has faced her fear head on by becoming a pediatric nurse.
"I think my character is Season 1 didn't really understand what it would take to be a nurse fulltime," says Lengies. "It seemed like she learned all that she needed to know in all the schoolbooks she had read. And then once she was faced with a real life situation, she really didn't handle it well. She was very timid and totally overwhelmed. This year is different. She has grown some balls."
Of course, Lengies knows that when one plays a gay character, it can be like walking on thin ice. Thankfully, she has the approval of a very important focus group.
"I just think it's an interesting storyline and I like the way they approached it," she tells us. "And, all my gay friends love it, too. They're like, 'Welcome to our side!' and I'm like, 'Thank you for having me.'"
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Photo Credit: TNT
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Won't be watching any Season 2 of Hawthorne. I have that choice. Sorry, I just don't
like watching lesbians.
I think she is just happy to be working... it seems whenever a show jumps the shark they start shredding it to suck every last drop of revenue out of it.
Sometimes they have strange guest appearances or the writers get replaced and the show heads off on a seriously weird tangent...
What do I care really?
Honestly I don't .. the show was filler for USA it was an attempt to bring a different demographic to exploit for advertising since the larger networks were having so much trouble that NBC got sold and shows like lost got cut down to ten episodes here ten episodes there and lots of reruns...
Will I watch it now that her character came out? no .. and I only saw it a few times when it first started...
People don't want to see that show and replacing David Lee Roth with a luzer like sammy hagar couldnt allow van halen to continue...
Just take it off the air and put on reruns of lost.
Oh....Coco- aren't there any other characters on the show that interest you? The way they brought her character "out" was handled so well- I almost wasn't sure that was what they had implied until she said it was so. Somehow I don't think this is going to be the focus or crammed down our throats on this show- they tackle all of today's relevant issues. It would be a shame for anyone to miss all that it has to offer because one small part of an episode brought out their homophobia.
she is manly enough!!!