Cover image via SAYS Philippines
We first knew Mandy as this sweet fun lovin' girl who talks a lot about crushing on boys
Now, Mandy Moore recently got hooked on YouTube's vast array of childbirth videos. That might seem like strange viewing material for someone who first rose to fame crooning about crushes and candy!
This is because of her role as an expectant mother of triplets on This Is Us, NBC's drama that's already pulled in viewers, despite having yet to air. (The trailer had 64 million Facebook views as of press time.) After her dive into the YouTube maw, "Now I'm even more terrified of actual childbirth one day," she admits, calling during some rare downtime on the Los Angeles set of the show, which premieres September 20.
According to Moore, she made a really detailed research, and even worked with an on-set nurse who walked her through the different stages of labor
"I wanted to make the pain realistic," she says, "not just that stereotypical screaming and buckling down." At 32, she's racked up a résumé of ingénue roles, but this marks the first time she's played a wife and mother. It's also her first modern TV scene: Her scenes are always set in the '70s and '80s, which she calls "not necessarily the most flattering of decades. We were shooting a scene from 1988 the other day and I was rocking some mom jeans. I felt like I should be in the SNL skit."
She says, "I feel like I've been treading water for the past two or three years"
Moore was attached to the American version of Sharon Horgan's Pulling, only to drop out; an ABC comedy about married restaurateurs; and a CBS legal drama also fell through. She's honest about how hard it was to watch those opportunities pass her by, because of her other commitments.
**"The first year, especially, I was just devastated. For some reason I just didn't even think it was a possibility," she says. "Not in an egotistical way, but just like, 'Cool! I made the show! Can't wait to work with these people for the next five years!' Each year I feel like I lessened my grip on the possibility of things moving forward."**
Moore didn't mention her ex-husband, Ryan Adams and their almost six-year-long marriage in the interview
"I took a very, very purposeful step out of this world for the past couple of years, so it feels nice to be back," she says. "I think I was investing everything I was into my personal life. Sort of nesting, and trying to be a good partner." Since their split, "I've been working on myself and have been in plenty of therapy to realize that is not the only role that I need to assume in life."
She spent some of that holed-up-in-Nashville idle time writing songs, and although she'd announced plans to collaborate with Adams on an album, none ended up being recorded. "They probably will never see the light of day, which is completely fine," she says.
But over the past year, she's been writing lyrics a lot. Adams released his alt-country version of 1989 after they split up, but don't expect a Jay Z–ish response record from Moore. "I don't want to do a complete breakup record because I feel empowered at this point in my life," she says.
"But there's no way that the hardships I've endured, the bare bones of what has happened in my life in the past couple of years, won't factor into what the music is about as well. I just don't want to be the entirety of the record. Who I am is so much beyond just the end of a marriage."
Her absence from the spotlight has given her more creative freedom.
**"People haven't waited with bated breath, like 'Oh, you had this huge hit song or huge hit record, you have to follow it up with something,'" she points out. "I think it's exciting because there is no expectation on me."**
