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Jeanne Tripplehorn Redbook 10-1-2002 by Katherine Dykstra Jeanne Tripplehorn is one tough mama. Need proof? Not only was the actress pregnant and suffering from severe morning sickness when she made her latest film, Swept Away (costarring Madonna), she was also in a foreign country, on a boat, and in a swimsuit. Hell on earth? We think so. But she got through it with help from the Material Mom herself (check out the interview below to see how), and now she's got a new baby boy named August and a new movie to go along with her doting husband, actor Leland Orser (Very Bad Things), and her exciting career. So how's the scene-stealer, most notably from Mickey Blue Eyes, Basic Instinct, and The Firm, handling motherhood? "I'm learning to multitask," she confides. That, and she's getting some help from her husband. "If Leland could have carried this baby, he would have!" she says. Listen in on what else she had to share. REDBOOK: August is an interesting ramie. How did you pick it? JEANNE TRIPPLEHORN: It's the month Leland and I fell in love. REDBOOK: You met on the set of Very Bad Things, right? JEANNE: Yes, but during the movie we were just friends. We ran into each other a year later and fell in love on the spot. We call it love at second sight. We laugh because if we only knew during Bad Things.... REDBOOK: What changed? JEANNE: I don't know. Sparks flew that just weren't there before. Love is funny that way; it's all about timing, I guess. REDBOOK: Was your husband helpful during your pregnancy? JEANNE: He completely pampered me. He cooked for me every night. REDBOOK: What's his specialty? JEANNE: Leland loves to use the grilling pan. He makes steamed rice, fish, chicken, and vegetables. He keeps us healthy. When I cook it's a whole different story. I'm from Oklahoma, so I whip up macaroni and cheese and all that bad stuff. REDBOOK: What's the most romantic thing he has ever done for you? JEANNE: Oh, gosh. He's always romantic. He showers me with love and gifts and poems and flowers. But the most romantic things he does are super-thoughtful. Like, last year I was filming in Canada over my birthday, so he flew my brother and one of my best friends up to see me and rented out a karaoke bar. The four of us spent the entire night singing at the top of our lungs. For another birthday, he made me a triple-decker strawberry cake with pink icing, just like I used to have when I was a girl. Picturing him making it is just so sweet. REDBOOK: What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for him? JEANNE: I surprised him with a trip to Capri, Italy. All I told him was that we were flying and that he should bring a nice suit and some swim trunks. It was very Mission Impossible: I handed him an envelope with the airline tickets inside, but he wasn't allowed to open it until we got to the gate. He was so surprised. REDBOOK: The best part of the trip? JEANNE: I love old movies, and when we were driving back from dinner one night in an open-air taxi, Leland said, "I feel like we're in one of those old movies." It was very romantic. REDBOOK: What's it like to be married to an actor? JEANNE: It can be difficult because we both have to travel so much. I hate leaving him; I still cry when I have to leave him at the airport. But overall, I think we understand what it takes to be in our profession. For example, I found out that I was pregnant the night before I left to film Swept Away. I was on the fence about whether I should go, but I really wanted to work with Madonna and Guy Ritchie [Madonna's husband and the film's director]. Leland knew that, so he encouraged me to go. REDBOOK: What was Madonna like? JEANNE: Well, given that I was miserable the entire time thanks to the morning sickness, it was wonderful being with a woman who has had two children. She was very understanding and forthcoming. I don't know what I was expecting, but I certainly didn't expect her to be nurturing. She told me about her own experiences and gave me advice. It wasn't different from the advice I had received from anyone else, but it was comforting to know that all women go through the same things during pregnancy--even Madonna. REDBOOK: How did she and Guy get along on set? JEANNE: They both have very strong personalities, but as strong as they both are, she remained the actress and he was the director. I can't imagine what it must have been like to switch roles like that: to be actor-director during the day and husband-wife at night. But they did a great job. Hat's off. REDBOOK: Do you get time to hang out with your girlfriends? JEANNE: All the time. I have the best girlfriends in the world. They're all very different, so I tend to do different things with each of them. Some are social, so we like to dine out; some aren't, so we eat in; and some are into computers, like me, so we talk tech. REDBOOK: What else do you like? JEANNE: I love to run. Leland and I play tennis, see movies, travel, camp, and hang out with our families. REDBOOK: Is there anything you've always wanted to try but were afraid to? JEANNE: Skydiving. I love the idea of it, and I would love to tell people that I did it, but I'll never do it. I will never jump out of a plane. COPYRIGHT 2002 © Hearst Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved /back |