How Did Actress Maria Bello Tell Her 12 Year Old She’s Now In A Same-Sex Relationship?
Star of “Prisoners,” “A History of Violence A History of Violence,” “Payback,” and “Secret Window,” 46-year old actress Maria Bello has had an impressive career. But a conversation with her 12-year old son may be one of our most endearing memories of her.
In Sunday’s New York Times’ “Modern Love” column, which is always penned by a guest writer, Bello pours her heart out, sharing her angst and trepidation, but beautiful and heart-warming thoughts and feelings that happened when son Jackson asked her, “are you romantic with anyone right now?â€
When my 12-year-old son, Jackson, asked me if there was something I wasn’t telling him, I replied, “There are a lot of things I don’t tell you.â€
“Like what?â€
“Adult stuff.â€
He persisted: “What kind of adult stuff?â€
This was the moment I had been anticipating and dreading for months. “Like romantic stuff,†I said, fumbling for words.
“What kind of romantic stuff?â€
“Well,†I said. “Like how sometimes you can be friends with someone, and then it turns romantic, and then you’re friends again. Like with Dad and me. Or romantic like Bryn and me were, and then he and I became friends.â€
“So are you romantic with anyone right now?†he asked.
I took a deep breath, knowing that my answer, and his response, would have an impact on our lives for a very long time.
He was right; I was with someone romantically and I hadn’t told him. I had become involved with a woman who was my best friend, and, as it happens, a person who is like a godmother to my son.
Bello details some of the men in her life and her relationships wit them, including Jackson’s father, Dan McDermott, and her amusing remembrance of “the man who asked me to marry him four years ago over the phone, before we had even kissed. Three months later,” she explains, “we were in his kitchen throwing steaks at each other’s heads in anger.”
But it’s Jackson’s response that truly deserves an award.
Read, “Coming Out as a Modern Family,” in the Times.
Giving thanks for my modern family. Happy thanksgiving for whatever kind of family you have. @nytimes pic.twitter.com/Mty9FPNHh4
— maria bello (@maria_bello) November 30, 2013
Hat Tip: Gawker
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