Molly Ringwald, 58, called the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager her worst acting job during an appearance on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live. Asked to rank her past acting experiences on a scale of one to 10, the 80s icon labeled the show "the worst."
Ringwald played Anne Juergens on all five seasons of the show from 2008 to 2013, spanning 96 episodes. Her character was the mother of a 15-year-old girl, played by Shailene Woodley, who becomes pregnant. Ringwald earned a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice TV Parental Unit for her role.
During the broadcast, Ringwald stressed that she loved the cast and her co-star Woodley, but struggled with one individual on set. She stated that there was one person who was really difficult and tanked the score of the show down to a one.
"It was a hard," Ringwald said. "I love the cast, I love Shailene, there's so many people that I worked with... there was one person that was really difficult." She added, "I'm not going to say who that person is." Ringwald did not specify whether the individual was an actor or worked behind the scenes.
Past praise for the cast
Her recent comments contrast with remarks she made during a 2009 interview with MovieWeb, where she called the show "well cast" when asked about the chemistry between the actors. She praised the young cast members as charismatic, charming, smart, and easy to work with.
"I think there's a lot of just very charismatic actors on the show," Ringwald said in 2009. "I think all of the kids in the show are just really charming and smart and they all get along. I think that they just work really well together. I think the show is really well cast."
Ringwald also spoke warmly about Mark Derwin, who played her husband, as well as the actors playing her on-screen daughters. She noted that their relationship grew over time, helping their performances become more realistic as they developed quirks and impressions together.
"I think we liked each other from the get-go, but I think as time goes on, obviously you get to know the person more and you get more comfortable with them," Ringwald said in 2009. "I think our relationship has definitely grown and as the characters have grown, we've gotten to know each other better and it just really helps to get it even more sort of realistic. You develop little quirks together and impressions and it just makes it more realistic."
Rating her movie experiences
While her time on the ABC Family show left a sour taste, Ringwald rated her experience filming the movie Pretty In Pink as a 10 out of 10. "That was pretty great," she said on Watch What Happens Live. "I'll give that a 10."
Pretty In Pink was the third film Ringwald made with director John Hughes, following Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. Host Andy Cohen noted that Ringwald and Hughes had become a well-oiled machine by that point, to which Ringwald added that Hughes wrote the movie specifically for her.
