Christina Milian is taking on prime time and motherhood in the new FOX comedy, “Grandfathered” on Tuesday nights. The 34-year-old is playing baby momma to Josh Peck’s character Gerald and daughter-in-law to “Full House” alum John Stamos’ character Jimmy— a forever bachelor.
It seems like only yesterday that we caught a glimpse of Christina when she guest starred on “Sister, Sister” in the late 90’s. Now she’s matured into a talented singer, actress, and most importantly mommy to 5-year-old Violet.
Although Christina has been on many television shows throughout her career, she’s excited about taking on the lead role of Vanessa on “Grandfathered.” “It’s been amazing,” she said. “This is my first time doing a series regular role and to play such a big part in the storyline has been great. John is the grandfather and I’m baby momma! I didn’t even know where the story was going to go when we initially shot the pilot. At first I knew that she had the baby but it’s been fun watching the role grow. The writing is just so funny and I could see this lasting a long time.”
Christina is happy to have some stability with this new work schedule. As a performing singer, her calendar can get pretty busy. She explained, “I love working the Monday through Friday and knowing exactly what I’m doing. My schedule is much more unstable when I’m doing my music and touring. Now I’m practicing my lines and making sure that I have someone that I’m working with when I’m working on the comedy aspect of it. As a mom, that gives me good stability. I tell Violet, ‘momma is going to work baby.’ The stability of that is fantastic.”
Another highlight of working on the show is seeing the show creators bring together such a diverse group of actors into a family unit. Coming from a multicultural extended family, Christina sees a lot of her life mirrored in the series.
“This is real life,” she explained. “It’s funny when I look at Josh and I and I look at the baby Edie— it reminds me of my sister and her husband who is Caucasian. Their baby looks just like the baby that I have on the show. So it’s great to see that we have evolved and it’s so seamless. “
She adds about her character, “Even the way that we speak doesn’t put us into a certain category. If anything my character is like a dude. She says the word ‘dude’ a lot. I actually talk like that in real life. I’m a super tomboy. She’s a combination of people that I know.”
Although she didn’t get much background on Vanessa before auditioning, Christina is having a lot of fun creating some of the backstory with the writers. “When we had our auditions, we had a brief description that was given to us. But as we’ve gone on shooting, we will get notes from one of the directors or one of the writers. I’ve gathered some of my own ideas. She reminds me of my sister sometimes and sometimes of myself. So between what I understand about her and the writers giving me information about her each week, it’s helping me understand the character more. And I’m working with a baby! It’s very different when you’re working with a baby on a scene. The more we progress into the series; I get to know more and more about her. She’s a cool young mom.”
The most important role of her life is no doubt that of mother to Violet. The proud mom discussed how being a mom has helped her channel the Vanessa’s spirit. She said, “Being a mom has helped out with this role. If I hadn’t been a mom before this, I wouldn’t have understood that bond that [mothers have] with their children. The way you naturally kiss them, you hold them different. So I’m very fortunate to have that experience.”
Violet, though only 5-years-old, is already expressing intentions of following in mommy’s footsteps. “She’s come to set a couple of times,” Christina explained. “She wants to be on the show. She wants to know why she can’t play my TV daughter.”
Christina is also finding similarities in Vanessa’s current dating situation. The newly single singer said, “What’s fun about playing a single character is the independence. There’s nothing that’s been altered in her personality by being in a relationship. Sometimes it’s just a bit different because you make different moves. I’m a very independent person and I don’t like to function any different than how I want to. So it is fun to just be like, ‘my only responsibility is me and my daughter.”
“Grandfathered”airs Tuesday nights at 8pm ET on FOX.
