When Casey Wilson was 25, her mother, Kathy, passed away unexpectedly. “She had a heart attack in her sleep,” the actress told “The Longest Shortest Time” podcast on Wednesday, October 12. On her death certificate it stated she had died of obesity.
“My mom struggled with her weight a ton and so when I saw that, I was so devastated,” Wilson revealed. “I know it’s quote-on-quote a medical term, but for a woman, I just felt like, this is so heartbreaking that someone’s life is reduced to obesity. I was bereft. It hurt my feelings so deeply for my mom.” But Wilson admitted she also felt rage. “Why couldn’t you get a handle on your eating? And there was anger about … what I perceived to be careless treatment of herself.”
To deal with her grief, Wilson slept in her closet on a mattress she found in the garage, surrounded by photos of her mom. “I strangely dyed my hair dark brown to look like hers, which was very creepy for everyone who knew me,” the 35-year-old told “The Longest Shortest Time.” “I’m the only person in L.A. who dyes their hair darker than it is.”
Now, seven years later, Wilson is a mother herself. The Happy Endings alum and her TV writer husband, David Caspe, are parents of 17-month-old Max. “I had a night nurse. … I felt like I needed it because I didn’t have my mom,” she explained. But things didn’t work out the way Wilson had hoped.
“I hired this woman. I only met with her one time and thought she was the answer to my prayers. She’s so sweet, she can help me with so much, she’s going to make me feel more confident as a mom,” the comedian said. “Right off the bat, comically, when we came home with the baby, I came into the nursery. We’ve been home in our house for two minutes and [the night nurse] was hysterically crying. That just sort of set the tone. I was caring for her the whole time and it was such the wrong energy.”
Wilson’s mom, on the other hand, had the best energy. “She used to do this thing she coined ‘girlfriends,’ which meant she’d pick myself and my girlfriends up from school, we’d roll down the windows, and we’d listen to the Mermaids soundtrack at full blast,” Wilson said. “So all my friends would sing and we’d go to 7-Eleven and she’d be like, ‘Get anything!’ And it was so freeing. My mom would always roll up in the craziest outfits. Like, she would rock a purple Speedo one-piece bathing suit with a fur coat and Birkenstocks, just like, ‘Here I aaamm!'”
Wilson and her “Bitch Sesh” cohost Danielle Schneider will be at the Now Hear This podcast festival, which is taking place October 28 to 30 in Anaheim, California.
