Grab another tissue box! Mandy Moore revealed that she cried while reading This Is Us season 2 episode scripts that delve deeper into her character Rebecca’s complicated relationship with her daughter Kate.
“I’m excited to explore the relationship between Rebecca and Kate and why it’s still sort of frayed and disconnected in the present day,” Moore, 33, told Us Weekly and other reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour on Thursday, August 3, of her and Chrissy Metz’s on-screen dynamic. “I read [the script] and I bawled. I was like, “Oh, I think I have some stuff to deal with, with my own mother.’ It really touched something in me.”
The “Candy” singer continued to explain the root of Rebecca and Kate’s strained relationship. “We just finished an episode that addresses all of it. It’s interesting to sort of see the parallels in their lives with music and where sort of maybe the resentment started with her mother,” she said. “It’s like two sides of the same coin. They’re both right and they’re both wrong.”
The Walk to Remember actress also disclosed that the show has brought her closer to her parents, who avidly watch every episode, and helped her improve her relationships. “I find myself having really deep conversations. I feel like I’ve always sort of found myself in the position to do that,” the NBC star revealed. I feel very comfortable being vulnerable and being an open book, but I think [the show has] allowed other people around me to feel the same way, you know? The show sort of brings up issues, whether it’s about loss and grief or joy and divorce. Whatever it may be, I think it’s allowed other people to feel more comfortable to sort of start to have those conversations, but I’ve always been like, ‘What do you want to know?’”
Moore also gushed about her character’s charm and charisma: ‘She’s a badass. I feel like I’m lucky to get to sort of step into these shoes on a daily basis and then garner her wisdom.”
This Is Us season 2 premieres on NBC on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 9 p.m. ET
