By BetteAndTinaForever

As you might remember, when we first posted this interview I mentioned that there were some things that Laurel said during the interview regarding season six that were a little more revealing in terms of the spoilers. At Laurel’s request, we removed it. Since the show had ended, we are reposting the complete interview that includes all the removed parts so you can read Laurel’s take on Tina and TiBette in the final season of The L Word.

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B&TF: At the end of episode 512 Bette alluded to having another baby. Ilene said in her OurChart vlog that actually that particular dialogue was much longer; they cut the part about Bette saying that she might carry the baby this time. Then we heard about an adoption story. Is it to show how difficult it is for same-sex couples to adopt?

LH: Yeah, it can be hard everywhere. There are a lot of wonderful adoption agencies. The one that my husband and I used does same-sex adoptions and there’s another company that’s called “Independent Adoption Center”. Again, they do same-sex adoption. I think that in what I’ve learned about it, it’s not so much the birth parents that are against the same-sex adoptions as some of their parents. No one would be in the situation where they were putting the baby up for adoption if they didn’t have a set of harsh circumstances ahead of them. So sometimes they’re dependent on their families, their parents or are already parenting other children. Basically there is an adoption storyline and it’s a really good storyline; it deals with a lot of the issues that are really important today with gay marriage and some of the difficulties that come with that.

It was also, which was very important to me, birth-mother friendly. We tend to think that birth-mothers don’t take the time to really think about the future of the child that they’re giving birth to; which is completely not true. They are mature, they’ve thought things through. That was the one thing I said to Ilene and Rose Troche - I really would love to be and wanted to be a part of the adoption storyline as long as the birth mother was shown in the right light. They did that and it was great. I have a lot of strong opinions because I just adopted. I did a conference call with the writers and I also set them up with our lawyer who does same-sex adoptions. The attorney knows all the states’ laws, the complexities of it and the statistics, which surprised a lot of people.

B&TF: If you could change one thing about yourself what would that be?

LH: I would opt for more patience.

B&TF: If you had the power to change anything that happened to Tina on the show, what would it be?

LH: I wouldn’t change anything.

B&TF: So, no regrets?

LH: No, not a one.

B&TF: This is kind of a silly question but if Alex Owens from Flashdance was gay and she met Randy Dean, how do you think it would go? Would they be a young Bette and Tina?

LH: I don’t think Alex would be Randy Dean’s type. I just think that she’s a kid. She’s 17 and she would think that Alex was too much of an older woman (laughing). I don’t see it at all. They are so different, I just don’t see it.

B&TF: How has being on the L Word for six years changed you personally?

LH: I think in some ways it’s given me more insight into how I want to be when I work with a large group of women and how to stay above any of the craziness that can happen as well as who I want to be and how I want to treat people. I think it’s nice to have job security. It’s the longest job and the longest time I’ve ever played a character. It taught me to persevere in a different type of way.

B&TF: This question kind of goes together with the previous. Being on a show for six years, what did you learn about acting?

LH: I’ve learned that you have to refill yourself a lot and I’ve learned that on television, which is a little bit the opposite of film, you really have to take control of your character and hold tight inside for what you think they would do or not do. The reason I say that is the directors come in and out and unless it’s one of the writers or directors like Rose Troche or Angela Robinson, they don’t always know exactly what’s going on. Most of them do but you have to say, “Oh, I don’t think my character would do this because in the third season my character did this, this and this.” You have to keep holding onto the trajectory of your character.

B&TF: What did you learn about yourself?

LH: I’m more patient after having done the show. I think the whole thing for me, being on The L Word, was that I’ve learned how to not define myself by my job. During this time I became a wife and a mother. I spent a lot of time focusing on my career in my twenties and even into my early thirties; it was relaxing for me and it was a time in my life that I just needed to know that what I do is not, who I am. Who I am is this totally different person from what I do. What I do is act. I happened to be on The L Word and that’s why I don’t dwell on the past, and I don’t show up for every event, I don’t do all of that. I feel like I like to do the show and come back and tuck into the privacy of my life. That makes me a better actor because I’m done playing Tina; unless there’s a movie. And now I’ve got to find another character and that finding of another character usually works for me when I go back into my life and don’t think too much about that, to be honest. So, there’s balance and I crave the balance and I also feel that if you put yourself too far out there, then people have a preconceived idea of who you are; and I’d rather keep that a little closer to my chest because I want to play a different character.

B&TF: So, you won’t stay Tina forever for your fans.

LH: I won’t, I’m done. I don’t even have the same hair color and I don’t even dress the same way. I probably won’t play a character who even speaks the same way, you know.

B&TF: Well, for some fans you always be Tina.

LH: For so many people out there, I also will be Justine from Angel, too.

B&TF: This is true.

LH: Yeah, so it just depends. I like the shutting of the character. It feels good. In fact, I think that it was probably, at times, too long, like I probably would’ve shut is sooner (laughing).

B&TF: You mean you wouldn’t want to go to season seven?

LH: No way. I think we’ve told a lot of good stories and I’d love to do a movie. I think that would be really fun but that’s it.

B&TF: You said you don’t like to come to many events and you’ve been to pretty much all the conventions, except for L4 because of the adoption…

LH: These events are very, very, very different than the political events and those kinds of things. I don’t throw myself into every event or charity. You know, even when I raised money for Doctors without Borders, I just sort of kept it on the lowdown.

B&TF: It was posted all over the Internet and a lot of people donated to your charity.

LH: Yeah, and I was comfortable with that. It’s amazing because it was my first time doing this.

B&TF: That’s great and a worthy charity to donate. Next question, there was a rumor about some kind of project development with Fox involving you.

LH: (laughing) Where did you hear this? Where did you get this?

B&TF: The internet.

LH: A Fox show?

B&TF: You don’t know anything about it?

LH: I swear to God, I don’t. It would be fantastic if Fox wanted me for a show (laughing).

Sean Harry (who was in the room, organizing things): I read that too about Century Fox having a project with you and I was like, “Yeah, go Laurel.”

LH: I’m wide open, I have no work. I just don’t know where this stuff comes from (laughing).

Sean: You have to tell everyone that Laurel is looking for a job.

B&TF: Okay, I will put it in my report.

LH: I really want to play at weddings, too (laughing).

B&TF: You’ve been to many conventions; can we expect you to come again for L6, L7 or L15 even?

LH: Here’s the thing. I’m completely not a planner. I live from moment to moment and I have no idea where I’ll even be living next year or what I’ll be doing. My husband just got his dream job as an architect. I’m in this place where I have a 7-month old at home and I just want to go home and see what happens. There are a lot of women who haven’t come here. You know, Rose Rollins is like one of the most hysterical, wonderful people I know (laughing) and so is Pam. I think everybody’s gotten my autograph (laughing).

B&TF: Oh, I have about fifteen of them but it’s all for a good cause…money well spent for me.

LH: (laughing) Okay. We just have to wait, I don’t know. Maybe there will be one at the very, very end where the whole gang will come or something.

B&TF: I’ll be dead by then (so not joking).

LH: You’ll be dead by then? (laughing)

B&TF: Totally, I’m getting old.

LH: No, no. To be completely honest, I think people will disperse from this and go on to different projects; they have different schedules and you can already see that with some people that left earlier or who have to shorten their contracts because of new shows beginning. Janina’s busy doing things and Erin’s on a “Swingtown” and she’s developing a show right now. I know, at some point, she was asked to come back and do a web series as Dana but I think she didn’t really know how to bring her back from the dead. So she just said it wasn’t a very good thing to do (laughing).

I think the only thing that will bring it together is if there’s an L Word movie but I think it’s time to say goodbye and hope that another show comes along or there are more characters in other shows. Even if the spin-off doesn’t go, I think so many great things will happen. I think it would be just great to see all these women move back into the industry and create and do the things we want to do.

B&TF: It would be great. Now, let’s talk about Tina a little. She has changed a lot since Season 3.

LH: She did and in Season 3 Tina misbehaved a lot and she threatened to marry Henry and keep the baby. It was kind of a crappy thing to do but I like it when characters behave crappy because it’s more interesting than being nice. I was a little worried about Tina in the beginning because I thought they were going to make her super sweet.

B&TF: Yes, the one-dimensional nice girl next door.

LH: Yes, we made her edgier. Likability is not my concern (laughing).

Continued>>