Patricia Heaton
by Bonnie Siegler photography by Elisabeth Caren assisted by Liz Bretz and Ian mcDonnell styling by Angel Terrazas hair by Craig Gangi makeup by Shane Paish video by Steven Silpa thank you to Robin Schiff for the use of her home
One day five years ago, the petite, 5’2” actress who currently stars as Frankie in ABC’s hit family sitcom, The Middle, realized that she couldn’t shed six pounds from her body. So Patricia Heaton consulted a nutritionist who revised her eating plan and recommended supplements and exercise.
Regular workouts still prove challenging, however. “I have a million excuses why I don’t exercise, and they’re all bad ones,” admits Heaton, who played the long-suff ering wife and mother on Everybody Loves Raymond for nine seasons, bringing home two Emmys for her role. “For one, I work an average of 12 hours a day now, and the last thing I want to do when I get home is hop on a treadmill.”
PREGNANCY POUNDS Yet Heaton realized she couldn’t use four pregnancies as an excuse any more. “I gained 50 pounds with each pregnancy and ate with abandonment,” says the Ohio native who got smart and listened to her nutritionist, beginning with daily vitamins and a liver cleansing supplement. “And I went off dairy and gluten. Then I was able to drop those six pounds that I couldn’t before. I try to stay away from carbs, and when I have bread, it’s gluten free that I toast, or I’ll reach for rice cakes or rice crackers. Hey, I’m not a food fanatic, so if there’s nothing else around, I might reach for a Greek yogurt. However, my dairy intake is usually almond milk and other almond products.”
For Heaton, raising four growing boys hasn’t always helped her maintain her ideal weight of 105 to 109 pounds. It came down to reprogramming herself. “_ e boys aren’t big carb eaters except for pasta, so I’ll cook for everyone and eat the protein and vegetables. I’ll keep chips and cookies around for them, and I’ve developed an ability to resist them,” says the 54-year-old working mom.
“And yes, the last few weeks, I’ve started going back to Pilates. After my fi rst class, I could hardly walk, but I do need to keep it up. It’s not like I’m in the running for sex symbol of the year, but assuming I have 30 years left, there’s a fi nite point in the distance, so I want to be here for my kids.”
And then, with her trademark humour, Heaton adds, “If I had known that once I hit menopause I couldn’t eat everything I wanted without having it go directly to my arms and waist, I would have eaten a lot more in my 20s.”
SEEING THE HUMOUR That’s typical of how Heaton takes on and triumphs over the pressures facing any woman with a demanding career and a family: by meeting challenges head-on, though never forgetting to see the humour in every situation. She knows, for example, that being proactive about one’s own health protects against illness.
“My mother died from an aneurysm of the carotid artery when I was 12,” she states. Aware that aneurysms have a genetic base, Heaton had an MRI several years ago “and everything checked out. I didn’t inherit high blood pressure or high cholesterol like some of my family members. I can eat a stick of butter a day and my cholesterol wouldn’t go up.”
Instead, Heaton knows that when she is overwhelmed with too much in daily life, she has to stop and take note. “I have to watch out for anxiety and depression,” she says. “I struggled with that when I was around 16 and then again in my 20s. Some was genetic, and some was situational—a delayed response to my mother’s death. So I know how very real those feelings of depression and anxiety are.”
THE LISTS Heaton notes that she’s well aware of the warning signs of pending melancholy. “I sit down and say to myself, okay, what’s going on in my life that’s causing this?” she says. “Usually it’s due to me biting off more than I can chew. That’s why I make handwritten lists to see what I have to do in one day. Usually it only takes 30 minutes to check off most items, although recently I felt nervous over a book deadline. So I went and rescheduled the deadline, and the publishers were fi ne with it. My mood completely lifted, so I think it’s really important for everyone to just check in and look at things in your daily life.”
Still—and every working mother knows this feeling—Heaton struggles with the guilt combined with “the feeling of being overwhelmed by everything you have to get done. I think women of today have so many choices. In today’s economy, a lot of women have to work, but we should look at that as a challenge and realize many women are getting recognized today.
“Look, I was 32 years old when I came to Los Angeles and was doing odd jobs when all my friends were married with children and homes. I loved being able to pursue what I wanted to pursue. Women are smart about micromanaging.”
In fact, Heaton says she fi nds an intelligent woman sexy. “When someone—man or woman—is intelligent, you see it in their eyes. They’re thoughtful, confi dent, and that shines through. A sense of humour is important to being sexy too. Your looks, your fame, your power. No matter who you are, it pretty much fades away after a while. Nothing lasts forever, so there’s got to be something on a much deeper level that keeps you interested.”
Patricia Heaton’s favourite way to ring in the new year: “I don’t like big parties because there are just too many people who have had too much alcohol out there. I like some big band music with an early dinner with friends, and then watching a movie. I think that’s a nostalgic, cool, old fashioned, glamorous New Year’s Eve.”
BEHIND THE SCENES Working behind the scenes in the upcoming Hallmark Channel’s The Christmas Heart has held Heaton’s Hollywood interests and has proven a seamless progression. She is executive producer of this new holiday movie, and has more projects in development at Hallmark. “It’s funny because when I was playing Debra, I was in her shoes in that my kids were that age; now I’m in Frankie’s shoes because my kids are older and the ages of those on the show,” Heaton says. “So for the most part, my real life has developed with my TV lives.”
Still, Heaton’s daily lists of personal and professional must-dos are reminders that she can’t do it all. “I’ve become more patient and forgiving, with myself and others. As you get older, you have seen your own mistakes, and you start understanding and becoming more comfortable with the fallibility of human nature.” And still her comedic wit prevails. “All this does depend on how much sleep I’m getting, you know. I’m certainly no saint.”
