Single Moms in ‘The Motherhood’: Connie Britton Wants to ‘Lift Them Up’

Just in time for Mother’s Day comes The Motherhood, the Hallmark Channel’s newest reality series that’s as needed as, well, a hug from mom. Created and hosted by Connie Britton, it finds the Friday Night Lights favorite bringing together six harried single moms in need of a little help. “My hope is not only to provide literal community and support for them, but also to change that cultural conversation” regarding women raising kids on their own, says Britton, herself a single mom. “We need to lift them up.” 

Helping her accomplish that are “The Neighbor Ladies” — home-design specialist Angela Rose, style expert Taryn Hicks, and positive parenting coach Destini Davis — who lend their expertise to each mom’s inner and outer transformation. But it’s not just for moms. “If you’re not a parent, you have parents or know parents,” Britton says. “So I think everyone will find something resonant, and part of that is because the show really demonstrates the power of what it is to be a mom.” Below, she shares more.

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We’ve seen so many shows that celebrate motherhood, but this one really gets honest about how difficult it can be to have the best job in the world.

Connie Britton: I really had this idea for a very long time, and it was kind of shocking to me that no one had ever done it before. And I think that was part of the reason I really wanted to make the show is because listen, all parents are doing the Lord’s work. It’s the most beautiful thing and the most harrowing thing to be a parent.

For sure. But single parenthood is something pretty unique.

It’s pretty uniquely difficult. But what’s surprising is it’s not a unique experience. There are so many single parents in the world, and since I’ve been doing this show, when I meet somebody, even if they themselves aren’t a single parent or weren’t raised by a single parent, they know somebody close to them who has been or is a single parent. It’s so pervasive in the culture and yet there isn’t really a cultural conversation about what it is to be a single parent, about how much work single parents do largely by themselves, how isolating it can be, and also just how heroic it is to be a single parent.

For so long, you think of how single moms were presented in the media as they were “less than” or it was scandalous or it was tragic. Like, “Oh, that poor single mom.”

Exactly!

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And you see how accomplished these women are [on the show] and everything that they sacrifice, that they’re willing to sacrifice. They’re not doing this reluctantly.

The inherent sense of wanting to nurture and wanting to care for your child, that is just part of nature really. And so it almost allows you to be a superhero, but also, as we see with a lot of these single moms and parents in general, it requires a great, great deal from you. Sometimes it feels like too much. And if you don’t have resources, it really is too much. We can’t do it without a community. So I do think it’s interesting to look at it from that standpoint. We are so capable — we don’t even realize that we’re as capable as we are until we become parents. But boy, do we need help.

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And you bring that to these moms with The Neighborhood Ladies, which even spoke to me…and I don’t have kids! But that idea of community and how much even 10% help from somebody in my circle can be a 100% relief for me. For them to just make that space and be like, “What are you going through? What can I do to help you?” is monumental sometimes.

Isn’t it? It’s astounding. And I think you realize, “Oh, I didn’t know that I could impact somebody in this way and it would be so profound.” And it’s not a lot of effort on our part. And the flip side of that is, and we see this so consistently in all the episodes of this show, how hard it is for these single moms to ask for that help. And so I think, I hope people will come away from the show thinking, “Oh, I’m going to reach out.” Because it may be really hard for someone to say, “Hey, I need help here.”

Hallmark is such a great place for this show because the Hallmark fans are a community already. These are people that watch the network, they go on the cruises, they go to the Holiday Experience, they live-tweet along during “Countdown to Christmas.” They have a built-in community already.

Oh my gosh, you are so right about that. And honestly, Hallmark has been so incredible. And really, I think that that community is going to help us start this community. You know what I mean? I think it will just be a continuation of that.

The Motherhood, Series Premiere, Monday, May 5, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel