You’ll be able to’t put Whitney Leavitt in a field. Since she arrived on our screens (and our telephones) a couple of years in the past, she’s been a polarizing pressure within the actuality TV realm, particularly as a central character of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
Regardless of her tumultuous time on the present, Leavitt has constructed a loyal following, turning lemons into lemonade alongside the way in which, together with a record-breaking Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in Chicago, a vacation rom-com the place she stepped behind the digital camera as government producer, and a powerful stint on Dancing with the Stars that proved she might maintain her personal in any room.
And now, her newest transfer: entering into the position of Chief Inventive and Model Officer at Cool Sips, NYC’s premier soiled soda vacation spot, the place she’ll lead artistic course, menu innovation, and convey her signature taste obsession to a completely new viewers.
Scary Mommy chatted with Leavitt over Zoom to speak about all of it: the profession she’s constructing, the noise she’s navigating, and what it appears prefer to lastly be working towards the issues she at all times needed as a busy working mother.
Scary Mommy: You’ve got constructed your entire id round being genuine; what folks see is what they get. So in the case of this new position with Cool Sips, what made it really feel like the correct match?
Whitney Leavitt: Nicely, one, I really like that you just assume that. I really like that individuals see that. That they see that authenticity. And I wish to develop manufacturers that I am obsessed with, and soiled soda has at all times been part of my life. And I really feel prefer it wasn’t simply this viral second that individuals who watch Secret Lives noticed. It was one thing that is extra sustainable. And as soon as I used to be launched to Cool Sips on this huge metropolis, right here you have got this small city woman who noticed this firm, and I used to be like, I wish to assist this develop. Department it out extra.
SM: What does it imply to you to have a signature drink, The Whitney, that each one began as one thing you simply genuinely cherished and shared on-line?
WL: It’s kind of loopy. However I’ve shared that drink with many, many individuals. And I solely get the very best of reactions and compliments from the drink. So I am excited for much more folks to attempt it.
SM: So shifting gears a bit bit! With a lot happening together with your profession, together with Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Dancing with the Stars, Chicago, how do you deal with the mother guilt? Do you battle with how a lot your “model of motherhood” has modified?
WL: I did and lots of people noticed that from the final season of Secret Lives and I am not saying it does not nonetheless occur each now and again.
Perhaps one thing will likely be taking place in one in all my kids’s lives that I can not attend, however one thing that I’ve actually loved, particularly with being married to Connor, is he’s somebody that is helped me navigate this and [has helped me] discover artistic methods for me to be part of that. And I really like my children seeing me create, and so they’ve come to the Ambassador Theater, and so they’ve seen the stage. My daughter’s even come to a present.
Being a mother appears completely different now than it did even a 12 months in the past, however we have made it work. I believe, regardless, I am going to at all times have these moments of mother guilt. If I might do all of it, I might, however I can’t!
SM: That’s too actual. Talking of, what’s your one must-have in your Chicago dressing room?
WL: I really like having “The Whitney.” However once I want a bit additional vitality, I am going to add some caffeine in there, some vitality drink in it to maintain me going by that present as a result of it’s totally grueling.
SM: I’ve watched your finale dance with Mark Ballas about seven million occasions. How did it really feel to have the ability to showcase that dance after being off Dancing with the Stars, and do you propose to proceed your dancing journey as soon as your Chicago run involves an finish?
WL: I might like to proceed my dancing journey! I say on a regular basis that I really feel most like myself once I’m dancing. It is at all times been a type for me to precise myself, and I really feel like being on Dancing with the Stars reignited that in me.
Enjoyable truth: the evening of the finale on Dancing with the Stars, the present ended at like 10 PM as a result of there was an after-party. We drove to go film our freestyle that night, and we have been up until like 3 AM, I wish to say, filming that.
So it was a really, very lengthy day, however being on the finale made that much more pleasurable for me on Dancing with the Stars, understanding that I bought to proceed that and movie Mark and I’s freestyle that we labored so exhausting on.
So I used to be very grateful to Name Your Daddy for serving to us produce that. It was meant to be as a result of it a lot wanted to occur for that to line up, and it did. And I could not be extra grateful as a result of it felt like closure for me.
I wish to hold dancing! I bought to determine extra methods to only hold dancing!
This interview has been evenly edited for size and readability.
Trending Merchandise
