Ana Gasteyer talks raising teens and why she's 'embarrassed' when fans quote 'Mean Girls' to her
Welcome to So Mini Ways, Yahoo Life's parenting series on the joys and challenges of childrearing.
In addition to being a Saturday Night Live alum and the star of NBC’s American Auto, Ana Gasteyer played a mom in one of the most iconic teen movies: Mean Girls. But Gasteyer, who starred as Lindsay Lohan’s mother in the 2004 cult classic, has a confession regarding her role.
“I do get a lot of Mean Girls quotes [from fans] and I’m so embarrassed. I worked on the movie 19 years ago and I literally don’t remember half the things they say to me,” Gasteyer tells Yahoo Life. “They will say something to me, like a reference, and I won’t know it. By now I know what the big lines were.”
Gasteyer filmed Mean Girls when her oldest child was just 1 year old. Now that daughter is turning 21 in June and taking Gasteyer through a rite of parental passage. She recently got her driver’s license while at college in Illinois.
“She drives like a grandma, which is satisfying and a little terrifying,” says the actress. Living in New York City, driving wasn’t a priority for anyone in the family.
“Everything is about walking distance: the preschool, the pediatrician,” Gasteyer says. “You literally make your decisions on how long it will take to walk there. Because really the nightmare of getting a stroller into the boot of a cab and a car seat in a cab ... there is so much sweating.”
Not only is Gasteyer’s daughter a new driver, but her 15-year-old son will also be driving soon too. Last September the family moved to the Los Angeles area, which is where Gasteyer’s show American Auto is filmed.
On American Auto, Gasteyer plays the CEO of a fictional car company, even though her character has little interest and knowledge about the industry. It’s an example of art imitating life. Gasteyer readily admits her real-life understanding of cars is “exactly” like her character’s.
“I’ve lived in a city my whole life,” Gasteyer says. “Your relationship with a car is different when you know it’s going to get sideswiped and you know it’s going to get bird s**t all over it. You know someone’s going to sit on it and eat. It has a different dynamic. Cities beat up cars.”
Given her TV show and new household drivers, Gasteyer's partnership with Kelley Blue Book makes perfect sense. The longtime resource for everything vehicle-related teamed up with the star to release the Best Family Cars of 2023, something she herself might find handy.
“Since we got here we are trying to decide, do we get two cars?” Gasteyer says. “Which two cars do we want? What does our family need? Do we get one that is sort of a nice actress car and then a car for the stinky boys?”
The married mother of two has a few other car considerations.
“You want a sound system that can keep everyone happy,” she says. “If you have teenagers you want something they can plug their devices into. And my true test: Costco haul. If a Costco haul can fit in the trunk — I’m talking a standard Costco haul, toilet paper, some meat — then you’re good.”
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