B&B Alum Maeve Quinlan On Her New Movie And New Marriage

Maeve Quinlan (ex-Megan, B&B) has become quite the prolific player in the Lifetime movie universe, and the latest offering that she’s headlining premieres via the Lifetime Movie Network on March 21. “It’s called MY FATHER’S MURDER IN GREECE and the premise is exactly that,” she begins. “It is actually my [character’s] daughter’s father, my ex-husband, who was born in Greece. So he plans a father/daughter trip to Greece to see Grandma because she’s not doing so well and on the first night they’re there, he’s murdered. I rush over and in true Lifetime fashion, we decide to try and solve it ourselves — and not only is no one taking us seriously, but we end up uncovering old family secrets along our journey in finding the killer.”

Before shooting the movie, Quinlan was grappling with a major personal loss. “My mom passed away on April 13^th [2023] at the age of 99,” she shares. “She almost made it to 100 and we had big plans ahead for that day. She had dementia and at her age I knew her death was inevitable but it was still just so painfully hard to watch and impossible to accept when it happened. Everyone knew she was my absolute best friend.”

Quinlan had spent more time in the last few years of her mother’s life caring for her in Chicago. “During Covid and post-Covid, auditioning completely changed,” she notes. “Everything was about sending in self-tapes, and that change in the business afforded me the opportunity to spend a lot of time with my mom. I spent every minute I could with her and I will cherish that forever. When I would have to be in L.A., she started falling a lot and her dementia had rapidly advanced so she had to be moved into full-time care. After she died, my family came in from Ireland — I’m the only American-born [member of] the family — and because I was in such a state of shock, it was such comfort to have my family by my side and go through the grief together. But truth be told, when everyone returned to Ireland, I couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks. I was fully depressed.”

At the same time, Quinlan was in throes of planning a splashy wedding to her now-husband, Derek Chatterton, senior vice president and financial advisor for a major investment bank. “He was most definitely my rock,” she smiles. The pair seemed fated to meet: Both grew up in Chicago, attended the same high school, belonged to the same country club (neither at the same time) and at one point he even bought her childhood home for his own brood (he has  sons from a previous marriage.) Their paths finally crossed and they became engaged in 2018, but her mother’s health and the pandemic forced them to delay their nuptials. “Derek had said that he always wanted to elope in Ireland and I didn’t,” Quinlan says. “I was single for 20 years and I didn’t have the best track record with men but now, here I was, marrying the love of my life and best friend. So I wanted to celebrate with all of our friends and combined families and he was sweet enough to let me plan for that.”

Originally, the ceremony was to take place on June 25th in Malibu with 250 guests, including Courteney Cox, Gavin Rossdale, Scott Foley, Kevin McKidd, Jon Lovitz, and tennis legend Chris Evert. Actor Jonathan Silverman, the husband of Quinlan’s bestie, Jennifer Finnigan (ex-Bridget, B&B), would be officiating. “Everything was booked and I just needed to send out the invitations,” Quinlan recalls. Then, “I auditioned for this Lifetime movie role, which would be shooting in Greece for a month and I wasn’t sure I should go if I got it. And then my mom died and everything changed. Whenever I took an acting job before, I would always discuss it with Derek first before I accepted, but after my mom was gone, he came home from work and I said, ‘Oh, I got the movie and I’m going to Greece on Monday. Do you want to come with me?’ It may seem weird to some people that I would take the job so soon after my mom died, but I knew it was the only way I would get out of bed. It was such a gift and I know that my mom gave that to me.”

The actress and Chatterton jetted off to Greece and turned the first week there into a pre-wedding honeymoon. “I visited Greece before when I was about 25 but not with the love of my life,” she notes. “We went to Santorini, Hydra, Aegina, Poros and Crete and it was absolutely magical and very romantic. Little did we know that we would be eloping a few weeks later.”

All Greek To Me: Before productions started on her Lifetime flick, Quinlan and now-husband Derek Chatterton embarked on a pre-wedding honeymoon in Greece, which included this stopover in Santorini.

That’s because after Chatterton returned home, Quinlan realized that her mother’s passing had shifted her perspective on her wedding. She recalls, “Derek flew home and then I called him later and said, ‘You might have your wish about getting married in Ireland.’ I told him I just couldn’t celebrate a 250-person wedding without my mom. Since I was already on that side of the world, it seemed logical to hop over to Ireland after the movie was done and get married. So I started shooting the movie and I planned another wedding from scratch.”

She had a terrific experience playing Catherine in MY FATHER’S MURDER IN GREECE. “We shot in greater Athens and in beach towns, on wharves and up in the hills,” she marvels. “It was such phenomenal scenery. The producers and the director were American, and the rest of the crew — cameramen, sound and wardrobe — were hired locally and they were great.” She forged a tight bond with Cass Huckabay, who plays her daughter, Allie, in the film. “We were the only Americans in the film so we got to act with all of the great Greek actors. Cass and I spent a lot of time together because we were not put up in a hotel; it was more like the only two apartments on the same floor. We kept our doors opened and lived like college kids. It was so much fun and a real bonding experience for us.”

Bond Girls: Quinlan with Cass Huckabay (Allie), who plays her daughter in the film. “Cass is so talented and was so incredible to work with,” she praises.

When the movie officially wrapped, Quinlan redirected her attention to planning her scaled-down wedding, which took place on June 10 and featured an intimate, 23-person guest list of immediate family. “We got married on my brother’s property in Wicklow,” she reports. “It was a beautiful day, and just before my brother walked me out, it started to rain, but we didn’t let that stop us. Someone said that it’s good luck to get married in the rain, so we just grabbed umbrellas and proceeded as planned. The minute we were pronounced husband and wife, it stopped raining. It was the happiest and most beautiful day of my life.”

Two Blessed: “After we exchanged vows, we did a special Irish blessing at the Glendalough Cathedral,” Quinlan reports.

The couple intends to exchange vows again in front of their California contingency of friends once the house they’re building in the Palm Springs area is finished. “I just passed on a movie because I would have to go to Costa Rica and I just can’t be out of the country while building this house,” she says. “I need to be here with the hard hat on and stay on top of things while simultaneously pounding the pavement for my next job. I’m up for a pilot right now, but who knows,” she winks. “Maybe the next one will be a soap again!”

Deadly Intentions: “Here’s the promotional poster for the movie. Scary, right?” grins Quinlan.