Maura West – Damn Yankees!
If Maura West were a pitcher, you could say she’s pitched a perfect game. She’s got a home in the country, three adorable kids, and an equally adorable husband who is happy to hold down the fort while she works as Carly on AS THE WORLD TURNS. There’s just one hitch: She and Scott DeFreitas (ex-Andy, ATWT) have irreconcilable differences. “Unfortunately, he is a Boston Red Sox fan,” sighs the Yankee devotee. Cohabitating with a fan of the rival team “is much better for me than it is for him. For him, it’s a nightmare!”
Otherwise, life is good. The New England natives enjoy living in Connecticut with its open skies and fresh air, a perfect place to raise their burgeoning brood of three children (Benjamin, 8; Joe, 4; and Kate, 2), two dogs, two hamsters, and several guppies. Well, sorta. “My husband…I don’t know what he did. He was changing the water, and it must have been too hot or something. They didn’t make it too much longer after that.”
Fish tale aside, West reports that DeFreitas is happy playing the role of Mr. Mom. “This little break [from acting] is fine. Remember, he was acting since he was, like, 13 years old. So he is happy doing what he’s doing for now.” Would he ever come back to ATWT? “I have no idea. [But] I don’t think you can spend as many years as he did acting and just say that’s not part of who I am anymore. It’s all in there. The drive….”
For now, the only drive DeFreitas is concerned about is the line drive his son makes in Little League games. “Scott’s the coach of Benji’s team. So they’re always outside throwing the ball around and practicing.” In fact, all three of their children are well-versed in baseball. “They have to be, because it’s part of our family’s culture.” She’s not kidding — DeFreitas proposed to her on the giant video screen in center field at Yankee Stadium.
And although West is no fan of the Red Sox, she has nothing against Boston. In fact, she went to school at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, where she studied acting — a profession she says she knew she wanted to pursue her whole life. So what if one of West’s kids says they want to be an actor? “All of them could go this route, from what I see,” reports West, who has exposed all three of her children to life at work. “They come to the set. Benji was there not too long ago. Kate hasn’t been there in a while because she is so little. She wouldn’t let me get my hair and makeup done — she would freak out,” says West with a laugh. “If they do want to pursue acting, great. I’ll help them in any way I can, if that’s what they want.”
As for her own career, “I would be interested in doing other work, provided I could also keep this job,” says West. “I am pretty much done having children; I think Kate was my last one. So I am physically available. It’s hard to get jobs when you are always pregnant,” she says with a laugh. “I’d love to do a play here and there, because the stage is where my training was, and I miss that. I don’t think I’ve done a play since college. But I feel that when you are given a job like this — for me as a mom with small children, a mortgage and all those real-life things — it doesn’t make sense to say, ‘I am going to leave this,’ especially when I’m enjoying my job.”
So, as it turns out, ATWT scored a home run when they hired West. “I will keep playing this part until I am fired,” she smiles.
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