Nancy St. Alban on Motherhood
Soap Opera Weekly: Did you make a conscious choice to take a longer maternity leave with Lucie than you did last time with Frankie?
Nancy St. Alban: Definitely. It was too hard [last time]. And I didn’t even realize how hard it was until doing it this time was so much easier. I knew from everyone else: “Don’t cheat yourself of that time.”
Weekly: You look fabulous, how did you lose the weight so quickly?
St. Alban: There’s no secret. I’m lucky, I guess. I don’t know if it’s the breast-feeding or all the years of dancing and Pilates that I did. With my first daughter, I thought I lost my weight quickly because she was so fussy that I was constantly interrupted and I never finished a meal. This time, I can’t eat enough. The first three weeks of Lucie’s life, I ate more calories than I’ve eaten in a year. Ice cream, anything. I was stuffing my face. Lucie only cries when I’m eating, so I still eat what I want, but I definitely don’t get seconds. I have five more pounds to go, and when I stop breast-feeding that will probably go.
Weekly: Has having children in real life changed you as an actress?
St. Alban: It definitely changes the way I play things with children. Like when Robbie was missing, you feel it more when you’re a real mother because you can imagine what that’s like. Not that you can’t imagine it when you’re not a mother, but it’s a different connection. It’s not fun to play scenes that have to do with your children being tortured or anything sad, because you do go there in your head. You go to the reality of it.
Weekly: How is Paul with the baby?
St. Alban: Paul’s great with kids. And Frankie adores him. He was just helping me right now try to calm Lucie down in my dressing room. She was crying. He was like, “Oh, wow, what does she want? Maybe she wants you to nurse her again.” And I said, “I can’t. I have to take my whole dress off to do that. I’m not doing it right now.”
Weekly: What do you like about working with Paul?
St. Alban: He doesn’t give mixed signals. I know when not to bother him and know when the door is open. We have a great friendship. It’s always comfortable with him. He always makes sure that I’m comfortable in the scenes, that I like the work. And if I don’t, he’ll speak up for me if I’m too nervous to speak up. I feel very safe working with Paul and I can take more risks and be a little more adventurous and try crazier things. When I’m not comfortable with someone, my work is not as good. I hold back and I’m tentative in my choices with the character.
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