Interview with Mary Pols

A mom's life may play out like a sitcom, but no woman ever expects to actually watch hers on the small screen. This is exactly what happened to Mary Pols, author of Accidentally on Purpose the brilliant memoir of a 39 year old who had a one-night stand and ended up pregnant. I recently had a chance to chat with Mary about how her book became a CBS show starring Jenna Elfman. The second part of the season finale airs tonight. If you missed the first portion of the interview, check it out!

LilSugar: This one is for the wishful readers who rooted for the relationship, are you and Matt together now?
Mary Pols: We're not together. No traditional happy ending, just like the book. But being co-parents who are completely united in raising a child is a happier ending than a lot of people get, you know? I can live with that. Both of us could have had easier paths, but this little boy we share is just gloriously fun and sweet and charming and because of him, I wouldn't choose another life for anything. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think, this is hard, and then, "I am so lucky." Which is really the sum of parenting, isn't it? If you feel blessed, it's all the same, whether you're married, single, straight, gay, adoptive, transgender but miraculously reproducing or what have you. Damn, this is hard. Damn, I'm lucky.

LilSugar: Dolan is now six, does he know his life story has gone to Hollywood? Or does he live like a normal kindergartner?
Mary Pols: Dolan knows I wrote a book about him but is blissfully ignorant of the whole Hollywood angle. Unless I was the inspiration for "Glee" or the "Berenstain Bears" I don't think he'd care much if he did know. Someday when he's older, I'll tell him. But for now we're just glad his rapidly advancing spelling skills don't yet extend to S-I-T-C-O-M.

LilSugar: Where will you watch the season finale?
Mary Pols: I'll probably have to watch the season finale on my laptop via CBS.com, late next Wednesday night, because I am so often at a movie screening on the nights when the show airs. But I saw a lot of it being taped, so I already know a few secrets. Like the baby's name, which is not Dolan but is a name I am very fond of and does appear in my book!

To see Mary's thoughts on motherhood, read more

A mom's life may play out like a sitcom, but no woman ever expects to actually watch hers on the small screen. This is exactly what happened to Mary Pols, author of Accidentally on Purpose the brilliant memoir of a 39 year old who had a one-night stand and ended up pregnant. I recently had a chance to chat with Mary about how her book became a CBS show starring Jenna Elfman. The first part of the season finale airs tonight.

LilSugar: It’s one thing to write a memoir that people can purchase and read, it’s another to have your life (or a show based on your life) broadcast on national television, how did you deal with everyone knowing your business?
Mary Pols: The thing about the show is, it's so different from my actual life — which sadly, does not include having shirtless Jon Foster to make out with on a regular basis — that it now feels like it's its own entity. Billie's got the same profession I have, although a different employer (I no longer write for a Bay Area newspaper, I review movies for Time and write a parent-oriented entertainment column for MSN), and she got pregnant on a one-night stand with a much younger man, but after that, our paths really diverge. She's less controlling, freaked out by her situation and just generally nicer than me.

LilSugar: In More magazine you wrote that Accidentally on Purpose was something you ”slaved and wept over" and were really proud of and that you hoped that the CBS show would get the memoir into more hands. Has it?
Mary Pols: I think the memoir has reached a few more hands, definitely. Perhaps mostly the writers and actors on the show, who seem to have diligently done their homework even though the story is so different. I got the loveliest email from Lennon Parham, the very funny actress who plays Billie's sister, after she read the book, which was so kind it made me cry! And I was really touched when Nicolas Wright, who plays slacker stoner Davis, told me during a set visit that he'd read Accidentally on Purpose and loved it. And I think some strangers are finding it too, just based on the emails I get. Although I think people expecting a light and frothy, sitcom-style story would be surprised. There's a lot of sadness in my book, a lot of trying to come to terms with things that don't work out in a happy, easy way. You know, like life.

To see how Accidentally on Purpose went to Hollywood and what Mary's baby's dad thinks of it all, just read more