MEET:
Lisa and Fox
(and dog Pluto the Plutocrat)
Lisa Taddeo is an American author and journalist best known for her bestselling book Three Women, which she spent eight years reporting, a deep, obsessive dive into female desire that became both a critical darling and a full-on cultural moment (and yes, now a series on screen). A two-time Pushcart Prize winner, she moves seamlessly between nonfiction, fiction, and journalism, with work in Esquire, New York, Elle, and Glamour. Her writing is equal parts lyrical and totally unflinching, digging into sex, grief, trauma, and all the messy, complicated parts of being human.
She went on to write the novel Animal and the short story collection Ghost Lover, and Animal is next to hit the big screen. She let us in on the major talent set to play her, and trust me, it’s going to be epic! Lisa is also the mother of the delightfully fresh talent Fox (11), and shooting the two of them together brought this incredible, electric energy, the kind of duo that completely takes over a room in the best way possible.
Follow Lisa: @lisadtaddeo
Lisa and Fox
Lisa and Fox
Rachelle: What's your favorite thing about being a mom?
Lisa: Wow. Honestly, I think purpose. It's just purpose. And I don't mean that not being a mom means that you don't have purpose, obviously, but there's a definitive purpose for me. It's this person, you know? And I kind of feel that way about all kids. We should all think of children as the thing that we get up in the morning for, even if it's not our children, but that's kind of how I feel about children in general. But she has given me a singular purpose, and now I've got the best one to wake up for
Rachelle: Explain your sweater phrases?
Lisa: So mine is, "a better mother than my mother was." Because she's dead. I'm a better mother than my mother was. I'm not, that's not to say that I'm an excellent mother, but I'm better than my mother was. And I think the very least we can do for our children is to at least be better than our mothers, and if we can at least be a little better, that is evolution, essentially.
Fox: Mine says "no more mean girls."
Lisa: Period.
Rachelle: What did you do to make your mom laugh the most?
Fox: I went to, we went to Gunstock 'cause I made ski finals-
Lisa: She's number 10 in Connecticut
Fox: So me and all my friends made it on the ski team, or finals. It was in Gunstock, New Hampshire. And we were laughing in my room. We were like being silly and laughing a lot.
Lisa: Like a mom and daughter who love each other do.
Fox: Yeah. And my dad's in the other room, was like, "Hey guys, could you keep it down in there? I'm trying to sleep."
Lisa: But he was cranky. It was crankier than that.
Fox: He had to get up and drive me, 'cause you don't have the guts to do that.
Lisa: I have the guts, I just don't have the wherewithal. I'm sleepy in the morning.
Fox: Anyway.
Lisa: Anyway.
Fox: I shouted from this room, or no, I didn't shout. I told him for my mom, "Hey, mom, you have to keep it down. The little lady's trying to sleep."
Lisa: Our little lady is trying to sleep. Our little lady. I lost it.
Rachelle: What is your mom survival hack?
Fox: Yell at anybody who tries to tell her wrong. And get her way. Just like, "No, so basically, the police told me just now that I was allowed to do this, no matter what."
Lisa: No, no, no, I don't lie, Fox.
Fox: You don't?
Lisa: No.
Fox: Oh, okay, cool.
