Jane Lynch on her nearly 20 years of sobriety and how she proposed to her girlfriend

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Glee’s Jane Lynch, 50, is the cover girl for More Magazine. I haven’t heard much about More Magazine and I guess it’s a women’s magazine targeted at 40-somethings. They have some useful intelligent articles and I spent a lot of time on their website. Anyway Lynch gave a pretty candid interview to More, in which she talked about her 19 years of sobriety and about the moment she realized her now-wife was “the one.” I really admire her and find her so interesting. Lynch is a lot shyer in interviews than you might expect and when I heard her on NPR’s Fresh Air about a year ago I was surprised by how soft spoken she was. She said she didn’t like being the center of attention and that “I just want to be like everybody else.” It looks like she’s more comfortable now with her role as a superstar, as evident in this interview and the sexy photo spread. Here’s more:

Almost missing out on playing Sue Sylvester: True to her workaholic form, Lynch was already committed to two other series (Starz’s Party Down and an ABC project) when the Glee offer arrived. This meant that for the first four episodes of Glee, Lynch’s status was temporary. “We were keeping our fingers crossed that I got to stay.”

On how she met her wife: Lynch met her wife, Lara Embry, last year at a lesbian rights fundraiser. A week after meeting, Lynch flew to Sarasota, Florida, where Embry lived. Just before takeoff, Lynch called Embry and said, “We need to acknowledge how courageous both of us are that I’m coming into town and you really don’t know me. And I’m hopping on a plane to visit someone I really don’t know. So for a moment, let’s give ourselves a little pat on the back.”

On getting hitched: After six months of dating, Embry proposed to Lynch. On May 31, the two women exchanged matching wedding rings in a small ceremony. “I shouldn’t say this, but I’d never dated anyone that I wanted to marry. I didn’t think it was going to be out there for me. But the minute we were married, I felt the difference: I felt like I am no longer alone.” Lynch says she loves being able to realize two wishes many mothers have for their daughters: “I got married—and I married a doctor!”

On becoming a stepmother: Lynch’s wife has an eight-year-old daughter. When asked, ‘What’s it like to become a parental figure for the first time in midlife?’ Lynch replies, “I haven’t really done it [on a day-to-day basis] yet. I took her to school. I picked her up. I went to lunch with her. So I kind of had a test run. We’re pretty darn good together.”

About being “a little OCD”: Lynch is currently renovating her home to make room for Embry and her daughter. Until they move in together, the actress is confronting what she feels is a holdover from single life—her obsession with tidiness. “I’m a little OCD,” admits Lynch who says she stares longingly at the dozen or so boxes of Embry’s belongings that have been shipped and fantasizes about paring down. “I don’t want to start going through them and saying, ‘Well, we can get rid of this, and that!’ But it’s hard.”

On deciding to become sober in 1991: “I was hungover all the time.” One evening she told a friend, “I’m pouring out this glass of wine and never drinking again.” She kept her promise. “Relatively speaking, my personal bottom was rather benign.” Lynch says she used to stand up at 12-step meetings and apologetically say, “Had I known I’d be telling my story over and over again, I would have made it a lot better.”

On turning 50: “I like the equanimity that comes with my age. I don’t have big highs, and I don’t have big lows. Even if this job goes away tomorrow, the nonstop ambition is a thing of the past for me. I’ve mellowed.”

[More Magazine via Daily Stab]

I admire people who are able to quit drinking and not take another drink for decades. I have a couple of relatives who are like that and they’re very matter-of-fact and low key about it. It sounds like Lynch is the same.

I’m up to date with Glee now and am really looking forward to seeing the Rocky Horror Glee show tomorrow night! The Duets episode, the last one that aired a couple of weeks ago, was very well done as it focused on the characters and their relationships. We didn’t see much from Lynch and I hate that we haven’t seen more of Coach Beiste, Lynch’s character Sue Sylvester’s new enemy. Hopefully we’ll see more of both in the upcoming episode.

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25 Responses to “Jane Lynch on her nearly 20 years of sobriety and how she proposed to her girlfriend”

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  1. a says:

    love her!

  2. devilgirl says:

    She is fantastic in everything I have seen her in, although I do not watch Glee.

  3. Praise St. Angie! says:

    First thing I saw her in was Best in Show, and she’s impressed me and made me laugh in EVERYTHING I’ve seen her in since.

    ESPECIALLY Role Models…she was the best part of that movie.

    “You know what I used to have for breakfast? Cocaine.”

    Love, love, LOVE this woman!

  4. chasingadalia says:

    Haha. Those photos are priceless.

  5. Renee says:

    Can’t wait for RHPS/Glee. Jane is an amazing woman. So smart and funny!

  6. Jenna says:

    she is hilarious is SMILEY FACE! “are YOU trying to SELL ME DRUGS?!?!”

  7. malachais says:

    She’s definitely one of the more interesting characters on Glee. I just started watching glee this season, and I’m hooked!!

  8. Someone Else says:

    @Praise–

    I knew I liked her in Best in Show, but after she spit this out in Mighty Wind:

    “Terry and I worship an unconventional deity. The power of another dimension. Now, you’re not going to read about this dimension in a book, or in a magazine, or in a newspaper, because it doesn’t exist anywhere…

    except in my own mind.”

    It was love.

    🙂

  9. Obvious says:

    =) LOVE her

  10. Feebee says:

    OMG can’t believe there was a (non) story about those photos being controversial like the Glee/GQ ones, LOL they even had the pink ones pixled out!

    She’s awesome, what else can you say?

  11. lilred says:

    Glee would NOT be the same without her.

  12. Liana says:

    I just absolutely LOVE this woman. I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting her when she guested on “Criminal Minds” and she was simply lovely, funny, sweet, giving, and just an all around awesome person.

  13. TQB says:

    she is so awesome that I really wanted to like Glee, but I just can’t. I support its existence because hilariously talented folks like her deserve to be on huge hit shows.

  14. Victoria says:

    Dont forget she also had a reoccuring role on Two and A Half men as the phychiatrist. She was so funny on that show!

  15. Dorothy#1 says:

    She is great in everything that she does!!! Especially in the Christopher Guest movies!!!!

    Also I love Glee, but HOW CAN THEY DO A ROCKY HORROR EPISODE WITH OUT THE AMAZING TIME CURRY????????????

  16. Dorothy#1 says:

    I really love Tim Curry and suggest vintage Tim for hot guy Friday!

  17. Jackson says:

    I really love her, but ‘Glee?’ I just can’t. I tried. I am just not a musical-type person. Or whatever that show is…. Yaaay for Jane, though! 🙂

  18. Original Gracie says:

    I Netflixed a show that is now cancelled, called Party Down. Jane is in it and is just hilarious as always.
    I am kind of sad that I love the show as there are just two seasons.

    Love her. Love her hair. Love that she lives her life just as she wants to and makes no apologies. She is awesome.

  19. girl says:

    Wow, that is awesome. 19 years sober? Good for her. It must be doubly hard for her to do in an environment like the entertainment industry. Glad she sounds like she has found happiness.

  20. Arianna says:

    i cannot get enough of jane lynch!!

    also, why is she not singing more in glee? SHE WAS AWESOME ON SNL

  21. TQB says:

    Tim Curry for HGF!!! Second!

  22. Chris says:

    Hmm, I wonder if she could sponsor a certain wayward young celeb: 20 years sober, gay, works in show business. She ticks all the boxes.

  23. jane16 says:

    She’s my favorite tv actress. Besides Glee, she’s the mom of one of the profilers on Criminal Minds, who is schizophrenic. She’s amazing.

  24. Leah! says:

    I’ve been watching her career with interest ever since she was in the 40-Year Old Virgin. What a seriously cool lady!

  25. BabyCakes says:

    I LOVED here in the L word as Joyce!