Better Things creator and star Pamela Adlon has had a decadeslong career in the entertainment industry, appearing in shows like Californication and The Big Bang Theory, as well as voicing characters on animated series like Bob’s Burgers, Beavis and Butt-Head, and King of the Hill.
Now, as her own daughters make their own forays into Hollywood, Adlon told BuzzFeed News she wants them “to have something that they’re passionate about” and fully supports everything they do — but she draws the line at “Nazi porn.”
“I like them to have something they’re passionate about. The world is so fucked up right now, we need people to be into something,” Adlon said Wednesday during an interview on BuzzFeed News’ Twitter morning show AM to DM.
“There’s really no line except Nazi porn,” she joked. “That’s my only line.”
Adlon’s daughter Gideon most famously played the role of Sam in Blockers (2018), and her daughter Odessa has appeared on TV shows like Nashville, Fam, and even Better Things.
Speaking about her daughters’ burgeoning careers, Adlon said, “They’re getting disciplined. They have to be at a certain place at a certain time. They’re learning. They’re traveling. It’s cool.”
Better Things Season 3 premiered on FX last week, and Adlon said she uses a lot of her own real-life experiences as fodder for storylines on the show. This includes a recent change in her body weight.
Adlon told BuzzFeed News that after filming Season 2, she was trying on clothes a few months later and noticed the change herself — a scene she recreated in the first episode of Season 3.
“I was like, ‘What the fuck! This doesn’t fit!’ This whole thing happened to me that’s the first scene in my show that my body actually changed,” Adlon said. “And I thought, Oh, I really don’t want to show anybody my stomach or my body, but I had to do it because I ask the same of my actors.”
NPR’s Terry Gross recently asked Adlon about her weight gain in a series of eyebrow-raising questions on a recent episode of Fresh Air, including whether the performer had been “stress eating.”
Adlon told BuzzFeed News she loves addressing real-life issues through “dark humor,” and Better Things allows her to do just that.
“My show gives me a way to kind of put myself in a situation that a lot of people find themselves in and do it in a way that looks cool and sounds cool,” she said. “It’s kind of like a spoonful of sugar.”