Molly Ringwald: What's She Up to Now?

Molly Ringwald in "The Breakfast Club"
I grew up in the 80’s and considered myself a huge John Hughes fan. I watched, “The Breakfast Club” too many times to count and “16 Candles” was my favorite movie of all time. When I shared “16 Candles” with my Grandma, she said I looked and acted like Molly Ringwald. Of course, I took this as a great compliment, but in truth, all Molly Ringwald and I really shared was short hair- she was much cooler than I was in her roles in the John Hughes films and in her personal interviews.

Last year, when John Hughes died, Molly Ringwald re-surfaced to pay tribute to her former director in a New York Times eulogy- she wrote about her experiences with John Hughes as a time of Neverland wonder and how amazing it was that he believed in her acting abilities when she was so young.  I was surprised to learn that she had not been in contact with the director in two decades- in my imagination, the pair had more of a father-daughter relationship.  

Molly Ringwald was also interviewed by Mother Jones earlier this year about her memoir "Get the Pretty Back" (which I haven’t read yet) and her life before and after “The Breakfast Club”. She hasn’t stayed in touch with most of her Brat Pack co-stars, but did contact Anthony Michael Hall shortly after the death of John Hughes to reminisce about their old director. As the interviewer points out, it’s a little ironic that Molly Ringwald hadn’t seen most of the Brat Pack either- because of the longevity of the films, all of their names are firmly intertwined in more than just my mind.

As some of you may know, Molly Ringwald also stars in “Secret Life of the American Teenager”, which is yet another show that I haven’t seen. In an upcoming episode, Molly will have the dubious pleasure of starring with Bristol Palin, who is famous for both teenaged pregnancy and for speaking out in favor of abstinence education. Mother Jones asked Molly Ringwald’s opinion on Bristol and this time, her answer wasn’t a surprise- Molly Ringwald is not a fan of Bristol’s  position on abstinence education. As a mother, Molly Rinwald is  already thinking about how she will address the sensitive topic of sex with her daughter when the time is right and is thinking.