See Also: Felicity Huffman (Lynette Scavo) People Guide

Being a mother is a tougher job than being a television star, Felicity Huffman (Lynette) admitted, saying that part of the problem is that it's more acceptable for men to express difficulties with being a parent than it is for women.

Speaking to Redbook (via a transcript at Felicity Huffman Online), the Desperate Housewives star confessed that she occasionally bribes her daughters with lollipops to keep them quiet for a few minutes and said that she has become much more needy since having two children in rapid succession. She and actor William H. Macy are parents to Sofia Grace, 4, and Georgia Grace, 3. "Before the baby, no one ever pulled me aside and told me -- and I'm not saying this is everyone's experience, at all -- 'It can be really hard, you can lose your mind,'" she said. "You don't recognize yourself."

Huffman described herself as "more of a wuss" than Lynette, saying that she identifies with the character's loneliness, though in her own life she tends not to be "a shouter" and does not threaten to spank as Lynette does. She finds a kernel of truth in all the characters on Desperate Housewives. "I would try to reason a little more, but she probably has and it hasn't worked," she explained. "I am challenged to my core by motherhood. I am challenged by the logistics, by the fact that you're always tired and usually a step behind. I took my daughter to school today and forgot her lunch."

The positive side is that Huffman's career is going wonderfully. In addition to Desperate Housewives, she appears in the film Transamerica which opens at the Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan this week. "I know this sounds off the beaten track, but I play a transgender woman. It was so artistically challenging - a dream role," said the actress.

Her toughest role remains balancing her life, however. "Bill cleans more than I do," Huffman confessed, saying that Macy is "totally a partner" and calling herself lucky. "I married a wonderful man -- a man of character and an artist," she said. "He loves this business as a craftsman; he cares deeply about the truth, and he cherishes me and wants me to shine." But she also said she finds it tough when she sees that "it's okay for a dad to turn to another dad and say, 'Oh, I had to give the kids a bath and put them to bed, and it was a nightmare,'" whereas when a woman turns to another mom to say the same thing, "you have to add, 'but it's so wonderful.'"

Redbook's Kristin Coronado noted that when Huffman arrived for the shoot, "she showed an edgy sense of style that proved she wasn't afraid to let her hair down" and joked that she didn't look good in jeans. Online publicity for the article is here, while the transcript is at Felicity Huffman Online. There are scans of the cover here.

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