Does actress January Jones enjoy playing the character Betty on “Mad Men”?
—Svetlana Petersen, Highland Park, Ill.
Jones, 35, who has played the character for six seasons now, very much enjoys it, adding that in playing Betty, she tries not to judge her, because sometimes Betty makes choices that Jones wouldn’t make.
“That’s the cool thing about my job,” she says. “I get to do things I would never do. That’s why I do what I do.”
The Sioux Falls, S.D., native adds that if she had grown up in an earlier era, like Betty, she might better understand those choices.
“I feel very fortunate,” Jones says. “I see myself as a very independent, modern woman and would struggle very much if I was put in that situation. I wouldn’t know how to cope with that—unless I did what I do now—unless I was an actress and had a bit more freedom. But they had studio contacts [back then], so it would have been very hard.”
One thing the two women do have in common is they are both mothers, but Jones, who gave birth to son Xander on Sept. 13, 2011—and has yet to reveal the identity of the father—says she definitely does not look to Betty for parenting tips. In fact, the opposite it is true.
“She struggles with it,” Jones says. “I think that because of her emotional immaturity, she’s just not as great at it as some people are. I think that maybe she thought it was a good idea to be a mother and have children—she has this idea of what was expected of her—and not everyone is a natural at it. But I think she tries; I think she’s trying harder. I think that she was daddy’s little girl and found it very hard to be unselfish.”
