After that heartbreaking midseason cliffhanger, “9-1-1” star Jennifer Love Hewitt is dishing on her character Maddie Kendall’s return!

“Extra’s” Billy Bush spoke with Hewitt, who teased the “intense” upcoming episode, which will address Maddie’s postpartum struggles.

“We answer all questions and all things in one episode,” Love-Hewitt teased. “It is very intense. People were aware that Maddie was starting to deal with postpartum depression.”

When asked if she faced anything similar in real life, she said, “I would say having a pandemic baby this time, I do feel like my postpartum this time was a little more heightened.”

Hewitt noted that work helped her overcome her struggles, saying, “Thankfully I got to go back to work and play Maddie’s story line, which sort of allowed me to release my won in a really beautiful way.”

As for the best parts about being a mom, Jennifer revealed, “My kids are fantastic.”

Jennifer kept it real about the hardships of motherhood, like having “zero personal space.”

Due to that reason, she noted that she needed to work on “peeing alone,” stressing, “That would be great.”

Hewitt recently rocked a wig, which made her look like Alyssa Milano. She commented, “Especially as a mom with three kids, you just get to throw it on and be a different person. It’s so fun.”

“9-1-1” airs Mondays on FOX.

Source: Extra

Jennifer Love Hewitt is back on 9-1-1 — but Maddie is definitely still struggling.

In Hewitt’s last episode, which aired in October 2021, Maddie was struggling with being a new mom and dropped off her and Chimney’s (Kenneth Choi) baby at the fire station — and left town. Not long after, Chimney packed up his car and the baby and set out to find her.

Alas, in next week’s episode, titled “Boston,” he finds her.

“Maddie’s return to the show will not disappoint,” Hewitt says in an exclusive sneak peek. “In this first episode when Maddie’s back, you will get the answers that you want: why she left, why she stayed away, where she’s been, what she’s been up to.”

We also see Maddie crying and confiding in someone: “Since having her I didn’t know what was wrong with me, so I guess now there’s an answer.”

One reason for Maddie’s extended absence on the show was the birth of Hewitt’s son Aidan James, her third child with husband Brian Hallisay, in September. (They are also parents to daughter Autumn James, 8, and son Atticus James, 6.)

Upon her return, Hewitt says she felt an added connection to Maddie.

“I was really impressed and excited that the show decided to go very deep into postpartum depression,” she says in the video. “I think it’s super important. I definitely personally had my worst postpartum after this pregnancy, so to come back so soon after that and be able to give those real things to Maddie has been very cathartic for me and really nice to be able to represent that for all the women out there.”

Shortly after Aiden’s birth, Hewitt opened up on social media about her need to take time for a “reset.”

“Self care, moments to breathe and feel yourself again. Even in small ways. So important,” she wrote. “I am also starting at least a week maybe two away from social media tomm. I need to reset. I need to take my scrolling time and make it active time. Workouts, breathing, manifesting, time with my kids and husband.”

She continued by admitting social media “makes me feel bad sometimes,” causing her to feel “like I’m not enough. Doing enough. Getting my body back fast enough. Giving enough. All of it. I only share this for that one person or maybe more today who need time. Just for them. And need to know it’s okay to take it. And in fact the taking of that time will make everything better. I promise. Sending love!”

Speaking of love, it’s clear Hewitt doesn’t feel all hope is lost for Maddie and Chimney as a couple.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen but I do know that their love is the real kind,” she says in the clip. “They’ve been through a lot, Chimney’s been through a lot as a person, Maddie’s been through a lot as a person.”

She adds: “I ultimately think that they will find their way, but it just may take some time.”

9-1-1 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

Source: People

Jennifer Love Hewitt returns to 9-1-1 after going on maternity leave to give birth to her third child, son Aidan James, with husband Brian Hallisay. On the show, viewers last saw Hewitt’s Maddie in an October episode, where the 9-1-1 operator was seen leaving her and Chimney’s baby at the firehouse. Ever since then, Maddie has been missing in action.

On Monday’s episode, titled “Boston,” Chimney (Kenneth Choi) is determined to find a missing Maddie among the chaos of St. Patrick’s Day.

“People have figured out that’s where she is. And the good thing is that in one episode, everyone will have all of the answers they’ve been waiting for,” Hewitt teased to ET’s Denny Directo. “I needed those answers as well by the way because I’ve been on maternity leave: ‘Where was Maddie? What happened?’ But yes, they will know everything that they’ve been wanting to know in this one episode, I promise.”

The 42-year-old actress spoke with the writers about Maddie’s storyline as she prepared to go on maternity leave and knew what it “was going to be for a while.”

“I knew when we started the storyline where it was going to end up. And taking the break to go have a real baby and then come back to it was strange and a little daunting,” Hewitt acknowledged. “It was really important to us to tell the real story. PPD, postpartum depression, has been done on other shows, it’s something that’s out there. It’s something that people talk about. But it’s usually a lighter version of what that looks like. Or the diagnosis is lighter than what Maddie has dealt with.”

“Hers is a really extreme version of what postpartum can cause in someone’s life, heightened by having a baby in a pandemic on the show and everything else that she’s been through as a character,” she continued. “So I was really excited and proud of the show and proud of Fox for really getting in there and telling this story for all the women who are out there that might be suffering from this at the moment or have had that in the past, because it’s a real thing.”

Hewitt related to Maddie’s struggles as she shared her real-life journey with “versions of” postpartum depression throughout her three pregnancies.

“But what made this part interesting is having to go back to work with a four-and-a-half-month-old, five-month-old baby,” she reflected. “I was so very much in my own postpartum journey. Having to play Maddie in the middle of hers, which is a little bit different than mine, but having to do that every day — it was really hard. But it was also very cathartic and really interesting. I feel it kind of helped me in my own journey, sort of pushed through faster and be able to have a place to put it and to understand all those things that we could go through as women.”

“It was scary for sure because I was like, ‘Wow, this is intense.’ I know the storyline a little too well at the moment… and being a mom with two other kids, you have to come home from doing all that stuff during the day and then you have to be smiley and have rainbows shooting out of your eyeballs because they need joy and happiness,” Hewitt added. “It was a lot to balance, but it was very, very important to me, for the audience, to tell the story. For women out there to tell the story and the story really handles more than just postpartum depression. It handles depression in general and it handles people that feel maybe suicide is an option for them. We really run the gamut. We talk about all of the things that wrap back into the story and it was very important.”

When asked what she’s learned about herself since returning to work as a mother of three, Hewitt said she realized “that [she] could do it.”

“As simple as that sounds, there’s this thing where we — of course, we’re moms and we’re women. So we’re like, ‘Of course, we can do it.’ But there’s this thing that takes over you,” she said. “The couple of nights before you go back to work where you’re like, ‘Can I do it? Can I actually? I’ve said I could do it but can I really?’ And you just have to put one foot in front of the other. I will say, I’ve been really blessed with amazing children that want me to work and allow me to do that.”

She couldn’t help but marvel over her newest addition to the family, saying Aidan is quite “determined.” “I had heard this about pandemic babies, but I’d also heard this about the third [in the family] in that they’re watching the other two be able to go around and do all these things. So they think they can do it right away. He’s about to be seven months and he is convinced that he can run down the hallway and you’re like, ‘Buddy, we’re not there yet. We’re just not there. And please don’t rush!’ But he is just determined. He’s like, ‘I can go over there, I can walk over there and hang out.’ And you’re like, ‘You can’t yet!'”

Hewitt’s castmates have all met little Aidan and she credited production for being a supportive environment for a mother of a newborn. “He has given them lots of smiles,” she gushed. “And they’re so cute!”

But Hewitt hopes when fans tune in Monday that they remember that the show is “honoring Maddie and Chimney exactly where they are” — and to have a drink right before.

“We’re not forcing anything and we’re not promising anything. But we are letting them be where they are,” she explained. “I think that has been the beautiful part about Maddie and Chimney. It’s important for people to remember separately what they’ve been through as people, which has been a lot. And then together they have been through a lot. The best relationships are not always the perfect ones, but the ones that remind you over and over and over again to choose each other and to choose love. That’s who Maddie and Chimney are. No promises, but it’s going to play out the way that it’s supposed to.”

“I would drink before to get ready. That’s all I’m going to say. I will be,” Hewitt hinted.

9-1-1airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Source: ET Online

A new teaser trailer for the spring premiere of 9-1-1 was released. We get a glimpse of Maddie in the trailer, so that means she is coming back this spring!

9-1-1 returns Monday, March 21st on FOX!

Jennifer Love Hewitt is turning 43 years old today, February 21st! We want to wish Love an amazing day filled with family and friends. Thank you for being such an inspiration to your fans worldwide.

Jennifer Love Hewitt remembers her friend and co-star Betty White in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight.

Jennifer Love Hewitt will be appearing in the special film titled Betty White: 100 Years Young – a Birthday Celebration. The film will be in theaters for one day only, January 17, 2022, in celebration of Betty White’s 100th birthday!

Betty White invites you to her 100th birthday celebration event. The party for America’s sweetheart includes her star-studded cast of friends including Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Lin Manuel- Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden, Wendy Malick, and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

You’ll experience Betty’s funniest moments on The Golden Girls, hosting SNL, Hot in Cleveland, The Proposal, The Mary Tyler Moore Show—and a lost episode from Betty’s very first sitcom. Plus Betty reveals inside stories of her amazing life and career.

This is a special one-day-only event on January 17, 2022; the party awaits.