Paula Patton, Robin Thicke have clear lines on jealousy, work
LOS ANGELES — Paula Patton is having the best summer ever.
Professionally, the 37-year-old actress is busy promoting the romantic comedy “Baggage Claim,” which opens Sept. 27. “2 Guns,” starring Patton, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, opened earlier this month.
Personally, Patton is relishing the success of her husband, Robin Thicke, who has the catchy summer hit, “Blurred Lines.”
“You couldn't have planned this better. It's a really odd, wonderful coincidence,” said Patton of their simultaneous career highs.
“We celebrate in the kitchen late at night after we put our son to sleep, and we're like, ‘Can you believe this?”' she said with a high-pitched squeal. “And then we do things like (tell each other) ‘drive the speed limit,' ‘don't mess around.' It's like ‘don't mess this up!'”
In an interview earlier this month, Patton talked about prepping Thicke for her sexy on-camera scenes and said a healthy dose of jealousy is the key to a lasting relationship.
Q. What does Robin think about your “Baggage Claim” makeout scenes with Derek Luke, Boris Kodjoe and Djimon Hounsou?
A. I always prep him for the sexy scenes. I mean the moment he's not a little jealous is the day that I'm very worried, OK? And I think he feels the same way. You have to have a little bit of jealousy. But mostly it's happiness for each other because we've known each other since we were kids and we dreamt the same dream together and we know how hard it's been. It's had its peaks and its valleys. It's a marathon. So when you have great moments like this, or when you just get to work, quite frankly, you're just so thankful that you can kind of overlook the things that might hurt a little bit.
Q. In the film, your character faces a lot pressure to get married and start a family. Did you experience anything like that?
A. You know a little bit because my husband and I met when we were so young and then we lived together, `lived in sin,' and then we had a long engagement. It was sort of that `is it ever going to happen?' But we were so young. We were just kind of having fun.
Q. Will you pressure your kids to settle down?
A. I wouldn't do that, no. I find that so archaic to be honest. I'm not really a traditional person that way. I don't think people need to follow anybody's rules but their own. Follow your heart.
Q. Did your son visit you on the movie set?
A. My son came to visit me a lot, but there's a lot of scenes that you just don't want `why are you kissing a man that's not daddy?' That's just not good. That's not healthy for a 2-year-old. He's three now, but that could scar him. You know what I mean? So it was a lot of set (visits) to the trailer. He wasn't there for the Boris Kodjoe makeout scene. I can tell you that much.
Q. What if he sees the movie one day?
A. Eventually he will and listen, that's part of the deal. No one's parents are perfect. You're going to have to suffer a little humiliation of having to see mommy do these things. It's the way it's going to go.
Q. What's your secret to balancing motherhood and your career?
A. You just sleep a lot less. Always tired. Always. I'd be lying to you if I told you something different.
Q. What has motherhood taught you?
A. That's it's given me great perspective, made me a lot less self-involved. Maybe before if you lose a role or something happens and you just sit in your bed all day and cry. There's no time for that (now). Somebody needs to eat, they want to go to the park, and it's great because it puts life in perspective and those moments become a lot smaller and a lot less significant once you have a child.
Q. What is it like to experience such personal and professional fulfillment?
A. I feel like my son has been a lucky charm. I really do. I don't know what it is and I do think children can be lucky charms. You have to treat them with reverence and respect and discipline, but he did somehow. With him he brought many gifts.