“Weeds” actress Mary-Louise Parker to quit acting because Internet is “too bitchy”

Reality TV and gossip sites spread too much negativity and criticism, says the actress

BY PRACHI GUPTA  

TOPICS: MARY LOUISE PARKER, INTERNET CULTURE, TROLLS, WEEDS, TV, MOVIES, ACTING, ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

(Credit: AP)

“Weeds” TV show and “Red” movie actress Mary-Louise Parker is quitting acting because the world “has gotten too mean for me,” she told News Corp Australia. “It’s just too bitchy.”

Calling herself “thin-skinned,” Parker referred to Internet blogs and reality TV as perpetuators of negativity and criticism, “and there’s more of that than there is whatever praise people think you’re getting,” she said.

“I don’t know if you can imagine a friend sending you something they thought was funny, that was something mean someone wrote about you and there’s like 50 comments from complete strangers across the world about you — and you can say ‘Oh I let it roll off my back’ and ‘I wouldn’t take it personally’, but you have no idea until it happens to you. It doesn’t feel nice.”

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“It’s a mean culture — it’s reality TV and it’s watching people suffer and watching people humiliate themselves. It’s little girls in pageants and housewives and plastic surgery and people in rehab. It just feels like a very ugly … it’s like someone just lifted up a rock and that’s all we’re looking at.”

The actress might pursue another TV show or “a couple more plays,” but “I’m almost done acting, I think.” Instead, she plans to focus on writing: “I would write, still. I write for Esquire and writing makes me happy. I would take care of my kids and my goats. That’s about it. Bake. Throw my Internet in the lake.”

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.MORE PRACHI GUPTA.