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'The real reason we don't hear about Molly Ringwald anymore'

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'The real reason we don't hear about Molly Ringwald anymore'

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An article chronicling Molly's career. Suggests she goes off the radar due to her relatively unsuccessful 90's career, her time living in Paris and her shift to theatre. However, the title of the article is misleading, as it comes to the conclusion that Molly is back in Hollywood doing numerous things in her career. Also, due to your interests (for example, theatre) Molly would still be on your radar from her time away from Hollywood. Seems unfair to suggest she was ever completely 'forgotten'.

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Universal Pictures

Molly Ringwald was once a staple of American cinema, thanks to classic '80s movies like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. Nowadays, though, you hardly hear from her anymore. How did she go from bonafide movie star to distant memory? Here's what we know.

She ended the '80s with a thud

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Although she found great success on the big screen for much of the '80s, Ringwald ended the decade with two legitimate bombs: For Keeps and Fresh Horses, both of which were released in 1988. Fresh Horses especially did not sit well with critics or audiences, earning just over $6.6 million, domestically, at the box office. That's a far cry from the $45 million The Breakfast Club pulled in just a few years prior.

To make matters even worse, Fresh Horses still holds a 0 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, nearly 30 years after its release. That's gotta hurt.

She turned town major motion picture roles

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Ringwald's fading star may have been catalyzed by decisions she made at the end of the '80s. In 2008, she admitted to the Los Angeles Times that she turned down the lead female roles in Ghost and Pretty Woman, two of the biggest box-office hits of 1990. The following year, she sold her Hollywood home and moved to Paris. "I never felt that I could make mistakes and be ridiculous [in Los Angeles]," she said. "I went to Paris to do that." In her own defense, she claimed she wasn't happy enough with the material offered in Ghost or Pretty Woman; but given the movies made almost $400 million combined at the box office, we also wouldn't blame her for thinking, "sacre bleu!"

Her '90s resurgence never caught on

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Ringwald never really seemed to find her footing in the '90s, at least not compared to the overwhelming success she found during the decade prior. One of her chances at a comeback came via the 1994 miniseries The Stand. Although the miniseries, which was based on the popular Stephen King novel, drew a reported 19 million viewers, it hasn't exactly stood the test of time, according to outlets like The A.V. Club. Other projects, including the short-lived ABC series Townies, continued to underwhelm.

She went the theater route

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Ringwald started to find more work at the turn of the century, albeit through a much more niche form of entertainment: theater. In 2001, she starred in an off-Broadway production of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick...BOOM. That same year, she joined the revival of Cabaret as the troubled stage singer Sally Bowles. More Broadway roles continued, including ones in the plays Enchanted April and Modern Orthodox, before Ringwald joined the national tour of the musical Sweet Charity. Sure, a national tour isn't quite the Academy Awards, but hey, whatever works.

She feuded with John Hughes for years

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Remember the saying, "don't bite the hand that feeds you?" Well, Ringwald likely learned that lesson the hard way after severing ties with the director who helped make her famous in the 80s, John Hughes. "Most people who knew [Hughes] knew that he was able to hold a grudge longer than anyone," she admitted in an op-ed published by the New York Times shortly after Hughes' death in 2009. "His grudges were almost supernatural things, enduring for years, even decades. [Anthony Michael Hall] suspects that he was never forgiven for turning down parts in Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I turned down later films as well."

"Not because I didn't want to work with John anymore," she continued. "I loved working with him, more than anyone before or since. Eventually, though, I felt that I needed to work with other people as well. "I wanted to grow up, something I felt (rightly or wrongly) I couldn't do while working with [Hughes]," she added. "Sometimes I wonder if that was what he found so unforgivable. We were like the Darling children when they made the decision to leave Neverland. And [Hughes] was Peter Pan, warning us that if we left we could never come back. And, true to his word, not only were we unable to return, but he went one step further. He did away with Neverland itself."

She added later in the piece that the two made amends after she sent Hughes a letter from Paris. He responded by sending her "flowers as big as my apartment."

A Sixteen Candles sequel never happened

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Many stars of the '80s and '90s are finding success again today thanks to a sudden burst of nostalgia from movie and television audiences. Look no further than the cast of Full House, whose careers were plucked back from obscurity thanks to the Netflix reboot, Fuller House.

Ringwald admitted during a 2012Reddit AMA that she almost cashed in on the nostalgia craze via a sequel to Sixteen Candles. The project eventually fell through, though, because, according to her, "[Hughes] didn't want to have sequels to any of the movies I was in and I didn't feel comfortable doing it without his involvement." That revelation was heartbreaking to hear for fans of the Brat Pack; but then again, considering how bad the reviews were for Fuller House, perhaps she dodged another bullet in the end.

Jem was an absolute bomb

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Although her movie career isn't what it once was, Ringwald hasn't exactly given up. Case in point: she appeared in the much-anticipated 2015 movie Jem and the Holograms. Unfortunately for her, the film was a complete and total bomb, grossing a disastrous $2.2 million at the box office. Critics weren't exactly kind, either; the film only received an 18 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Granted, she wasn't the star of the movie, but that's still not something any actor would want on their resume.

And yet, she's still done a lot of great work

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In 2008, Ringwald landed her biggest role in decades on the hit ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, on which she stayed through 2013 and 96 episodes, according to IMDb. She's also written a handful of books, including 2012's When It Happens to You, and released a jazz record in 2013. Ringwald-who is now re-married with three children- even had a pretty successful advice column for The Guardian for awhile.

So, in other words: despite a number of career setbacks, we don't think we'll be forgetting about her anytime soon.

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The real reason we don't hear about Molly Ringwald anymore

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Universal Pictures Molly Ringwald was once a staple of American cinema, thanks to classic '80s movies like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. Nowadays, though, you hardly hear from her anymore. How did she go from bonafide movie star to distant memory? Here's what we know.

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Number four on the list of stars who took a break from or left Hollywood. Notes her comeback is her role in The Secret Life of the American Teenager in 2008. However doesn't mention why she went off the radar.

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The entertainment industry has seen a lot of its successful stars come and go. And the majority of celebrities have always dreamed of having a successful career in Hollywood. They most likely have always yearned for the opportunity to entertain millions of people across the world with their talents. So, in their minds, being a successful singer or actress was a goal that they've always dreamed of accomplishing.

For some of these stars, being famously known was something that took some time to get used to and having to deal with on a daily basis. Whether it was dealing with constantly being in the public eye, having various opinions about their lifestyles from people they've never met, or trying their best not to slip at their jobs, being a celebrity is never an easy lifestyle.

Some stars were able to leave Hollywood for good and on their own terms. They might've decided that the Hollywood spotlight just isn't for them anymore, and would like to live the rest of their lives under the radar, away from the media.

There are some celebrities who took a break from Hollywood and have surprisingly found a way to re-establish their roles in the industry. These stars were able to make a successful comeback as if they were never gone from the spotlight.

Let's take a look at some of the stars who have decided to leave Hollywood for good, and those that have successfully found their way back.

20 Made A Comeback: Neil Patrick Harris

Fans grew to love Neil Patrick Harris when he was just a child actor starring in Doogie Howser M.D. After that show ended, Harris had a hard time finding a steady acting job due to the fact many people still viewed him as the young kid from Doogie.
It wasn't until a brief cameo in the 2004 film Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle that Harris saw a return to his acting path.
Neil Patrick Harris eventually starred landed a leading role in CBS' How I Met Your Mother as Barney Stinson that gave him the ultimate comeback. Harris is now starring as Count Olaf in Netflix's A Serious of Unfortunate Events.

19 Left For Good: Jack Gleeson

Jack Gleeson was a newcomer in Hollywood with few acting jobs under his belt. His breakthrough role was starring as Joffrey Baratheon in HBO's Game of Thrones. Once Jack Gleeson's time on Game of Thrones came to an end, he announced that he was completely over Hollywood. Gleeson stated that the time and commitment of being an actor on a show as successful as Game of Thrones isn't something that he really enjoyed doing. Gleeson eventually enrolled in college and decided to study philosophy and theology. Jack Gleeson has no desire whatsoever to return back to Hollywood and prefers to live his life under the radar.

18 Made A Comeback: JoJo

In the early 2000s, singer JoJo had everyone singing along with her to her breakout hit single "Leave (Get Out)". JoJo was definitely a teen sensation at only 13-years-old. After releasing her debut album, JoJo ventured off into acting and starred in two popular films, Aquamarine and RV. After the release of her sophomore album, The High Road, it seemed like JoJo's career would continue soaring.
However, after wanting to be released from her record label, JoJo's singing ambitions halted.
Many fans wondered if JoJo would ever record again as she was unable to release new music or perform any of her old songs thanks to the label. JoJo was eventually released from her record label after a seven-year battle and was finally able to release her highly anticipated third album, Mad Love.

17 Left For Good: Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Jonathan Taylor Thomas was one of the biggest teen heartthrobs for those who grew up in the '90s. At the height of his career, Jonathan Taylor Thomas was featured on just about every teen magazine cover. He was also starring in the hit show, Home Improvement, he was the voice of Simba in Disney's Lion King, and he was starring in a few movies. Even after all of his success, Thomas decided that he had enough of Hollywood and just wanted to live a normal and ordinary life. After leaving Hollywood, Jonathan Taylor Thomas enrolled in college, traveled the world, and remains far away from the limelight.

16 Made A Comeback: Ellen DeGeneres

Back in the 90s, comedian Ellen DeGeneres ultimately became a household name after landing her own sitcom on ABC titled Ellen. Ellen's decision to reveal her true self made Ellen the first-ever primetime series to feature a leading gay character.
After Ellen took that big step, ratings from the series dropped and the show was canceled.
Ellen eventually took a break from Hollywood. Years later, she was able to make a comeback after voicing the now beloved Dory in Disney's Finding Nemo. The success of Finding Nemo helped give Ellen a second shot at being a household name. Ellen now has her own award-winning talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Finding Nemo sequel, Finding Dory, and many other business ventures.

15 Left For Good: Amanda Bynes

Amanda Bynes was popular for starring in two hit Nickelodeon comedy shows; All That and her very own The Amanda Show. When Amanda made the transition from child star to an adult actress, she continued her acting streak by starring in The WB's sitcom What I Like About You and the hit films She's The Man, Easy A, Sydney White, and What a Girl Wants. But it was the 2007 film Hairspray that really took Bynes' career to the next level. Amanda was in high-demand after the release of Hairspray. The constant demand was unfortunately too much from Bynes to handle, so she decided to take a break from acting. During her acting break, Bynes decided to enroll in the Fashion Institue of Design & Merchandising to study fashion design.

14 Made A Comeback: Raven-Symoné

You might remember Raven-Symoné from The Cosby Show. But she went on to become a household name in the late '90s and '00s. Raven starred in a variety of films such as Dr. Dolittle, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, and College Road Trip.
Raven became a Disney Channel star after landing her very own series, That's So Raven, and starred in two of the network's hit films.
In 2015, Raven eventually joined The View as a co-host. She quit The View after announcing that Disney Channel decided to create a spinoff from her 2003 series, That's So Raven, called Raven's Home, which solidified her return to the Disney Channel. Raven's Home was so successful during its first season that Disney immediately renewed it for a second season.

13 Left For Good: Mara Wilson

Mara Wilson was definitely a fan favorite after starring in the classic '90s films Mrs. Doubtfire, the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, and of course, Matilda. After having much success as a young actress, Mara Wilson decided to put her acting skills to the side and just quit Hollywood altogether. In her new memoir, Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, Mara revealed that she quit Hollywood due to the fact she just wasn't getting roles anymore. Mara realized that she didn't fit into Hollywood's superficial standards of beauty. After leaving Hollywood, Mara enrolled into NYU where she studied playwriting and theater.

12 Made A Comeback: Winona Ryder

In the '80s and '90s, actress Winona Ryder was definitely the 'it' girl. Winona Ryder starred in a variety of films that many fans deem as cult classics such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Heathers. After various incidents, Winona Ryder took a much-needed break from Hollywood.
Ryder's time away from Hollywood helped clear her mind and helped give her the ability to focus on what she really loved to do, which is acting.
Fans were surprised when Winona Ryder popped up as Joyce Byers in Netflix's hit sci-fi series, Stranger Things. Stranger Things helped catapult Winona Ryder back into Hollywood.

11 Left For Good: Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz was once one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. After all, she has a lot of successful films on her resumé. The last feature film that Cameron Diaz starred in was 2014's Annie alongside Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis. After 20 years of working in the entertainment industry, Cameron Diaz decided it was time for a much need break and announced she was retiring from acting. Diaz decided she wanted to opt for a quiet and normal life away from the spotlight, and she wanted to enjoy spending quality time with her husband, Good Charlotte member Benji Madden.

10 Made A Comeback: Britney Spears

Britney Spears was a certified pop star after the release of her first single "Baby One More Time." Britney was in constant demand after continuing to release chart-topping singles and hit albums.
Of course, with fame comes the fact that a celebrity's life will constantly be under a microscope, and Brit's played out in front of the entire world.
After a few setbacks in the public eye, Britney Spears was able to get her career back on track. She continued to release music and some of her singles were chart-topping. She was also briefly a judge on X Factor and had a successful Las Vegas Residency run.

9 Left For Good: Nikki Blonsky

Nikki Blonksy gained fame when she was just 17 years old after starring in the 2007 remake of the musical Hairspray alongside Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, and John Travolta. Blonksy played the famous role of Tracy Turnblad in the film. Hairspray was Blonsky's first ever theatrical acting gig. After starring in Hairspray, Nikki Blonksy starred in her own series on ABC Family titled Huge. After the cancellation of Huge, and having minor acting roles on other television shows, Blonksy stepped away from acting, returned home, and became a cosmetologist in New York. She continues to try and live life under the radar.

8 Made A Comeback: Alexis Bledel

Many people grew up loving Alexis Bledel when she starred as Rory Gilmore on the hit series Gilmore Girls for seven seasons. Aside from Gilmore Girls, Alexis Bledel also starred in feature films such as Tuck Everlasting, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, and Post Grad.
She took some brief time away from her acting roles to get married and start a family.
Bledel's career rejuvenated after reprising her role as Rory Gilmore in Netflix's Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. She now has a role starring in Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale.

7 Left For Good: Kevin Jonas

Kevin Jonas, along with his two brothers Nick and Joe, had a successful career with their musical group the Jonas Brothers. The Jonas Brothers were a teenage phenomenon. They had movies, their own show on Disney channel, dolls, and so much more. When it was announced back in 2013 that the Jonas Brothers would be disbanding, many fans were heartbroken and wondered what was next for the trio. Kevin Jonas decided to take a break from music and developed his own real estate company. Aside from real estate, Kevin has also created a tech startup company. He's the co-CEO of The Blu Market, which specializes in marketing social media influencers, and We Heart It, a video-sharing app. Kevin also married his longtime girlfriend Danielle Deleasa and is a father of two.

6 Made A Comeback: Mayim Bialik

Mayim Bialik is famously known for her role as the title character in NBC's sitcom Blossom. As a young actress, Miyam Bialik had a variety of guest-starring roles on popular sitcoms throughout the '90s.
She eventually stepped away from on-camera roles and proceeded to do voiceover work for cartoons instead.
During her time behind the scenes doing voice-over work, Bialik attended UCLA where she earned a degree in neuroscience and later a Ph.D. Bialik returned to onscreen acting after landing a role on CBS' The Big Bang Theory. Her role on the series not only made her become a household name again, but she also became an Emmy nominated actress.

5 Left For Good: Elizabeth Berkley

Elizabeth Berkley played the beloved Jessie Spano on Saved By The Bell. After leaving Saved By The Bell, Elizabeth Berkley wanted to have a role in feature films, so she auditioned for and snagged the role in the film Showgirls. The film was supposed to be Berkley's next big break in Hollywood after leaving the Saved By The Bell series, but unfortunately, that was not the case. The film received a lot of not-so-good reviews from film critics and Berkely was dropped from her agency. She has since had plenty of guest starring roles on various shows, but she's never been cast as a series regular. Berkley continues to live her life privately and under the radar.

4 Made A Comeback: Molly Ringwald

Molly Ringwald is perhaps one of the most recognizable actresses from the '80s. The actress starred in plenty of films that have made their mark on pop culture history such as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Pretty in Pink.
Ringwald made a huge comeback in the entertainment world when she starred in the ABC Family series, The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
Once Secret Life ended, Ringwald landed a leading role on the series Raising Expectations. Fans can also see Molly Ringwald back in action on the CW's drama series Riverdale starring as Archie Andrews' mother, Mary Andrews.

3 Left For Good: Helen Hunt

Helen Hunt was an in-demand actress in the '90s. She's known for starring in the hit series Mad About You and the films What Women Want, As Good As It Gets, and Twister. After starring in awarding winning shows and films, Helen Hunt's career kind of hit a standstill, and she ultimately retired from acting. Since she stopped acting, Helen Hunt gave birth to her daughter and decided to try another type of career. Instead of working in front of the cameras like she normally did as an actress, Hunt decided to try her hand at directing, and she now has her own production company.

2 Made A Comeback: Ashlee Simpson

Ashlee Simpson is the younger sister of singer and fashion mogul Jessica Simpson. When Jessica got her MTV reality series, Ashlee was able to secure her very own reality series on the network as well.
Ashlee Simpson's reality series followed her everyday life and showed everything leading up to her debut album.
But her career took a hit after a lipsynching incident on Saturday Night Live, however. Simpson's record sales dropped tremendously and she faded away from the industry. Now, almost a decade later, Ashlee Simpson is stepping back into the limelight with her husband, Evan Ross. The two are starring in their own reality series and are planning to release a joint album together.

1 Left For Good: Frankie Muniz

Frankie Muniz had everyone laughing when he starred in the FOX comedy series Malcolm in the Middle. After Malcolm ended, Frankie Muniz continued his acting career by starring in films such as Agent Cody Banks, Big Fat Liar, and My Dog Skip. After being in various films, Frankie Muniz decided he wanted to pursue a new kind of career away from Hollywood. He actually wanted a career in race car driving. He's stated that he's always been passionate about race car driving. But after starting his race car driving career, Muniz had to quit racing due to an injury.

References: People, ET Online, Vanity Fair

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10 Celebs Who Left Hollywood For Good (& 10 Who Managed To Make A Comeback)

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The entertainment industry has seen a lot of its successful stars come and go. And the majority of celebrities have always dreamed of having a successful career in Hollywood. They most likely have always yearned for the opportunity to entertain millions of people across the world with their talents.

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Molly's instagram post of her and her daughter 'twinning'. Her instagram is fairly personal, mainly taken up with photos of her children and husband, her home, photos of her as a teenager, art and a few political posts.

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Image from her shoot for Elle Magazine. Highlights her quirky fashion choices, similar to her character of Andie from Pretty in Pink.

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Discussion on teen pregnancy (TV Envy, 2010)

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Discussion on teen pregnancy (TV Envy, 2010)

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At the beginning of this interview, Molly discusses teen pregnancy with a caller as she plays the mother of a pregnant teenager in a TV series. She argues it isn't much different from her role in For Keeps? and teenage pregnancy has always been an issue spoken about. She is relaxed, in a domestic setting, she is also open speaking about her roles as a teenager, suggesting she doesn't mind keeping her teen stardom alive.

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Molly Ringwald Interview: Parenting, acting, and preparing healthy meals

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In this interview, paying attention to Molly's words on her relationship with the gay community, it is described as a 'mutual love'. Molly describes how her films spoke to the gay community, as they allowed them to come to terms with their identities. Her normality and personality appeal to everyone, thus her fanbase is very diversified.

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If you think you know '80s teen Brat Pack queen Molly Ringwald, think again. She may still be beloved primarily for starring in late director John Hughes' classic triptych "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink," but the now-48-year-old happily married mom of an 11-year-old daughter and 5-year-old boy-girl twins also has more than 30 other films to her credit. She's been in Broadway's "Cabaret" and "Enchanted April," and was recently a series regular in the long-running ABC Family hit "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." In 2012, Ringwald's debut fiction, "When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories," was published, and last fall she began writing a weekly online advice column, "Ask Molly Ringwald," for the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Guardian.

But perhaps most surprising, 2014 also saw her unveil a Jazz CD, "Except Sometimes." She's coming to the desert with her four-man band March 6 and 7 to perform her cabaret act at Copa in Palm Springs. I recently caught up with this amiable Renaissance woman.
At the age of 3 you began singing with your jazz musician father, Robert Ringwald, and his band, and music has held a special place in your heart ever since. Yet your first album has come out so relatively late in life.
Well, I was kind of a little busy doing other things. [Laughter.] I did a lot of the music when I was younger, and then I got back into musical theater as an adult. I always intended to put my own jazz band together, but honestly ... I hadn't met the right people. And then I met [producer, pianist, singer, arranger, and songwriter] Peter Smith, who is my collaborator. We just started working together and we put the band together, and it just kind of organically happened. It just took longer than I thought it would.
So you always intended to do it all.
I think the turning point for me was turning 40, which is when I thought, "This is ridiculous. You can do all these things - why not put them out there and do them professionally?" You should be able to do as many things as you want. I think as you get older, maybe you just seem to care really less about what criticism you might get. That doesn't seem like the most important thing as much as it is when you're younger. And that's really liberating as an artist.
Like so many strong female performers, you seem to be involved in a longtime mutual love affair with the LGBT community.
I don't want to speak for the gay community, but from what I've been told by the gay community, the films I did really spoke to them because they dealt with that sort of outsider feeling that everyone who has grown up gay has felt.

Molly Ringwald. (Photo: Photo by Hussein Katz.)
What about in your personal life?
One of my oldest friends - [the person that] the character of Duckie is based on in "Pretty in Pink" - is the godfather of my daughter, and I'm the godmother to his daughter. And his husband is the godfather to my son.... Justin Vivian Bond is an old friend of mine. Joey Arias. In fact, one of the stories in my book is about a single mom and her transgender child. That's an example of when my art is directly impacted by my connection to the gay community. I know so many people who are so comfortable now in their identity and with who they are, but it made me wonder what that experience was like growing up, and what it was like from a mother's point of view, because I'd just become a mother for the second time when I was writing those stories. You should read it. It's called "My Olivia."
So what's next?
I'm working on another novel. I'm still writing the Guardian column. I'd like to start making plans to record another album. And I have plans - hopefully they'll come together; I don't know if they will or not for sure - to direct my own movie, which would be really, really exciting. I think that's the next big step in my artistic journey.

Molly Ringwald and band. (Photo: Photo by Hussein Katz.)
You close "Except Sometimes" with your cover of Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget about Me)" from "The Breakfast Club." A lot of performers would shy away from their past. Not you.
When we were putting the songs together for the album, it was just after John Hughes had passed away. He was on my mind a lot, and it just kind of very organically came out of a rehearsal where I was humming the song and was talking to Peter - "Do you think there's any way we could put jazz chords behind it?" And he started playing these really beautiful chords. I just wanted to do it as a tribute to John, and also as a bridge for people who know me for this one thing. Those movies are so much a part of who I am, you know? I'm doing things now that I'm interested in, but that doesn't mean I want to just completely turn my back on my past. To me, it all makes up who I am. I don't know if I necessarily would have done the song if John hadn't passed away at the same time, but it was part of what I was going through at the moment. I'm glad I did. It's a different enough cover of the original that it adds something interesting.

What: Molly Ringwald sings cabaret

Where: Copa, 244 E. Amado Road, Palm Springs

Read or Share this story: http://desert.sn/1ACHJr8

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Molly Ringwald brings cabaret act to Copa

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If you think you know '80s teen Brat Pack queen Molly Ringwald, think again. She may still be beloved primarily for starring in late director John Hughes' classic triptych "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink," but the now-48-year-old happily married mom of an 11-year-old daughter and 5-year-old boy-girl twins also has more than 30 other films to her credit.

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Molly accepting an award for her support and involvement in the gay community. She mentions her support for aids charities and her gratitude at being accepted in to this community, as she has a strong following in the LGBT community. As well as being a feminist, Molly supports actively supports gay rights. Her speech is emotional, charismatic and very down-to-earth.

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Molly Ringwald's Equality Awards acceptance speech

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Don't You Forget About Me: Molly Ringwald, Nostalgia and Teen Girl Stardom

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Don't You Forget About Me: Molly Ringwald, Nostalgia and Teen Girl Stardom

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Frances Smith gives a thorough look in to Ringwald's stardom. Argues her style and authenticity in the 1980's contribute to her being 'an object of popular nostalgia'. Notes her difficulty to transition in to womanhood, including her appearances in teen films and roles as a mother, as well as her music and author career.

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Life News highlights a mistake in Molly's politically themed tweet from 2013, where she calls Davis the 'next governor of Houston, Texas' rather than of the whole of the state. Includes tweets from the public making jokes of celebrity endorsements gone wrong, commenting Ringwald should 'stick to acting'.

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When do you know you should stick to acting? In the case of Molly Ringwald the answer is: when you don't know the difference between a mayor and a governor.

On Tuesday night, the "Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles" actress endorsed late-term abortion heroine Wendy Davis, but the elected position she made the endorsement for was a new one to readers of her tweet.

"Support this woman. The next governor of Houston, Texas," Ringwald wrote.

Support this woman. The next governor of Houston, Texas. #wendydavis #weneedwomenlikethese pic.twitter.com/bORYdxd2c4

- Molly Ringwald (@MollyRingwald) October 31, 2013

While Houstonians are proud of their hometown and Texans have a history of forming their own governments, Texas' biggest city has not yet seceded from the state and formed it's own 51st state. The endorsement drew snarky responses from a number of conservatives on Twitter.

Houston seceded? #txgov RT @GPollowitz: Molly Ringwald endorsed @WendyDavisTexas for governor of "Houston, Texas." https://t.co/zuMyyebz0l

- Jason B. Whitman (@JasonBWhitman) October 31, 2013

I wonder what baby Thea would think of the endorsement of @WendyDavisTexas by @MollyRingwald.

- Ben Howe (@BenHowe) October 31, 2013

.@MollyRingwald If you're from Austin or Dallas or San Antonio, you're out of luck.

- Brian Faughnan (@BrianFaughnan) October 31, 2013

CLICK LIKE IF YOU'RE PRO-LIFE!

You can have Houston, we'll take the rest. MT @MollyRingwald Support this woman. The next governor of Houston, Texas. pic.twitter.com/EZ84LI4bC9

- Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) October 31, 2013

Today, I'm throwing my hat in the ring and announcing my candidacy for Governor of Houston, Texas.

- Fingers Malloy (@FingersMalloy) October 31, 2013

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Actress Molly Ringwald Endorses Wendy Davis for "Governor of Houston, Texas"

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When do you know you should stick to acting? In the case of Molly Ringwald the answer is: when you don't know the difference between a mayor and a governor. On Tuesday night, the "Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles" actress endorsed late-term abortion heroine Wendy Davis, but the elected position she made the endorsement for was a new one to readers of her tweet.

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With Molly being part of popular teenage Netflix show Riverdale, a fan website has a brief synopsis on her and her character in the show. Makes reference to the show doing a parody episode of The Breakfast Club, named the Midnight Club in which Molly's co-star Anthony Michael Hall starred in. Presents how much her current acting career is related back to her teenage care

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Molly Ringwald

Birth date

February 18, 1968 (age 50)

Birthplace

Roseville, California, USA

Molly Ringwald is an American actress. She portrays Mary Andrews on The CW's .

One of Molly Ringwald's best known films is the high school drama The Breakfast Club, which Cheryl Blossom referenced in "Chapter Five: Heart of Darkness". The film later served as one of the inspirations for the episode The Midnight Club, where fellow Breakfast Club co-star Anthony Michael Hall guest stars in. Ringwald however, was absent from the episode itself.

External links

References

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chapter eleven: to riverdale and back again

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February 18, 1968 (age 50) Roseville, California, USA Molly Ringwald is an American actress. She portrays Mary Andrews on The CW's . One of Molly Ringwald's best known films is the high school drama The Breakfast Club, which Cheryl Blossom referenced in "Chapter Five: Heart of Darkness".

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Producers of TV show Riverdale discuss Ringwald as the perfect fit for Archie's mother Mary Andrews. Mention that, for a role as a mum, it's important people knew Molly as a teenager because all parents were teenagers once. Molly seems to have accepted and understood her popularity for these roles, and must enjoy them or she wouldn't carry on accepting them.

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Riverdale: Executive Producers on Molly Ringwald as Archie's Mom

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A 'lookbook' presenting images of Ringwald's outfits and hairstyles. Predominantly red carpet looks but also more casual outfits from her street style to her book launch, and also her character's clothing on TV show 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager'. Seems to much less focus on her fashion as she has gotten older.

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Molly Ringwald Style, Fashion & Looks - StyleBistro

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See pictures and shop the latest fashion and style trends of Molly Ringwald, including Molly Ringwald wearing and more...

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Molly's official website. Has multiple pages on her writing, acting and music career and achievements, with a short history of her life and passions. The site also includes a calendar of her music performances.

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The album was released in 2013 and features 10 jazz records. Signature short red hair, comes across glamorous but still smiling, the air of normality still comes through.

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HBO promotes Ringwald's film For Keeps? in which she plays teenager Darcy, who ends up becoming a mother while still in high school. The 30 second clip presents a rocky relationship between RIngwald and the father, the voice-over is patronising, presents Molly's character as slightly clueless.

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Fan art of the characters from The Breakfast Club. Arguably Ringwald's most famous film, and has become a cult classic in today's society.

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Molly shares information on previous experience of being bullied as a child for an online anti-bullying campaign. She, again, is open and honest, another example of how she wants to help and give advice to others.

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Actress Molly Ringwald Shares Her Personal Story about Being Bullied Growing Up!

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Description and reviews on Molly Ringwald's website about her 2010 book 'Getting the Pretty Back'. A book that shares personal anecdotes while giving advice and empowering women on how to be 'fabulous at any age'. Perhaps sees her platform as a famous actress and her life experiences as an ability to help other women?

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Getting the Pretty Back - Molly Ringwald

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In Getting the Pretty Back, Molly encourages every woman to become "the sexiest, funniest, smartest, best-dressed, and most confident woman that you can be." She shares personal anecdotes and entertaining insights about the struggle to get through the murky milestones and identity issues that crop up long after the prom ends.

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Ringwald becomes The Guardian's agony aunt from September 2014 to September 2015. Offers advice for a range of work, home, family and friend problems that people are facing. Final article offers final piece of advice to 'listen more, talk more.' Similarly to her book, she wants to help others and obviously sees herself as someone who can do this. Perhaps used her time as an agony aunt to reflect on her own life?

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Ask Molly Ringwald | Life and style | The Guardian

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Going Nowhere? The politics of Remembering (and Forgetting) Molly Ringwald

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Going Nowhere? The politics of Remembering (and Forgetting) Molly Ringwald

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Christina Lee discusses Ringwald's star persona throughout her career. Describes how Molly still embodies the 1980's and the nostalgia, an identity that she can't get rid of. Very similar to Smith's research, Lee notices Ringwald will never escape her teenage past.

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"From teen queen to down-to-Earth mom" - there seems to be an interest in a well-known teenage star becoming a mother. Similar to above article on her twins, Molly looks like the every-day mother.

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Focus on fashion - Molly is dressed in her signature thrift-store chiq - a teen icon.

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Ringwald's 'relatable tweets' on motherhood

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Ringwald's 'relatable tweets' on motherhood

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An article in The Huffington Post that has picked out 33 funny and honest tweets from Ringwald's twitter about parenting and her children. Again, presented as the 'every-day, ordinary mother'

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Molly Ringwald doesn't shy away from sharing her parenting experience.

The actress and her husband, Panio Gianopoulos, have three children: Mathilda, Adele and Roman. Over the years, Ringwald has opened up about her everyday adventures in motherhood and shared general musings about kids today on Twitter.

In honor of her birthday, we've rounded up 33 funny and relatable tweets about parenting from the 1980s icon.

Age 13 on set of first movie "Tempest". I see this expression at least once a day in my 12 year old daughter. #tbt pic.twitter.com/uICfHgN65B
- Molly Ringwald (@MollyRingwald) May 19, 2016

I don't know who was grumpier at the premiere of Cinderella, my 5 year old or the cat. pic.twitter.com/7RyiWHUPyW
- Molly Ringwald (@MollyRingwald) March 2, 2015

She can't escape her mom, even when "back to school" shopping at Target. pic.twitter.com/t85uCqIwCu
- Molly Ringwald (@MollyRingwald) August 19, 2014

Question if the day: will I ever survive my 11 year old attempting to memorize "The Elements Song" by Tom Lehrer? http://t.co/7a0oWpAd6m
- Molly Ringwald (@MollyRingwald) December 20, 2014

This is what my 7 year old painted. She just takes it down and shows us when necessary. Should she market them? pic.twitter.com/cRwkByvu
- Molly Ringwald (@MollyRingwald) April 20, 2012

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33 Funny And Relatable Parenting Tweets From Molly Ringwald

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Molly Ringwald doesn't shy away from sharing her parenting experience. The actress and her husband, Panio Gianopoulos, have three children: Mathilda, Adele and Roman. Over the years, Ringwald has opened up about her everyday adventures in motherhood and shared general musings about kids today on Twitter.

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Collectable items for fans - there are also the other four members of the Breakfast Club, as well as Ringwald's character Samantha from Sixteen Candles. The films are considered classic, Molly signifies the nostalgia of the 1980's.

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A GIF made of Ringwald's character Claire Standish from The Breakfast Club.

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Molly's complete filmography from her time in film and television, spanning 40 years, with brief breaks throughout. Range of films, however most noteable ones are her 'coming-of-age' films and TV shows. Can see she took quite a big break from Hollywood in the early 2000's.

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Radio conversation with writer Judd Apatow

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Radio conversation with writer Judd Apatow

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Discussion on Molly's article for The New Yorker, and a general conversation on feminism, the MeToo movement and Hughes' writing as well as Apatow's. Molly goes in to depth about how she finds The Breakfast Club troubling, and how she was sexually harassed at 14 years old by a director. As a feminist, she wants Hughes' teen films to spoke about because she doesn't want them to set an example for younger generations.

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Molly Ringwald, Judd Apatow, and #MeToo | The New Yorker Radio Hour | WNYC Studios

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The muse of the filmmaker John Hughes and one of his successors wrestle with the long shadow of sexism in film.

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Very politically outspoken on Twitter. Strongly against the Republican Party and people like Trump and Kavanaugh. Like her interviews, online she is open and honest.

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The Daily Mail reports on Molly's book reading - however covers her bare legs and whether the main character of her book is based on her ex-husband, rather than the book itself.

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Radiant in white: Molly Ringwald shows off her legs at book reading in Los Angeles

Molly Ringwald looked pretty in white as the actress turned author showed off her legs on Saturday at an outdoor book event.

The star of the 1986 John Hughes' movie Pretty In Pink looked radiant while reading passages from her 2012 collection of stories When It Happens To You at the Los Angeles Festival of Books.

Molly wore a simple short-sleeve, mid-thigh white cotton dress that bared plenty of leg to the event held on the University of Southern California campus.

The 45-year-old actress completed the outfit with a pair of high-heeled, gladiator-style shoes.

The bright white dress provided a slight contrast to her pale porcelain skin and was complemented by her vibrant red hair.

Molly read passages aloud onstage and also signed copies of her 256-page book.

She posted a message on Twitter about her favorite part of the day: 'Today's highlight: Meeting the great Carol Burnett. #labookfestival.'

Molly also has written the memoir Getting The Pretty Back but this is her first work of fiction.

However, with one of the characters being a selfish French boyfriend many fans of Ringwald have questioned who much is fiction as the star's first marriage was to a Frenchman, Valery Lameignère.

She told the : 'No matter what I write, people are always going to wonder, is this her life? Is this her?

'I can't control the way that people read my writing. I can only control what I write. I take from myself - I feel like I'm all of the characters and none of the characters. I'm like a magpie: I take from everywhere.'

The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles star has appeared determined to shed her adolescent persona lately with her writing and singing.

She released her debut album this month featuring her singing jazz songs.

The album includes her rendition of Don't You [Forget About Me], the 1985 song by Simple Minds featured in The Breakfast Club.

Ringwald has said the song is a tribute to the late Hughes.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.

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Radiant in white: Molly Ringwald shows off her legs at book reading in Los Angeles

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Molly Ringwald looked pretty in white as the actress turned author showed off her legs on Saturday at an outdoor book event. The star of the 1986 John Hughes' movie Pretty In Pink looked radiant while reading passages from her 2012 collection of stories When It Happens To You at the Los Angeles Festival of Books.

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Book Review for 'When It Happens to You' (2012)

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Book Review for 'When It Happens to You' (2012)

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Goldstein reviews Ringwald's latest book, and notes that she was able to forget that a famous actress had written it. Praises Ringwald's talent in being able to act, sing and write and hints at the book being turned in to a film.

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I wondered, as I opened "When It Happens to You," a novel in stories by Molly Ringwald, just how long it would take for me to forget the author was the actress who made me wish I was a redhead, the one who gave Judd Nelson her earring at the end of "The Breakfast Club," the one who now makes me feel old when I occasionally see her playing one of the moms on "The Secret Life of the American Teenager."

One chapter? Two? Maybe then I'd forget that I was reading a book written by the queen of the Brat Pack?

It actually didn't take that long.

Most people who buy Ringwald's fiction debut will probably do so because they grew up watching her movies, but if they actually read the book they should forget she wrote it on the first page, when a frustrated wife and mother named Greta is stretched out on the bathroom floor attempting to zip up a pair of ill-fitting pants so that she might look nice in just one photo with her husband.

Ringwald's characters are all too real, and not at all pretty in pink.

"The Breakfast Club" actress talks about her new novel, and how she honed her descriptive powers by describing the world to her blind jazz pianist father.

"Now any photo seemed to be taken from their six-year-old daughter's height - hardly a flattering angle: the upward tilt of Greta's crooked smile, and the heavy lower lids of Phillip's distracted and vaguely startled eyes, as though he didn't quite expect to find himself there."

Greta and Phillip sit at the nexus of Ringwald's collection of empathetic, closely observed tales, which chronicle the couple's infidelity and all who are affected, from the unassuming neighbor who winds up entertaining a child of separation, to the poor, flailing rebounds, who turn out to be the most magnetic characters in the book.

You never quite know which characters will turn out to be connected, and I won't spoil it, but the most memorable are a single mom named Marina, whose son believes he's meant to be a girl, and Peter, a Yale-trained actor who winds up a disgraced children's television star.

Peter's story is the only real wink from Ringwald about her own past in the entertainment business. She writes a beautifully comedic and awkward plane scene, in which Peter is bumped to first class by a group of rude stewardesses who demand that he sign autographs for their kids.

Ringwald writes, "He felt as though he had never before paid so much for a ticket in his life."

I'm sure Ringwald has found herself in the same traps, perhaps surrounded by fans at malls quoting lines from "Sixteen Candles."

If only those fans knew that Ringwald's mind has been occupied by tales of loss, humor, suburban angst, and parental helplessness - the stuff of Tom Perrotta and Meg Wolitzer novels.

The only major flaw in "When It Happens to You" is Ringwald's ending. The book's strength is as a beautiful collection of character studies, but when Ringwald makes a small attempt at closure, it doesn't quite work. Best to keep all of these floating characters up in the air where they belong.

Ringwald recently told the Globe that she plans to turn this one into a movie. She said she'd happily play Marina, the one character she allowed to have red hair. I'm skeptical, but I should know better. Ringwald released a notable book while starring on a television show, for which she sings the theme song (yes, she also sings). If she wants to make a movie, she most certainly will.

Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe
.com.

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Book review: 'When It Happens to You'by Molly Ringwald - The Boston Globe

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Most people who buy actress Molly Ringwald's fiction debut will probably do so because they grew up watching her movies, but if they actually read the book they will discover that this work deserves attention on its own merits. Ringwald's collection of empathetic tales chronicle a California couple's infidelity and all who are affected.

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A poster for her 2001 performance as Sally Bowles in Broadway's revival of Cabaret. She was in the role for just over 4 months. A very different role to her innocent teenage characters of the 1980's.

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Ringwald discusses becoming a mother to twins at age 41 and her pregnancy. Gets quite personal, but still leaves things private, she is presented as the ordinary mum in her own home.

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Molly Ringwald Pretty in Pink... and Blue!

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"Are you saying I'm the teenage Buddha?"

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"Are you saying I'm the teenage Buddha?"

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Interview for BUILD
on 2018 film All These Small Moments. Discusses being type-cast as a mother and how it can be limiting and also how her older fans have grown up and matured along side the characters she's played.

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Post on Molly's instagram promoting her new film All These Small Moments. Teen film where she is cast as a mother.

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 Molly Ringwald on Instagram: "New film out on Jan 17th! Link in bio.
#allthesmallmoments"

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8,016 likes, 58 comments -  mollyringwaldDecember 3, 2018 on : "New film out on Jan 17th! Link in bio.
#allthesmallmoments". 

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Molly Ringwald (@mollyringwald)

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Academic journal that discusses Ringwald's post-feminist influence from her films with Hughes, particularly through the representation of class. Bleach hails that the Ringwald-Hughes films '[shaped] his feminism'. A different take on the films to Molly's piece for The New Yorker. Isn't biased, however, he notes some problematic elements to the films.

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A Twitter moment signifying Molly Ringwald's 51st birthday, referencing her film Sixteen Candles.

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Includes a performance of 'Don't You (Forget About Me)', which features on her new album, to honour John Hughes after his death. Mixing her new music career with her previous teenage film career.

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Molly Ringwald - Don't You (Forget About Me)

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1984 television interview on The Merv Griffin show

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1984 television interview on The Merv Griffin show

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Talks sweet sixteen birthdays, summer camp and her new film The Breakfast Club. She seems slightly reserved, perhaps not completely used to doing interviews yet. Merv Griffin questions also seem to be quite patronising, as if she is much younger. Molly is dressed in her signature style of vintage, thrift-store clothing.

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Molly Ringwald Interview- "16 Candles/BreakfastClub" (Merv Griffin Show 1984)

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Molly Ringwald's own written article for The New Yorker on her films with John Hughes and how they are troubling in the #MeToo era of Hollywood. Her ability to criticise and start a discussion on the films that made her famous presents her as unafraid to stand up for what she believes in.

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Earlier this year, the Criterion Collection, which is "dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world," released a restored version of " The Breakfast Club," a film written and directed by John Hughes that I acted in, more than three decades ago. For this edition, I participated in an interview about the movie, as did other people close to the production. I don't make a habit of revisiting films I've made, but this was not the first time I'd returned to this one: a few years back, I watched it with my daughter, who was ten at the time. We recorded a conversation about it for the radio show "This American Life." I'll be the first to admit that ten is far too young for a viewing of "The Breakfast Club," a movie about five high-school students who befriend one other during a Saturday detention session, with plenty of cursing, sex talk, and a now-famous scene of the students smoking pot. But my daughter insisted that her friends had already seen it, and she said she didn't want to watch it for the first time in front of other people. A writer-director friend assured me that kids tend to filter out what they don't understand, and I figured that it would be better if I were there to answer the uncomfortable questions. So I relented, thinking perhaps that it would make for a sweet if unconventional mother-daughter bonding moment.

It's a strange experience, watching a younger, more innocent version of yourself onscreen. It's stranger still-surreal, even-watching it with your child when she is much closer in age to that version of yourself than you are. My friend was right: my daughter didn't really seem to register most of the sex stuff, though she did audibly gasp when she thought I had showed my underwear. At one point in the film, the bad-boy character, John Bender, ducks under the table where my character, Claire, is sitting, to hide from a teacher. While there, he takes the opportunity to peek under Claire's skirt and, though the audience doesn't see, it is implied that he touches her inappropriately. I was quick to point out to my daughter that the person in the underwear wasn't really me, though that clarification seemed inconsequential. We kept watching, and, despite my best intentions to give context to the uncomfortable bits, I didn't elaborate on what might have gone on under the table. She expressed no curiosity in anything sexual, so I decided to follow her lead, and discuss what seemed to resonate with her more. Maybe I just chickened out.

But I kept thinking about that scene. I thought about it again this past fall, after a number of women came forward with sexual-assault accusations against the producer Harvey Weinstein, and the #MeToo movement gathered steam. If attitudes toward female subjugation are systemic, and I believe that they are, it stands to reason that the art we consume and sanction plays some part in reinforcing those same attitudes. I made three movies with John Hughes; when they were released, they made enough of a cultural impact to land me on the cover of Time magazine and to get Hughes hailed as a genius. His critical reputation has only grown since he died, in 2009, at the age of fifty-nine. Hughes's films play constantly on television and are even taught in schools. There is still so much that I love in them, but lately I have felt the need to examine the role that these movies have played in our cultural life: where they came from, and what they might mean now. When my daughter proposed watching "The Breakfast Club" together, I had hesitated, not knowing how she would react: if she would understand the film or if she would even like it. I worried that she would find aspects of it troubling, but I hadn't anticipated that it would ultimately be most troubling to me.

It can be hard to remember how scarce art for and about teen-agers was before John Hughes arrived. Young-adult novels had not yet exploded as a genre. Onscreen, the big issues that affected teens seemed to belong largely to the world of ABC Afterschool Specials, which premièred in 1972 and were still around as I came of age, in the eighties. All the teens I knew would rather have died than watch one. The films had the whiff of sanctimony, the dialogue was obviously written by adults, the music was corny.

Portrayals of teen-agers in movies were even worse. The actors cast in teen roles tended to be much older than their characters-they had to be, since the films were so frequently exploitative. The teen horror flicks that flourished in the seventies and eighties had them getting murdered: if you were young, attractive, and sexually active, your chances of making it to the end were basically nil (a trope spoofed, years later, by the "Scream" franchise). The successful teen comedies of the period, such as "Animal House" and "Porky's," were written by men for boys; the few women in them were either nymphomaniacs or battleaxes. (The stout female coach in "Porky's" is named Balbricker.) The boys are perverts, as one-dimensional as their female counterparts, but with more screen time. In 1982, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," which had the rare distinction of being directed by a woman, Amy Heckerling, got closer to an authentic depiction of adolescence. But it still made room for a young male's fantasy of the actress Phoebe Cates striding topless in a soft-porny sprinkler mist.

And then Hughes came along. Hughes, who grew up in Michigan and Illinois, got work, after dropping out of college, writing ad copy in Chicago. The job brought him frequently to New York, where he started hanging around the offices of the humor magazine National Lampoon. He wrote a story called "Vacation '58"-inspired by his own family trips-which secured him a job at the magazine and became the basis for the movie "National Lampoon's Vacation." Another story caught the eye of the producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who encouraged him to write what became "Mr. Mom." Those movies helped him get a deal with Universal Studios. "The Breakfast Club" was to be his directorial début; he planned to shoot it in Chicago with local actors. He told me later that, over a July 4th weekend, while looking at headshots of actors to consider for the movie, he found mine, and decided to write another movie around the character he imagined that girl to be. That script became "Sixteen Candles," a story about a girl whose family forgets her sixteenth birthday. The studio loved the script, perhaps because, in form at least, it had more in common with proven successes-"Porky's" et al.-than it did with "The Breakfast Club," which basically read like a play.

A meeting was arranged, we hit it off, and I filmed "Sixteen Candles" in the suburbs of Chicago the summer after I completed the ninth grade. Once we were done shooting, and before we began filming "The Breakfast Club," John wrote another movie specifically for me, "Pretty in Pink," about a working-class girl navigating the social prejudices of her affluent high school. The film's dramatic arc involves getting invited and then uninvited to the prom. In synopsis, the movies can seem flimsy-a girl loses her date to a dance, a family forgets a girl's birthday-but that's part of what made them unique. No one in Hollywood was writing about the minutiae of high school, and certainly not from a female point of view. According to one study, since the late nineteen-forties, in the top-grossing family movies, girl characters have been outnumbered by boys three to one-and that ratio has not improved. That two of Hughes's films had female protagonists in the lead roles and examined these young women's feelings about the fairly ordinary things that were happening to them, while also managing to have instant cred that translated into success at the box office, was an anomaly that has never really been replicated. (The few blockbuster films starring young women in recent years have mostly been set in dystopian futures or have featured vampires and werewolves.)

I had what could be called a symbiotic relationship with John during the first two of those films. I've been called his muse, which I believe I was, for a little while. But, more than that, I felt that he listened to me-though certainly not all the time. Coming out of the National Lampoon school of comedy, there was still a residue of crassness that clung, no matter how much I protested. In the shooting script of "The Breakfast Club," there was a scene in which an attractive female gym teacher swam naked in the school's swimming pool as Mr. Vernon, the teacher who is in charge of the students' detention, spied on her. The scene wasn't in the first draft I read, and I lobbied John to cut it. He did, and although I'm sure the actress who had been cast in the part still blames me for foiling her break, I think the film is better for it. In "Sixteen Candles," a character alternately called the Geek and Farmer Ted makes a bet with friends that he can score with my character, Samantha; by way of proof, he says, he will secure her underwear. Later in the film, after Samantha agrees to help the Geek by loaning her underwear to him, she has a heartwarming scene with her father. It originally ended with the father asking, "Sam, what the hell happened to your underpants?" My mom objected. "Why would a father know what happened to his daughter's underwear?" she asked. John squirmed uncomfortably. He didn't mean it that way, he said-it was just a joke, a punch line. "But it's not funny," my mother said. "It's creepy." The line was changed to "Just remember, Sam, you wear the pants in the family."

My mom also spoke up during the filming of that scene in "The Breakfast Club," when they hired an adult woman for the shot of Claire's underwear. They couldn't even ask me to do it-I don't think it was permitted by law to ask a minor-but even having another person pretend to be me was embarrassing to me and upsetting to my mother, and she said so. That scene stayed, though. What's more, as I can see now, Bender sexually harasses Claire throughout the film. When he's not sexualizing her, he takes out his rage on her with vicious contempt, calling her "pathetic," mocking her as "Queenie." It's rejection that inspires his vitriol. Claire acts dismissively toward him, and, in a pivotal scene near the end, she predicts that at school on Monday morning, even though the group has bonded, things will return, socially, to the status quo. "Just bury your head in the sand and wait for your fuckin' prom!" Bender yells. He never apologizes for any of it, but, nevertheless, he gets the girl in the end.

If I sound overly critical, it's only with hindsight. Back then, I was only vaguely aware of how inappropriate much of John's writing was, given my limited experience and what was considered normal at the time. I was well into my thirties before I stopped considering verbally abusive men more interesting than the nice ones. I'm a little embarrassed to say that it took even longer for me to fully comprehend the scene late in "Sixteen Candles," when the dreamboat, Jake, essentially trades his drunk girlfriend, Caroline, to the Geek, to satisfy the latter's sexual urges, in return for Samantha's underwear. The Geek takes Polaroids with Caroline to have proof of his conquest; when she wakes up in the morning with someone she doesn't know, he asks her if she "enjoyed it." (Neither of them seems to remember much.) Caroline shakes her head in wonderment and says, "You know, I have this weird feeling I did." She had to have a feeling about it, rather than a thought, because thoughts are things we have when we are conscious, and she wasn't.

Thinking about that scene, I became curious how the actress who played Caroline, Haviland Morris, felt about the character she portrayed. So I sent her an e-mail. We hadn't seen or spoken to each other since she was twenty-three and I was fifteen. We met for coffee, and after we had filled each other in on all the intervening years, I asked her about it. Haviland, I was surprised to learn, does not have the same issues with the scene as I do. In her mind, Caroline bears some responsibility for what happens, because of how drunk she gets at the party. "I'm not saying that it's O.K. to then be raped or to have nonconsensual sex," Haviland clarified. "But . . . that's not a one-way street. Here's a girl who gets herself so bombed that she doesn't even know what's going on."

There was a time in my early twenties when I had too much to drink at a party and ended up in a bedroom sitting on the edge of a bed with a producer I didn't know, lightheaded and woozy. A good friend, who had followed me, popped her head in the door a couple of minutes later and announced, "Time to go now, Molly!" I followed her out, trying not to stumble, and spent the rest of the night violently ill and embarrassed-and the rest of my life grateful that she had been there, watching out for me, when I was temporarily incapable of watching out for myself. I shared the story with Haviland, and she listened politely, nodding.

Haviland, like me, has children, and so I decided to frame the question hypothetically, mother to mother, to see if it changed her point of view. If one of our kids had too much to drink, and something like that happened to one of them, would she say, "It's on you, because you drank too much"? She shook her head: "No. Absolutely, positively, it stays in your pants until invited by someone who is willing and consensually able to invite you to remove it." Still, she added, "I'm not going to black-and-white it. It isn't a one-way street."

After our coffee, I responded to an e-mail from Haviland to thank her for agreeing to talk to me. Later that night, I received another note. "You know," she wrote, "the more I think of it this evening, oddly, the LESS uncomfortable I am with Caroline. Jake was disgusted with her and said he could violate her 17 ways if he wanted to because she was so trashed, but he didn't. And then, Ted was the one who had to ask if they had had sex, which certainly doesn't demonstrate responsible behavior from either party, but also doesn't really spell date rape. On the other hand, she was basically traded for a pair of underwear . . . Ah, John Hughes."

It's hard for me to understand how John was able to write with so much sensitivity, and also have such a glaring blind spot. Looking for insight into that darkness, I decided to read some of his early writing for National Lampoon. I bought an old issue of the magazine on eBay, and found the other stories, all from the late seventies and early eighties, online. They contain many of the same themes he explored in his films, but with none of the humanity. Yes, it was a different time, as people say. Still, I was taken aback by the scope of the ugliness.

"A Dog's Tale" has a boy watching his mother turn into a dog. "Against His Will" features an "ugly fat" woman who tries to rape a man at gunpoint in front of the man's wife and parents because she can't have sex any other way. "My Penis" and "My Vagina" are quasi-magical-realist stories written from the points of view of teen-agers who wake up in the morning with different genitalia than they were assigned at birth; the protagonist of "My Penis" literally forces her boyfriend's mouth open to penetrate him, and the male in "My Vagina" is gang-raped by his friends once they discover he has one. (The latter story ends with him having to use the money he saved for new skis on getting an abortion.) The "Hughes Engagement Guide" is an illustrated manual on how to protect yourself against women. It gives examples of women "bullshitting to not put out," and teaches readers how to do a "quickie pelvic exam," how to detect "signs of future fat," and how to determine if a woman has any ancestors of different races, based on what her relatives look like-there is an accompanying drawing of an Asian person and an African-American-and on and on.

The October, 1980, issue included a piece, co-authored by Ted Mann, titled "Sexual Harassment and How to Do It!" The guide explains, "If you hire a woman from another field or with a background that is not suited to the duties she is to assume, you've got the glans in the crevice, or, if you prefer, the foot in the door." It continues, "Not only will her humility prepare her for your sexual advances, it will also help steel her for her inevitable dismissal." There are sections describing different kinds of secretaries based on their ages, and how best to reward and punish them. (The older ones are "easier," the younger ones "preferable.") There's even a section on arrest: "Sometimes even guys with cool sideburns and a smooth line of patter get arrested for sexual harassment and are issued summonses." It goes on to suggest different methods for cozying up to the police officer.

It's all satire, of course, but it's pretty clear that it's not the chauvinists who are being lampooned but the "women's liberation movement." Women had begun to speak out, in the mid-seventies, against harassment in the workplace. (The beloved movie "9 to 5," in which three women get revenge on a sexist boss, was released in December of 1980, two months after the Hughes-Mann piece ran.) Mann is now a writer and producer who has been nominated for seven Emmys, most recently for his work on the Showtime series "Homeland." I sent him an e-mail asking what he now thought of the piece he wrote with Hughes. He replied that he didn't remember ever having written it. "It looks like one of our art director Peter's desperate page fillers," he explained, referring to Peter Kleinman. "It wouldn't fly today and it never should have flown then," he went on, adding, "These were degenerate cocaine days."

I can't vouch, personally, for any cocaine days that John may or may not have had. When I knew him, he never expressed an interest in doing drugs of any kind, including alcohol-with the exception of cigarettes, which he smoked constantly.

John believed in me, and in my gifts as an actress, more than anyone else I've known, and he was the first person to tell me that I had to write and direct one day. He was also a phenomenal grudge-keeper, and he could respond to perceived rejection in much the same way the character of Bender did in "The Breakfast Club." But I'm not thinking about the man right now but of the films that he left behind. Films that I am proud of in so many ways. Films that, like his earlier writing, though to a much lesser extent, could also be considered racist, misogynistic, and, at times, homophobic. The words "fag" and "faggot" are tossed around with abandon; the character of Long Duk Dong, in "Sixteen Candles," is a grotesque stereotype, as other writers have detailed far more eloquently than I could.

And yet I have been told more times than I could count, by both friends and strangers, including people in the L.G.B.T. community, that the films "saved" them. Leaving a party not long ago, I was stopped by Emil Wilbekin, a gay, African-American friend of a friend, who wanted to tell me just that. I smiled and thanked him, but what I wanted to say was "Why?" There is barely a person of color to be found in the films, and no characters are openly gay. A week or so after the party, I asked my friend to put me in touch with him. In an e-mail, Wilbekin, a journalist who created an organization called Native Son, devoted to empowering gay black men, expanded upon what he had said to me as I had left the party. "The Breakfast Club," he explained, saved his life by showing him, a kid growing up in Cincinnati in the eighties, "that there were other people like me who were struggling with their identities, feeling out of place in the social constructs of high school, and dealing with the challenges of family ideals and pressures." These kids were also "finding themselves and being 'other' in a very traditional, white, heteronormative environment." The lack of diversity didn't bother him, he added, "because the characters and storylines were so beautifully human, perfectly imperfect and flawed." He watched the films in high school, and while he was not yet out, he had a pretty good idea that he was gay.

"Pretty in Pink" features a character, Duckie, who was loosely based on my best friend of forty years, Matthew Freeman. We've been friends since I was ten, and he worked as a production assistant on the film. Like Emil, he's out now, but wasn't then. (It's one of the reasons I've often posited, to the consternation of some fans and the delight of others, that Duckie is gay, though there's nothing to indicate that in the script.) "The characters John created spoke to feeling invisible and an outsider," Matt told me recently. They got at "how we felt as closeted gay kids who could only live vicariously through others' sexual awakenings, lest we get found out with the very real threat of being ostracized or pummelled."

John's movies convey the anger and fear of isolation that adolescents feel, and seeing that others might feel the same way is a balm for the trauma that teen-agers experience. Whether that's enough to make up for the impropriety of the films is hard to say-even criticizing them makes me feel like I'm divesting a generation of some of its fondest memories, or being ungrateful since they helped to establish my career. And yet embracing them entirely feels hypocritical. And yet, and yet. . . .

How are we meant to feel about art that we both love and oppose? What if we are in the unusual position of having helped create it? Erasing history is a dangerous road when it comes to art-change is essential, but so, too, is remembering the past, in all of its transgression and barbarism, so that we may properly gauge how far we have come, and also how far we still need to go.

While researching this piece, I came across an article that was published in Seventeen magazine, in 1986, for which I interviewed John. (It was the only time I did so.) He talked about the artists who inspired him when he was younger-Bob Dylan, John Lennon-and how, as soon as they "got comfortable" in their art, they moved on. I pointed out that he had already done a lot of movies about suburbia, and asked him whether he felt that he should move on as his idols had. "I think it's wise for people to concern themselves with the things they know about," he said. He added, "I'd feel extremely self-conscious writing about something I don't know."

I'm not sure that John was ever really comfortable or satisfied. He often told me that he didn't think he was a good enough writer for prose, and although he loved to write, he notoriously hated to revise. I was set to make one more Hughes film, when I was twenty, but felt that it needed rewriting. Hughes refused, and the film was never made, though there could have been other circumstances I was not aware of.

In the interview, I asked him if he thought teen-agers were looked at differently than when he was that age. "Definitely," he said. "My generation had to be taken seriously because we were stopping things and burning things. We were able to initiate change, because we had such vast numbers. We were part of the Baby Boom, and when we moved, everything moved with us. But now, there are fewer teens, and they aren't taken as seriously as we were. You make a teen-age movie, and critics say, 'How dare you?' There's just a general lack of respect for young people now."

John wanted people to take teens seriously, and people did. The films are still taught in schools because good teachers want their students to know that what they feel and say is important; that if they talk, adults and peers will listen. I think that it's ultimately the greatest value of the films, and why I hope they will endure. The conversations about them will change, and they should. It's up to the following generations to figure out how to continue those conversations and make them their own-to keep talking, in schools, in activism and art-and trust that we care.

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The actress and author Molly Ringwald writes about revisiting the movies she made with the late director John Hughes, including "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink," in the age of #MeToo.

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Lists her current careers while making a joke about her previous teenage stardom, targeting people who will have been fans of her in the 1980's, who will now be in their 50's.

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A seventeen year old Molly Ringwald at the height of her teen stardom talks boyfriends, family, music and acting. Comes across very down-to-earth.

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Tempest won her a Golden Globe nomination for Best New Actress of 1982. She did a few television movies, Packin' It In, and P.K. and the Kid, and a feature that was an unqualified flop, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. But in screenwriter John Hughes' directorial first, Sixteen Candles, something clicked. The moderately successful teen-oriented film was criticized for its blatant racist/sexist humor, but Molly Ringwald, as the touchingly self-conscious Samantha, performed as if she were in another film entirely.

Still, despite the Tempest publicist's predictions, no baby monster emerged. Ultimately, the most noticeable un-teenagelike trait was Molly's display of that singular quality held by adolescents who must tread that middle ground between the adult world and that of their peers-something like a wily sophistication combined with bedrock youthfulness and naiveté. By the time Ringwald completed Hughes' second film, The Breakfast Club," and Surviving, a television movie about teenage suicide, if she had established anything it was the fact that she stood above the neo-Rat Pack of young, talented actors currently dominating the screen.

Born in Sacramento, California, in 1968, she began her career at the age of three, singing songs with the Great Pacific Jazz Band, led by her father, who is blind jazz pianist/banjo player Bob Ringwald. Two years later, she cut an LP, Molly Sings, which included tunes like "I Wanna Be Loved By You" and "Oh Daddy." She became involved in acting when her older brother Kelly and sister Beth participated in community theater. Her interest finally won her a role as the Dormouse in Alice Through the Looking Glass. In 1973, she was included in Truman Capote's The Grass Harp. By 1977, she had landed a role as one of the orphans in the San Francisco-Los Angeles company's production of Annie, and her family moved south. Two years later she was cast in the television sit-com Facts of Life. She was cut after one season, which reportedly left her "devastated." Her parents told her she would overcome the loss. Her parents, as parents often are, were right.

Currently a junior at the upscale West Los Angeles high school, Lycée Français, Molly is in the midst of filming her third John Hughes film, Pretty in Pink. The story, she says, is about a poor girl going out with a rich boy. "Basically," says Molly, "It's about pride and honor and respecting who you are."

Molly Ringwald and I met early one morning at a San Fernando Valley coffee shop near her home. Like most junk-food-obsessed teens she ordered hash browns, a Danish, coffee, strawberries, and a sausage patty. ("Ugh," she said later when the latter arrived, "This looks like dog food.")

We opened by discussing something that is certainly one of her areas of expertise-filmic adolescence.

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New Again: Molly Ringwald - Interview Magazine

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Molly Ringwald gave a voice to every awkward teenage girl from 1984 to... forever. From Sixteen Candles to The Breakfast Club to Pretty in Pink, Molly mapped out all the ups and down of teen life, and she did it with sincerity.