Here's Lacey

Party of Five's Claudia dishes about boys, family, acting, and her favorite lipstick.

by Mary Murphy

Love scenes can be rough on an actress. But they can be really rough on an actress's mom. Just ask Julie Chabert, mother of Party of Five's Lacey Chabert. "I was really unhappy with the script. There was kissing. I mean, she's never done that in real life. I was going, 'Oh, my gosh! An older boy kissing my daughter!'"
Julie wanted to stop the scene, which involved Lacey's character, Claudia Salinger, making out with a boy she'd met at camp. "The sound technician was having to hold me down," she says. "Finally, he said, 'Ok you can open your eyes now.' I couldn't watch because it was my 13-year-old. I just kept saying to Lacey, 'If you don't want to do it, you don't have to.'" But Lacey did, nervously. "My palms were sweating," she says. "My heart was beating. I was really nervous. My mom said I didn't have to do it, but then I'm like, 'What? Not kiss Rider Strong? He's very cute.' And I guess I am at the age where I am starting to notice boys."
In fact, playing Claudia has given Chabert a few ideas on growing up. She's moved her dolls out of her bedroom, put up posters of boys (Brad Pitt, among others), and abandoned her crush on costar Scott Wolf. "I was in love with him at first. I used to think, maybe one day he will wait for me. But as we got to know each other, suddenly we became best buddies. You can't really marry your best friend. So I gave up on that. Not to mention that he did meet someone else."
Chabert has just driven for two hours with her mom to be interviewed, and while most adult stars wouldn't consider going out of their way, Chabert hasn't uttered a word of protest. Instead, she's open, happy, and thoughtful. A little girl-and yet sophisticated beyond her years. As Party of Five executive producer Amy Lippman once said, "Sometimes, I think Lacey is older than I am."
Stardom, even for this grounded teen, has had its price. On-screen, she confronts grief and suffering as part of a family of kids who have lost their parents in a car crash. And in real life, she was separated from her own family for much of the time she was making the series, now in its third season on Fox.
"We lived in Mississippi and we would go back and forth," says her mother. Many weekends, Chabert and her mom flew to New Orleans, drove two and a half hours to their home in Purvis, Mississippi, and returned Sunday night. "What you do for your kids," Julie says with a sigh. After 18 months, the family moved to Southern California.
Like the fictitious Salingers, the Chaberts have faced adversity. Three years ago, Lacey's sister, Christy, 18, was diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. "She has a great attitude," says Chabert. "She realizes it could be something worse. I think it made me want to help people. When you have, somebody in your family who really is sick, you understand other people." Which has helped her portray Claudia. "Claud is so concerned with keeping the family together," she says. "I think she doesn't have a specific person watching out for her as a parent, so she feels really responsible for herself."
Day in and day out, says Chabert, there are more bright moments than not. "I love what I do. I want to do features. I want to go to college when I am older. I want to go to Paris to film school. That would be awesome. I would also like to do some directing. I asked to direct an episode of Party of Five and they were like, 'I don't think so. Not yet!'"
Like any director-in-training, she has definite likes. Take makeup. She loves it. Her favorite lipstick: MAC. Her favorite colors: Spirit, Touch, Malt, Cherish, and Haku, "which is glitter green. It is so awesome," she says. She loves shoes: Big platform shoes. Kickers. Skechers. And Doc Martens. "The silver ones are my favorites." And cars. A silver Porsche first caught her eye. But then Chabert's more pragmatic side kicked in. "Now I want a silver Miata. I realized a Mazda looks a lot like the Porsche but, is cheaper."
Can boys be far behind in real life? "I haven't had a steady boyfriend, yet," she says. "But I'm looking. I haven't found the right guy yet."
Not even close? She giggles. "Maybe."