Shailene Woodley Didn’t Know Who Molly Ringwald Was on ‘Secret Life’

Shailene Woodley initially didn’t understand her mom in The Secret Lifetime of the American Teenager was truly an ’80s teen icon.

The actress revealed throughout a current look on Vainness Truthful’s “Scene Selection” that she had no concept who Molly Ringwald was after they first began working collectively on the ABC Household drama, which ran from 2008 to 2013. Ringwald performed Anne Juergens, the mom of Woodley’s Amy Juergens, on the present.

“I didn’t know who Molly Ringwald was,” Woodley confessed. “I was 15, didn’t grow up with a TV. Like, every one of my parents’ friends were like, ‘You’re working with Molly Ringwald!’ And I was like, ‘What is her… Why? I don’t get it.’ Because I had never seen Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles or any of her films.”

Nevertheless, the Three Girls actress stated having not watched any of director John Hughes’ movies that launched Ringwald to stardom as a teen truly labored out ultimately.

“I got to know her as just this, like, beautiful older sister motherly figure to me, who was really protective of honoring, like, my authenticity as a young person and who I was and just being, like, a kiddo playing a kiddo,” Woodley defined. “She protected me in that way and I’m so thankful for that because there is a pressure for people to grow up very quickly, especially when it comes to Hollywood.”

The Divergent star added that she “learned a lot” engaged on The Secret at a younger age, together with storytelling and “the types of messages that I want to be putting into the world or maybe not putting into the world.”

Whereas Ringwald was already well-known as soon as The Secret Lifetime of the American Teenager premiered, it was Woodley’s first time starring position on a TV present.