Melissa McCarthy might be a movie star to you, but to her two teenage daughters? She’s Midway Mom.
What’s Midway Mom? Well, during a lengthy discussion with PEOPLE, the 52-year-old actress revealed that her daughters, Vivian (15) and Georgette (13) refer to her as Midway Mom when she happens to be in a fun mood.
The nickname was coined during a family trip to visit Melissa’s parents. She, her daughters, and her husband Ben Falcone were walking through Midway Airport in Chicago when Melissa just decided to get the girls anything they wanted.
And for some reason everything they asked for, I was like, ‘Sure, get it. Two of them. You want a Coke?’ And they were just like, ‘What’s going on?’ ‘Can we have Doritos?’ ‘Yep.’ Anything they said. ‘Can we get sweatshirts?’ ‘You sure can.’ Like everything. I was like, ‘You want a beer cozy?’ And they were like, ‘Midway Mom’s awesome.’
So now, whenever Melissa is in a fun parenting mood, her kids call her Midway Mom.
But of course, as all parents know, you can’t always be a Midway Mom. Sometimes you just have to be a mom. She revealed that between her and Ben, she’s the strict parent.
Ben gave me good advice when he said, ‘When you’re trying to get them to clean their room, organize their closet, do all these things,’ he’s like, ‘You’re 52. At 14 were you doing that?’ So that has made me back off. I still want them to pick up their wet towels. I’m not going to lie.
She also talked about how she helps them navigate social media, or at least tries to help. McCarthy admitted she hardly understands it herself, but she tries to remind her daughters that it’s all smoke and mirrors online.
I keep saying this is smoke and mirrors and entertainment, which is fine. I’ve said, ‘It’s as if somebody takes a character I’ve played and assumes that’s the real me.’ But that’s an ongoing fistfight that concerns me all the time.
