On June 10, Molly Bernard will say goodbye to Lauren Heller.
This is how Bernard speaks of the character throughout our entire conversation.
Bernard landed the role as her first gig after graduating from the Yale School of Drama.
Peter Yang/Viacom/Lisa Moses
Like Lauren, Bernard identifies as queersome of the time, at least.
Sometimes I identify as queer, sometimes I identify as bisexual, she says.
First of all, its no ones business.
Peter Yang/Viacom/Lisa Moses
Would her life look the same todayengaged to and in love with a womanhad she never played Lauren?
I have fully no idea.
I hope that I would have met Hannah, my partner, Bernard says.
And I hope that I would have still had as easy of a timecoming out.
Though it was her first queer relationship, when Bernard knew, she knew.
I did not bat an eye, she tells me of falling for Hannah.
I just fell in love.
Bernard met her partner at a wine-and-cheesebook club.
They were reading Michael WolffsFire and Fury.
I recognized that she had really small feet like me, Bernard recalls.
I was like, What are those?
Her unorthodox pickup line worked well enough that the two exchanged numbers.
And the second date was the best second date of my entire life.
And now welive together, and its the best live-together day of my life, every day.
In that way, Lauren taught Bernard its okay to just be.
But Bernards experience figuring out her sexuality hasnt been all rainbows and butterflies.
It did start to catch up with me, Bernard says of the hard-and-fast way she fell in love.
I still had toand continue toput work in to explore what it is to be queer.
For Bernard, this has included difficult conversations with herself andwith her therapistabout sexual identity.
Its hard to even process in your own body, she continues.
Thank goodness formental health professionalsand for great friends.
There were times where I was like, Oh, I wish I had a Lauren.
She would just be like, Be easier on yourself.
Because Im so hard on myself.
I will miss the size and the scope that I got to inhabit.
In fact, she says shes already turned down parts she finds too similar to Lauren.
To be queer in Hollywood, period, is a tall order, Bernard says.
I am probably about to get typecast for the rest of my life as a quirky girl.
So she is being choosy when it comes to her roles.
Her latest project is the indie filmMilkwater, which came out on May 21.
Bernard saysYoungerhandled its plotlines with grace and extends that accomplishment toMilkwaterandTransparentwhere she had a recurring roleas well.
FuckingHappiest Seasonkilled me, she says.
Like, that was a traumatizing outing story.
They need a do-over.
We need a do-over.
Like her characters inTransparentandYounger,Bernard is Jewish.
The celebration of rituals and of freedom is the pillar of Judaism, she says.
It is freedomand I think thats the intersection.
For now, Bernard would like to focus on just that: being free.
I really want to explore other people.
But I will really miss our chemistry.
