For the American actress Karen Pittman, working alongside Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon on the hit Apple TV+ series The Morning Show for the past seven years has been a dream come true. "They’re such involved and thoughtful women,” Karen tells HELLO! when we meet the actress for an exclusive interview in her luxurious suite at London’s Ham Yard Hotel. "They are thoughtful about the directors and the crew they bring in, and the other actors they bring in. Jeremy Irons, Marion Cotillard, Aaron Pierre and Clive Standen, who plays my love interest on the show – they’re just great.”
The star – whose character, the TV producer Mia Jordan, gets a "glow up" in the current series – welcomes us warmly to her suite on a grey, drizzly English day, which Karen says she adores. A fifth series of the award-winning show has just been announced when we meet, and Karen is thrilled that series four is now airing. She says that her character, Mia, "has been holding it down for women and the company for three seasons”, through plot strands including a sexual misconduct scandal, Covid-19 and a network merger.
"This season she wants to become head of the news division, so we track her journey up that mountain and see what happens when she gets to the top. Mia becomes an army of one – she’s more ruthless." Like her character, Nashville-raised Karen is ambitious. "I’m probably more ambitious than her," she says, adding that her strategy is a little different – "but as far as aiming to find common ground with people, that’s definitely me."
Karen had the joy of wearing clothes by the luxury label Lafayette 148, for which she's a brand ambassador, on the show this season, and these outfits helped the actress find her persona on the show. "Lafayette is very New York and all of the characters live in New York, although we filmed in Los Angeles, so it all came together."
"Who wants to be an ingenue for the rest of their lives?"
Viewers may also recognise Karen from her role on the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That…, in which she played Nya Wallace. She starred in the show between 2021 and 2023, and although she doesn’t see the cast much now, she is a fan of Sarah Jessica Parker’s wine. "You have to try it; it’s very good,” she says.
Of her time on the series, she says: "It [was] so different from The Morning Show and the clothing came first in many ways.
"I had to navigate my character through all of this noise about clothing, and that was a challenge for me because, as an actor, I’m not going to the clothing first, I’m going to the body of the character first. But I had to include that because she wore a lot of colourful clothes and sneakers, and she had braids."
Home life
In addition to her successful TV career, it’s an exciting time in Karen’s love life. She recently announced the news of her engagement to the film-maker Ade Richardson.
The couple, who live in Los Angeles with their children from previous relationships, have not yet set a wedding date, but Karen is thinking about her bridal gown. "I’m going to see if Emily will make my dress," she smiles, referring to Emily Smith, the creative director of Lafayette 148.
Looking to the future, Karen says: "There are so many people I’d love to work with." More and more roles are coming up for older women, and the actress is all for it. "We want to see women age. Who wants to be an ingenue for the rest of their lives? You want to show the experiences you’ve had as a woman and have those experiences reflected in story and character."
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