High Potential’s Kaitlin Olson talks the 'need to protect' her sons in revealing new interview

Kaitlin Olson has revealed how her two sons have inspired her work in the hit new TV show High Potential.

"The heart and soul of our show is Morgan and her family," Kaitlin has told Emmy magazine in a new interview.

"My kids are the most important thing in my world. As an actor, I’m definitely drawing upon my love for them and my wanting to protect them."

© Kaitlin Olson

In High Potential, she stars as Morgan Gillory, a single mother and a high potential intellectual, with an IQ of 160.

Working as a cleaner for the Los Angeles Police Department, she solves a case using her unconventional mind, and unexpectedly becomes a consultant for the Major Crimes division, much to the displeasure of no-nonsense detective Adam Karadec.

In the show, Morgan is mom to daughter Ava Sinquerra, a rebellious teenager whose father, Roman Sinquerra, disappeared 15 years before the series begins, and son Elliot Radovic, Morgan's son with her second ex-husband Ludo who also seems to have inherited his mom's high-potential intellect. 

She is also mom to baby Chloe, whom she welcomed with Ludo.

© Disney

Kaitlin shares two sons – Axel Lee, 14, and Leo Grey, 13 – with her husband, Rob McElhenney; Kaitlin and Rob met on the comedy show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and began quietly dating during the second season.

© Disney via Getty Images

Kaitlin made the first move and made her feelings known during a game night when she attempted to, in her words, "move myself into his lap". 

While that encounter didn't end as she hoped, they began dating not long after although Rob wanted a "casual" relationship, which Kaitlin found laughable, telling Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast in June 2018: "I was like, 'This person is completely in love with me – and he has no idea.' It was no problem for me."

© Getty Images

Kaitlin has spoken in the past about how her sons have become big fans of her comedy show It's Always Sunny much to their parents' dismay.

"We’ve tried to keep both of them away from Sunny," she told Seth Meyers of raising her sons away from the depraved comedy about a group of degenerates who try to run an Irish pub.

"I had both of them while we were shooting the show. That’s how long it’s been. And we can’t keep it from him anymore."

"Listen, they're both very funny. But at this age, the sense of humor they’ve adapted from us is just so horrifically inappropriate," Kaitlin shared.