Why Hallmark star James Denton moved his family to Minnesota a month after 'Desperate Housewives' ended
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James Denton's two children were still in diapers when he first propelled to TV stardom as sexy plumber Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives — "I was never considered hunky until Marc Cherry convinced America that Teri Hatcher would date me," laughs the actor — but the show's legacy has remained a part of their lives.
"That's all they've really known, is people stopping me in restaurants and, you know, taking pictures and handing me a telephone and asking me to talk to their Meemaw or whatever it is," Denton tells Yahoo Life of his kids, 19-year-old Sheppard and 17-year-old Malin. "So they're used to it, and I think they like it."
After all, not many kids can say, like Malin can, that their birth made both the CNN chyron and People magazine, the latter of which Denton's leading lady, Teri Hatcher, had blown up as a poster that is still hanging up in his daughter's room. And how many college freshmen can boast that they spent part of their gap year filming a Hallmark movie co-starring their dad?
Premiering this Sunday, Oct. 16, Hallmark's Perfect Harmony sees Denton playing a rock star opposite on-screen love interest Sherri Saum, with son Sheppard cast as (what else) his character's son. The proud dad calls spending six weeks "in a hotel in the middle of nowhere Canada together" one of the "best work experiences of my life."
An interest in acting runs in the family, with mom Erin holding an M.F.A. in theater from NYU and daughter Malin just being cast as the lead in Mamma Mia! at school. But the star isn't sure his son, who is also an avid musician, sees a Hollywood career in his future. Denton laughs sharing how the psychology major has signed up for an acting class at school, but hasn't mentioned to his classmates that he has an IMDB page or has a Hallmark movie coming out.
"He's really good, but he's smart enough to know it's a tough way to make a living, and I don't think he's gonna pursue it," explains Denton, who also appeared alongside Sheppard in the 2016 Hallmark movie For Love & Honor. "And I'm torn, because he is really good. The head of the network called me and said, 'Your son is stealing this movie from you.' I said, 'That's exactly what I want to hear,' because Hallmark to their credit, I don't know who else would've just allowed me to put my son in a movie, and they did it both times. ... They took a chance on him and they love him in it. And so it's been hugely rewarding. But I don't think he's gonna pursue it. ... He seems to be more practical."
Denton's family moved to the Minneapolis suburbs a month after Desperate Housewives ended its eight-season run in 2012. Along with being closer to Erin's family there, Denton liked the idea of raising his kids away from Los Angeles.
"I knew the value of growing up in a smaller town," the Goodlettsville, Tenn. native says, citing the different "pace" of life. "And with social media ... they've got enough to deal with without being [there]. L.A. is tough. I think kids judge each other a little more harshly and everybody's parents seem to be in the business in some aspect and it's just much easier in a small town for them."
Denton himself is not on social media, though he admits that his Hallmark bosses probably wish he were. ("If I didn't do it when I was on the number one show in the world, it's silly for me to start now," he points out.) Like a lot of parents, he's concerned about its effect on his kids, though he admits that some technological advancements — namely, the Find My Friends app that lets him keep tabs on his family, because "you never turn your phone off when they're teenagers, ever" — have given him peace of mind as a parent.
With one kid in college and the other in the middle of her senior year of high school, the Good Witch star is feeling sentimental as he transitions to a new phase of parenthood: almost-empty-nesters.
"When your kids are adults ... they're such different people," says Denton, who is eyeing a return to the theater after his next couple of Hallmark movies come out. "You almost mourn those children that were 3, 4, 5, 6, because those people don't exist anymore ... Those kids are gone. So it's weird. You can really get melancholic and sad.
"I see why people have babies," he adds with a laugh. "My mom had my little brother when my sister and I were 11 and 13, much to the surprise and chagrin of my dad. But I see why people do it. I think mourning is almost the right word because you just miss those kids. They're pretty much the same from about 5 to 11, and they still think you know everything and they still run and throw themselves around your legs when you walk in the door. And then you've got these two adults you love in exactly the same way, but they're wildly different people."
As a dad, Denton says he was "pretty lax — but they earned it." He remembers telling them both, "Until you prove otherwise, I'm going to give you a lot of rope," and is happy to report that they never gave him cause to parent with an "iron fist." And while he still worries about them struggling to fit in as they make their way in the world, he has faith that they'll land on their feet.
"[As parents] our primary job, against all our instincts, is to make ourselves obsolete," he muses. "And we've done a pretty good job of that. My kids are very self-sufficient and very successful and healthy and we're really, really lucky."
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