'Important to be who you want to be’

Press, 10 February 1986, Page 11

'Important to be who you want to be’

The “Cheers” star Shelley Long talks to DUO writer GABRIELLE DONNELLY...

“One of the most important things in life is balance; balancing your professional and personal balancing your thoughts and your feelings,” says Shelley Long, star of "Cheers,” a new series of which begins on One this evening. “If you can maintain a balance in your life then you can keep things in perspective. I’ve been a working woman for many years now and for me, the best way I can keep a balance is to go on working even though I’m now a proud mum,” she says. "When people ask me if I’m afraid I’m neglecting my child, the answer is certainly not. My mother was a career lady — she was a teacher, and a very good one — and I certainly didn’t feel neglected by her. She seemed very happy, and you know something? It’s so nice to be with someone who’s contented, much nicer than someone who isn’t. Maybe she didn’t spend as many minutes, or hours, or even days with me as she would have liked, but

there was no doubt that the time she did spend with me was a very special time and very precious to us both. I certainly didn’t feel that I was missing out on anything — and I don’t expect my child will either. “I’m not saying that every new mother should go straight back to work as I did; there are some who don’t want to, and that’s fine. But there are some who do have the desire to be out in the big wide world, and for those, I say go. You’ll be contented if you do, discontented if you don’t, and who wants to share discontentment with her child?

“I’m fortunate in the fact that I don’t have to work; I’m happily married and quite secure financially, but the fact is I want to.

“I love playing in ‘Cheers’ and I simply didn’t want to give up all that fun, and the character I created, to stay at home.

“I believe it’s so important to be the person you want to be, and because I’m the person I .want to be, because I’m still hang-

ing on to my identity, Shelley Long, actress, I hope it will help my child to have the same inward security. It’s essential that every child should know it’s fine to be who they feel they are — not who Mum and Dad think they should be. “I combine career with family and feel I’m a better mother because of it. It helps, I think, that I didn’t have a baby a few years earlier, but waited until my life and career were well under way. “Of course, balancing your personal life and career isn’t as easy as it sounds. You have to make decisions and choices — many of which are very difficult. But if you can hit the balance that suits you personally then I’m convinced you’ll feel happy and content in all areas of your life — and a better person for it.”