Photographer: Storm Santos
Stylist: Anna Schilling
H&MU: Kimberly Bragalone
H&MU Assistant: Alysha Marcantonio
You’ve lived several lives already—international model, single mother, stand-up comic, and actress. Looking back, which version of yourself do you feel closest to today?
I’ve always been a comic at heart, no matter what job I did. Sometimes saying the inappropriate thing. That’s what happens to a lot of serious people. They don’t even know they’re being funny. That’s why I kept my mouth shut a lot.
The fashion world is often associated with perfection, while comedy thrives on vulnerability. How did your years as a model shape the performer—and storyteller—you've become?
Perfectionism is cultivated within that industry heavily. You’re so hard on yourself. And that can take over all areas of your life and drive you insane. The great part is that it also extends to striving to write the perfect joke and be clear in my storytelling. So I’ve had to learn to use it for good, instead of self-harm.
Your new special, ROSALEE MAYEUX: MODEL MOM, finds extraordinary humor in the everyday realities of motherhood. Why do you think audiences are craving that kind of authenticity right now?
Authenticity just makes everyone feel safe, seen, and heard. And there is very little of that in the world today. When you find it, it feels like you can breathe again. I was quite old before I discovered how much we are lied to every single day, from people we are supposed to be able to trust. Great comedy calls that out. I trust a comic over a politician or religious fanatic any day.
Reinvention has become something of a cultural obsession. You've done it successfully more than once. What have you learned about starting over that most people get wrong?
You make it sound so romantic. Reinvention comes from pain. I never changed anything about myself until my face was in the asphalt. But out of that pain, has come grand, fun things. If you’re smarter than me, and you can embrace change more gracefully, that would be better. I learned acceptance doesn’t have to hurt so much. That would be my advice.
There’s a wonderful fearlessness in your comedy, especially when discussing dating, parenting, and aging. Was there a moment when you stopped worrying about being liked and started focusing on being truthful?
Oh, I’ve embarrassed myself with feeling like a duck out of water and wanting to fit in for so long, not knowing I was pretty or smart growing up. Now, not caring is my new full-time goal. What a brilliant way to live.
Raising a family, there’s a million things you have to become expert at. What fever meds do you give a two-year-old with a temperature of 103, if he weighs 34 lbs?
… or how long does it take to get to the ER and can you ice that contusion or will it freeze their brain. But, finally when you’re done with your charges, you may not have your own identity intact. I felt incomplete. And now, I am finally to the age where I don’t care what anybody thinks about me. I have the remote control now. And I know what I know about life. And I say it.
You've traveled the world and experienced the glamour of fashion firsthand. Yet your comedy often celebrates life's messiest moments. What fascinates you more these days—aspiration or reality?
I still dream. As an artist, my dreams feed me. For instance, I daydream about being able to do hip hop all the time. Then I tore a ligament in my knee trying, so I guess I have to accept that sometimes I’m just an awkward clown.
As a single mother raising two teenage boys, you've turned some of life's biggest challenges into material. Has comedy changed the way you process difficult experiences?
Many sleepless nights, I told myself through the tears that one day this would be funny. I just wanted us to come out of it alive and loving each other. Funnily enough, the cancer years cemented my relationship with my sons as grown men after so much turmoil raising them. We found it funny. They still make me laugh every day. It’s the greatest way to stay sane.
Between LOVE AT FIRST SPITE, LOST IN REGINA, and your comedy special, you're entering an exciting new chapter on screen. What stories are you most interested in telling at this stage of your career?
It’s been a blast creating characters for these projects, with directors who let me do what I do best. And so much fun revisiting my life experiences with Model Mom. I’m touring now, working on a deep dive into the miracles that have happened in my life. The friendships with people who were angels along the way. And talk about my commercial career, which took a very specific kind of acting, involving a direct string to our funny bone.
Women are often told that certain opportunities have an expiration date. Your career seems to challenge that idea entirely. What does success mean to you now versus when you first started modeling?
I hear people talk about this all the time. But we are each unique on our own unique timeline. I could never have found purpose according to someone else’s timeline. I wouldn’t have been able to savor my life. And isn’t that the point? Success is how we approach it all, this little singular life, this grand adventure we’re on.
If there is one thing you hope women take away from MODEL MOM, whether they're mothers or not, what would you like them to feel after watching it?
Can everyone please, please, stop being hard on yourselves! Get more sleep. And then get out to a comedy show! We can laugh and hug and maybe cry a little. Trust me, I am a natural failure at many things I make plans to do, but a complete success at what actually happens! Come out with me! Xo Rosalee
