First Wives Club Star Ryan Michelle Bathe Shares Swimsuit Photo of “Work”

1. Acting Dreams

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Bathe knew she always wanted to be an actress. “My mother was an actress so I grew up in theater—literally in theater,” she says. “I can remember my mother did the Lena Horne show, The Lady and her Music when Lena Horne was on Broadway. My mother was in the cast and I can remember the smell of backstage, the sounds of walking up the steps and the most beautiful thing in the world to me was when the orchestra began to warm up, till this day it gives me chills. So I think I always knew this was a world that spoke to me and this was something that I wanted to do.”

2. Female Solidarity

Bathe loves the way First Wives Club is all about sisterhood and female solidarity. “My mother actually was a really great example of that for me,” she says. “She had girlfriends like you wouldn’t even believe — and I mean like sisters. So I knew from a very early age that sisterhood is the lifeline for a woman… You would be surprised by some of the things that I’ve done for my friends! I can’t tell you, ‘cause I’d have to kill you. But scaling a building? Girl, that’s easy. At least it’s not illegal.”

3. Balancing Act

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Bathe is realistic about what it takes to work while taking care of a family. “People always talk about the balance, but I think it’s more like preparing a meal,” she says. “Some things come to the front burner, some things go to the back burner. It’s like, ‘Let me go ahead and put this bread in the oven, because if I don’t get to the onions, they’re not going to be chopped in time for the water that’s already boiling.’ It is also a managing of the triage: ‘Who’s bleeding? Who needs a tourniquet? Who needs an Advil?’ Sometimes things will break down and you’re in the middle of something else, and you’re like, ‘Okay, can that breakdown wait 45 seconds so I can tie this thing up?’ So once I realized that it’s not a balance, I took the pressure off myself.”

4. The Endgame

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Bathe used her skills from playing FBI agent Val Fitzgerald on The Endgame in real life when a door was ajar. "Now I also know that it doesn't always close behind me,” she says. “Sometimes it bounces and it's this whole weird thing. The rational part of me was like, it's probably fine. But I went to the kitchen and I got two knives and I went through the whole house with each knife, and my back to the wall, and doors, and like... stabbing the air. I was like, I don't know that I would have done this before [playing] Val. I probably would have called for help."

5. Keeping It Real

Bathe is under no illusions as to how much work long-term relationships can be. “Yeah, I would definitely describe myself as a romantic, but with a slightly cynical veneer,” she says. “In this age of social media, that’s where I give a little side-eye, when people are like, ‘It’s me and my boo,’ and they’re like 18 and just got matching tattoos. It’s easy to say it’s your boo when everybody has six-pack abs and you guys don’t go grocery shopping [laughs]. Talk to me when you’ve had the same conversation about almond milk for 10 years! So that’s when I get a little cynical, when I see this social media performance of relationships and love and romance. It can be a lot.”