The actress shares Silas, 8, and Phineas, 2, with her husband, Justin Timberlake.
Jessica Biel is bracing herself for her kids' teenage years. ET's Cassie DiLaura spoke with the actress during a junket for season 2 of Cruel Summer, which Biel executive produces, and the mom of two admitted that she worries about what life will be like when her boys are teens like the characters on her show.
"I am devastatingly nervous about it," said 41-year-old Biel, who shares Silas, 8, and Phineas, 2, with her husband, Justin Timberlake.
"God, I mean it's terrifying," she added. "What's going to happen to these kids? What they have to go through with puberty, it's hard being a kid. I tell my eight-year-old that all the time. I'm like, 'Dude, it's hard being eight. I get it.' And then I'm gonna help him see that it's hard being 41. He's just looking at me like, 'What? You don't matter.'"
Michelle Purple, a mom of teens who also executive produces the Freeform series, warned Biel that "it just smells" with teenage boys around.
"With teenage boys, it's interesting, the drama, the dynamics, even though it's very different what they're dealing with, it's all the same," Purple noted.
While Biel will have to wait to see if that holds true for her kids, she got to time travel back to the '90s, the era of her own teenage years, for season 2 of Cruel Summer.
"It relies so heavily on this aesthetic," Biel said of the show, which is told in multiple perspectives and set in three different timelines. "Everything has to be perfect, because everyone's too clever. We were all there. I know if that's not real, I know if that's right, or that those low hanging jeans are not low enough... We have to put the best team in place all the time to get the fashion, the music and production design on point."
As for the cast, which includes Sadie Stanley, Lexi Underwood and Griffin Gluck, Biel joked that she's "like a Y2K icon dinosaur to them."
As viewers watch season 2, they'll try to discover the truth around a traumatic event that unravels the friendship -- and love triangle -- between three teens. While they work to do so, Biel advised viewers to "just pay attention" to the show's more subtle moments.
"Pay attention to who these people are. Look for the little things and watch the small things," she said. "The big gestures, the big story points, those are the obvious things and those are probably how we're trying to misdirect you. So, look for the little stuff."
Season 2 of Cruel Summer will premiere June 5 on Freeform.
RELATED CONTENT:
