Teri Hatcher opened up to ET about playing a real-life true-crime story and the ups and downs of dating life.
Teri Hatcher is no longer a Desperate Housewife, but until recently, she was still looking for love.
The 59-year-old actress sat down with ET's Nischelle Turner recently to discuss everything from her wide spectrum of upcoming projects to her complicated dating life.
"I did get kicked off of Hinge," Hatcher admitted of her foray into the dating apps. "There was enough people that I did not respond to, because they would text me things like, are you still 'real and spectacular'? -- and I'm like, OK, that's not who I want to date."
Others, she recalled, doubted that they were talking to the "real" Teri Hatcher. "So I never answered those people, and I think they got mad and went and complained and said, 'There's somebody on here pretending to be Teri Hatcher,' and so they just kicked me off. It was probably silly to even try it," she explained of her attempts on the apps, "but I was kind of trying to say to the universe, 'I'm open. I'm not afraid.' I was trying to do that, but I think it's the wrong place for me."
As for where her love life stands today?
"I've sort of given up," she admitted. "I mean, I don't want to say I've given up. My heart is open. But, you know, I have lovely friends. I travel, I experience things. I take care of my parents. I love my cats. I garden. I go to the beach.... It's just a very full life and the truth is, I think this person, if there ever is one, is just going to have to be really special, you know?"
"Rather than pining away, I've chosen to just put a lot of effort into the life I want to live," she added.
Part of that fulfilled life, for Hatcher, includes continuing to broaden her horizons in the acting world. In her upcoming Lifetime movie, The Killer Inside: The Ruth Finley Story, the actress plays a real-life person for the first time, examining a shocking true-crime story form 1970s Kansas -- which includes a chilling connection to a well-known serial killer.
Ruth Finley was a housewife in Wichita at the same time that the BTK Killer was terrifying the area with his random, brutal murders. When Ruth began being stalked via letters and phone calls by a person who became known as "The Poet," police and the public had to wonder if the threatening figures were one and the same. But The Poet's true identity ended up being even more chilling and surprising.
"I think what’s great about the movie is [it's] for two different audiences -- one which is, if you don't know anything about Ruth Finley, I think you're going to be watching a really entertaining psychological twist-and-turn thriller," Hatcher explained. "But if you do know about Ruth Finley, I think the minutia of how we are able to reveal and delve into the kind of anxiety that existed within her and that community during the episodes of the BTK Killer... I think that’ll be really interesting.
"For me it was the first time I ever played a real person, and kind of attacking that, of course, I wanted to do that with all the respect and empathy that I could," she continued. "It's a very, very unusual, crazy situation."
Hatcher also returns to voice acting in the upcoming Apple TV+ animated series WondLa, which is adapted from the children's sci-fi book series by Tony DiTerlizzi.
"It's a story that has its roots in things like The Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland, where you've got this female heroine who, instead of leaving home and returning, she has to come above ground... and survive in a chaotic, unpredictable world and basically learn who her family is," explained the actress, who also voiced the audiobook versions of The Search for WondLa, A Hero for WondLa, and The Battle for WondLa.
"It takes us on a journey where you might understand that your family doesn't just have to be flesh and bone, that it can be your found family," she added. "As an only child, I really relate to that. I have spent decades with my extended friends and the traditions we have, [they have become] my family."
Hatcher is also mother to an only child herself -- she shares a 26-year-old daughter, Emerson, with her ex-husband, Jon Tenney.
In fact, the mother-daughter duo is even working on a project together, and they have been pitching a series that Hatcher describes as "a hybrid between a very legit reality competition show and a scripted show."
"So if you sort of imagine me hosting The Bachelor, and walking off [set] into Curb Your Enthusiasm, [that's it] in a nutshell -- without giving too much away," she teased. "We've been meeting with different companies and we have a lot of people interested."
"Getting to watch my 26-year-old daughter just crush it... it's just amazing to sit there and watch her do that," Hatcher marveled. "But also, I said to her, 'You know, if we sell this show we're gonna have to work together every day.' To have her say, 'I would love that,' I think that's the best thing in my whole life."
WondLa premieres June 28 on Apple TV+. The Killer Inside: The Ruth Finley Story premieres June 29 on Lifetime.
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