Very few people make me nervous, but talking to Erin Cahill does. It’s not because her name is Erin, and it is not because she’s an actress. It’s because I admire her, and the actress has been a part of my life in weird ways. Having a little brother, I grew up on The Power Rangers, as between that and He-Man, that was all that was ever on.
She’s a part of many memories of growing up.
And so as I sat and waited for 4:27 to hit my clock, the moment I was due to clock in, I hesitated. Would I make a fool out of myself? I’d interviewed her before, and we spent about ten minutes talking about boots. I don’t regret that, and I still can’t figure out how we got there, but we did.
And now, here we were, and I was nervous again, logically knowing that there was no reason to be. We made introductions as I entered the Zoom, and we made comments about having the same name. She said, “We’ve got to get you, me, and Erin Krakow on a Zoom. It’ll be like all the Erins combined. We’ll be like ‘Wonder Twin powers, activate’.”
I had to laugh, because that’s what I do. I laugh when I am nervous and have no response. We were there to talk to Moms, The Bride, and the show she hosts on Hallmark+. It’s a docuseries that follows daughters who are planning their moms’ weddings. She’s there for them at every turn, helping them. Because we know weddings can be a lot of stress, I asked why she wanted to do this.
She started, “I was just so grateful they asked me to host this show. I love my mom, and we’re very close.”
And then said, “Gosh, you’re the first reporter I’m telling this to. There have been so many changes in my mom’s health. The role reversal that we all go through eventually, it’s the natural thing if we’re lucky enough to go through it, came a little earlier than I would have anticipated in my family. Seeing this reversal, getting to highlight a beautiful aspect of it and one that’s so special and so unique, I was like, “This-,” because that’s something that we had to work hard to get to the joy of the opportunity of this time. To have something that was just pure joy and opportunity about mothers and daughters–“
Before continuing, “This show, when they told me about it, I was like, ‘Oh, you don’t even have to pay me. I’ll show up and do this. I love this so much. It’s so special. Also, how has it not been done before?”
I agreed with her, I hadn’t thought about it until she mentioned it. I had seen Erin many times interacting with viewers, and I know that she has a heart of gold.
“Seeing you host reality television, it feels like we got to know a different side of you. I’ve watched a few interviews of yours about the show, and you mentioned how close you are to your mom. I find that to be very special. I find that to be something that I think makes you an even better host of the show, because you can feel that love that daughters want to give their mothers,” I said. “My question for you is, what is the biggest lesson that your mom taught you that you brought into the show?”
She smiled at me and said, “Thank you for saying that, because it was just like a new thing for me, so thank you. It was just like, “Oh, to get to fall in love with these families, what a gift.” Anyway, I can talk about them in a minute. Gosh, my mom has taught me so much. I think my mom really taught me and teaches me all the time. She sends me quotes and readings and stuff almost every day. I think the biggest thing I brought into the show is just like who I am and to just lead with love.”
You could tell Erin has a deep love for her Mom, as when she speaks about her, she smiles big and is just shining. It’s a sense of admiration and love that just feels pure and so true. I wanted to tell her to tell her Mom she’s done an amazing job, because you can tell that Erin does just that — she leads with love.
“I was going to tell you a story that I haven’t brought up either. When I was little, she would tell me she’d be holding me, my head would be here, facing that way, and she’d be holding me. She would feel me tugging. It’s because I would literally be reaching for people. I just came out loving people. I would just be reaching to hug. That’s the one thing she taught me, it’s just to keep growing, keep evolving, keep trying to be the best version of myself, but to not lose that,” she said, “I’m really grateful for that because I think that’s one of the hardest things in life, right? It’s to keep that childlike wonder and innocence, but also be a grown-up. Adulting’s so hard sometimes.”
We could both agree on that one. Adulting is definitely not easy. It’s one of those things that we’re expected to do in life, and when we don’t, we’re told that we need to grow up.
The two of us went into a talk about luck and truth, and I asked her, “I felt like we were so lucky to see- I’ve only seen the first episode, but I felt like we were so lucky to see the depths of love that a daughter has for her mother. I want to know what was the hardest thing to film about this series, and what was the easiest thing about hosting this series?”
Because that was something that I felt was so evident in the show – these daughters LOVE their Moms. They want to give back to their Moms with the love that their Moms give to them.
I felt lucky that I got to see it before a lot of people.
“The hardest thing is that I genuinely fell in love with each of these families, and knowing I might not get to see them a lot because I’m not in their communities. That was hard. It was hard being like, “Okay, I hope to see you soon. Let me know if you’re in Nashville or LA.” Knowing that they’re so entrenched in their world,” she said, “I’m so entrenched in my world. I knew these families for a couple of months and truly fell in love with them. That was really hard. That’s always hard, though, for me with work. The crew becomes a family, and then I’m like, “Bye.” That was hard.”
She then continued, “The easiest thing, honestly, was hanging out with them and helping them plan and having fun. It was just easy and fun and like, what if we did this and what about this? Oh my gosh. It was just fun. It was like six months of fun in my life and love. It’s a chapter- I don’t even know where to put this gratitude for this chapter.”
If there is something that I have always noticed about Cahill is that she is filled with gratitude all of the time. I have seen her around viewers, and she really cares. She wants to take a moment to get to know everyone. She wants to hear about them and make an effort to know their names and stories.
Watching this show, I felt as though all of these women found a sense of peace and purpose in each other. I would have thought that Erin knew each one of these mothers or daughters because everything felt so natural and nothing felt forced.
She said, “It really fits who I am and how I love it. I just always want to help. I’m the girl at the parties, like, “What can I do?” I’m the one in the kitchen helping do the dishes because I want to help. Thank you for saying that. I’m just so grateful. Look, I hope this show is a surprise hit. It’s like 10 seasons later, we’re like, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say these things, but like a Say Yes to the Dress or one of those where it’s just like– You know what I mean?”
And then continued, “Where we have all these seasons, and we get to help all these families, and we get to have all this fun and make a difference, because that’s the thing too. The show is so beautiful, but it’s real, and we actually made a difference. That’s one thing.”
And finished, “I want to give a big shout out to my showrunner, Neil Bowman. I know we have to go, but I just have to say this because all six families unequivocally said to us, “I thought it was going to be….. I was hoping it was going to be great. It was better than I ever could have hoped. You made my day even better than I could have dreamt.” Every single one of them was like, ‘You made my wedding even better than I could have hoped.'”
I wondered why I had ever been nervous, because my time had gone by so fast. But that’s the ease of conversations with Erin. It’s like talking to your best friend – someone who never judges. I smiled and said, “I’ve seen you at Hallmark events. I’ve always seen you, and you’ve always been so loving and so caring to everybody who’s approached you. You can tell that bit of love that you have for people who watch your movies. I feel like that came across for people that– You’re not performing in a movie, but you’re hosting a show. I felt like that same amount of love came across in here. I think that that’s really special that you have it on both ends of the spectrum.”
And then I said, “I’m not really good at this all the time expressing myself, but I just really want to say thank you for your genuineness, especially towards your fans, because it really does come across and it does mean a lot.”
Sometimes I have a hard time saying things without tearing up, but here I was, crying. We both hugged our computers. Virtual hugs and all of that. I admire her and her positive outlook on life.
She said, “I’m acutely aware that I have one of the best jobs in the whole wide world. I’m with the best people. Thank you. All I want to do is make sure that I give the love back. I’m so grateful. I know. I must imagine Pete’s probably like, “Oh my God, okay, I get it,” because I’m always like, “I’m so grateful, I’m so grateful, I’m so grateful.” I’m sure everybody in the network is tired of me being like, ‘Thank you for my life.'”
We both laughed, but not because it was a bad thing to say, but because we were happy and appreciative of the moments that we have. She said, “I am. That’s why when I meet people, I’m always like, “No, thank you so much.” Even if I’m having a bad day and somebody, like the other day, I was so tired and had no makeup on my hair. I had a baseball cap, and I was like, [growls] craggily. We all have those days when we’re not our best selves, I mean, hello. I met this woman, and she was just like, “Could I take a picture?” I was like, ‘Yes,'”
And then continued, “She was like, ‘I don’t want to bother you.’ I was like, ‘No, are you kidding? Thank you for my life. Get over here.'”
That’s Erin Cahill. She’s this force that puts love out into the world and deserves all the love back.
