Drea de Matteo's Parenting Break Has Ended

We all know Drea de Matteo. Whether from her role as Adriana on The Sopranos, or as Wendy on Sons of Anarchy, Drea has played bad girls in tough situations for years. But that seems to be changing for her. In her new role on Lifetime's Stalkers, she plays a tough detective named Dianne Harkin. The movie, airing on Lifetime this Saturday, was written by Rhonda Saunders, one of the first people to work to pass stalking legistlation in the state of California many years ago.

I had a chance to chat with Drea about parenting, her fears, and her future on television. She's funny, smart, and definitely a Yummy Mummy.

On Stalkers

"I haven't been very gung ho about speaking out against stalkers because of my own situation in the past. It takes one idea and one spark. With our show, the laws that they put into place aren't actually active right now, and I would love to send a message to not live in fear, but the problem is, there isn't always appropriate help."

On her children

"Life has changed so much since I've had babies. I just have to imagine my kids when she needs to do something sad on film."

On teaching her children about scary situations and how this type of work effects her parenting

"Unfortunately, there's not much you can tell a little kid about stalkers, because it's so insidious. A kid will never understand it. Being a parent, honestly, I had never even thought about it, I thought about me being stalked and them being used as a weapon. I don't know what i would do. I don't know that I would even have the strength to figure that out like my character can.

As far as teaching my kids to protect themselves, it does remind me that there are a lot of crazy fucking people in the world. Playing this character, though, when it's a role like this, I'm more worried about doing the character justice. When I'm at home, I just want to hug up my kids.

While we were shooting, Sandyhook happened, and my kids were in California, and I was in Vancouver. I couldn't hear about it. It was too much. The fear, the pain, the thought of that happening to one of my children. I couldn't even go there. And I had to keep it in."

On Sons of Anarchy (which she admitted she'll be returning to!) and playing Wendy

"I was really a bad guy there. I shot that just after having my first child. She was 4-5 months old, there, in my trailer, and I'm "shooting up."

I wouldn't even ever put myself in that situation. I know enough about addiction in my own life, and lots of people have battled it. I have sympathy for it, but not that much because you either get your shit together or you don't and it's a choice you make. I understand it, but I don't understand it. I'm sort of torn.

I'm a pretty complicated bitch myself, but playing a-b-c is not me. I'm not that kind of an actor. If there's no guts, you'll probably watch me die on screen."

On being a woman

"Women need to work harder than any man has ever worked in his whole life."

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Since having her kids, Drea seems to have decided to take it a little more easy with work, being more choosy with roles. She noted that she no longer wants to play "the victim" in the same way that Adriana and Wendy both played out in her two biggest roles. And her tough-girl image seems not to be an image at all.

Drea de Matteo can be seen in Stalkers on Lifetime this Saturday night at 8pm ET/5pm PT.