Sweet Magnolias season 4 has finally landed on Netflix and as viewers start their binges, star Heather Headley sits down to “pour it out” with FIRST for Women. The Tony- and Grammy-winner who plays Helen dishes on creating that sizzling chemistry with Dion Johnstone’s Erik and telling the Serenity love story at the center of it all with costars Joanna Garcia Swisher and Brooke Elliott, who play Maddie and Dana Sue.
The mother of three also gets candid about becoming a crockpot queen and sitting around the table with her brood when she’s not working.
Plus, with The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl 30th anniversary concert set to premiere February 7 on Disney+, Headley honors her breakout Broadway role and celebrates the Oscar-winning classic with Lebo M, Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, Jason Weaver, Ernie Sabella, Billy Eichner, North West and Jennifer Hudson.
‘Sweet Magnolia’ star Heather Headley on creating the sizzle with Dion Johnstone’s Erik
The new season of Sweet Magnolias jumps a year ahead to find Helen with a sexy new man on her arm. Chef Erik is also quite content with his romantic life as season 4 begins… but when these exes lock eyes, there’s no denying what’s there!
“I love the chemistry they share, and it comes easy,” Heather Headley says. “I have great respect for Dion Johnstone as a man. He’s a sweet husband and a great dad, so we’re friends off-set. But on set, it’s all about Helen and Erik—and it’s been great to play off of him, because that pining, craving thing is definitely necessary to their storyline.”
Whether or not Erik is the endgame for Helen, she’s finally let go of her fantasy of living happily ever after with Ryan—which means she finally has the freedom to figure out what her future looks like without him.
“I think my Helen craves what Heather has,” Headley considers. “We share our strength on the outside, our love for clothes, our loyalty and having some faults and brokenness…but we’re different in that I have a family. She so craves that, and she’s sometimes gone down the wrong road. I made those mistakes in my youth, thankfully, so I’m happily married (to former Jets’ player Brian Musso)—and I hope I am better in love than Helen is!”
‘Sweet Magnolia’s star Heather Headley talks sitting around the table with her family
When Headley’s not dipping into Helen’s drama or singing her heart out onstage, she plays a very different role—and it’s the one her character would most envy.
“When I go home, I’m ‘Mommy,’” she explains. “I manage a bit of work on the side, but my children are amazing individuals, so I told them, ‘When I’m home, I’m going to cook at least four or five days a week.’ I want to know what I am putting in their meals and I want them to have the beauty of us sitting around the table together, talking and finding out how the day went.”
The Trinidad-born performer also doesn’t mind being showered with praise when the kids like what she’s cooked up. Unfortunately, that’s been a bit harder to come by since she started remodeling the kitchen—which has her making meals in the laundry room.
“My therapist says I shouldn’t talk about it,” she cracks. “It’s the worst, but praise the Lord, it’s a nice laundry room. I have a fridge, a sink and my crockpot, rice cooker, and burner. The kids are like, ‘We can go out tonight if you want…we’re tired of stew!’ But I’m like, ‘I got this.’ I decided I’m still going to make it happen.”
‘Sweet Magnolias’ star Heather Headley dishes the Netflix series’ central love story
Headley’s character may not be cooking up meals for the family she once envisioned, but the Sweet Magnolias auntie and godmother does have a powerful chosen family—and amidst all of Serenity’s romance, gossip, politics and business, the titular trio remains the heart of the series.
“Besides the romances with significant others, the love story is about these women,” Headley says. “And if we can’t get that love story together, the whole show is nothing, right? Because it’s all about how these women stand with each other, hold each other accountable and take each other through life.”
Helen, Maddie and Dana Sue’s special relationship even inspired Headley to take stock of her own support system.
“It made me go into my little group and figure out who my Magnolias are,” she explains. “As we get older, we don’t have time for 20 magnolias. We have these two or three women who ride along life with us. Through the lessons and victories and when you call them in the middle of the night, they’re with you. I love having that in my life.”
Heather Headley talks falling for ‘Sweet Magnolias’ Joanna Garcia Swisher and Brooke Elliott
Headley also loves having her two leading ladies in her corner. In the past, she admits she’s flown into new projects determined to become besties with her onscreen cohorts.
“I’d be like, ‘Hi, I’m Heather. I love you! We’re gonna be friends. We’re gonna have sleepovers. It’s gonna be great,’” she shares with a laugh. “And then two weeks later, you find out you don’t like the way they eat chicken or whatever and you’re like, ‘Maybe not.’ But you can’t undo it, because they’re already sleeping in your house tomorrow night!”
With the Magnolias’ chemistry essential to the series, she played it a bit cooler when she met Garcia Swisher and Elliott.
“I wanted to organically fall in love with them,” she says. “And within two or three days, I was looking at Joanna and it was, ‘I think I love her.’ And with Brooke, too, so now we’ve got this sweet relationship.”
“Sometimes we’re like three little girls talking onset, sometimes it’s just two of us and sometimes we all sit together in our chairs and we’re quiet,” Heather continues. “We know our quirks and we know what each other needs. I’ve also held one of the sisters while they cried about something. We’ve had things happen in life, and we’ve come together.”
‘Sweet Magnolias’ star Heather Headley praises Joanna Garcia Swisher’s directing—but not her singing
With such a tight connection, Headley reveals the Sweet Magnolias took last season’s breakup pretty hard.
“When they wrote in that fight, we were not happy,” she says. “I remember reading it and going, ‘No, no!’ And I was upset that Helen had anything to do with it. The day we filmed it, it was like Heather, Brooke and Joanna were feeling the stress of the characters. Afterward, we went to our separate corners—and we’d never done that before. We couldn’t even look at each other.”
Thankfully, the Magnolias are back to “pouring it out” this season, and one of Headley’s beloved costars has also added a new title to her list of credits.
“This year, Joanna directed episode seven, and it was her first time directing, ever,” Headley brags. “Brooke and I were like happy little sisters, trying to be under her direction and her leadership. We gave her some trouble every now and then. I decided not to learn my lines, of course, because why would I make it easy?”
Heather Headley celebrates her ‘The Lion King’ roots in Disney’s 30th anniversary concert
While Garcia Swisher spreads her wings as a director on Sweet Magnolias Season 4, her character Maddie does not get to break into song like Headley’s Helen or Elliott’s Dana Sue.
“I love being able to sing on the show,” says Headley—who won the 2010 Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album for Audience of One and the 2000 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for the title role of Aida. “Singing on Sweet Magnolias this year was even more fun, because it was for Christmas. I love Christmas and actually want to do a Christmas album.
“Brooke also has a chance to sing this season, and she’s a great singer,” she tells FIRST for Women. “So when the Christmas thing came up, I inferred that it was going to be me—because what we’re trying to do is keep Joanna from singing. We appreciate and love you all, so as much as she wants to sing and dance, we’re like, ‘We’ll do it!’
With Sweet Magnolias season 4 streaming on Netflix now, music fans can also hear Headley—who originated the role of Nala in Broadway’s The Lion King—croon alongside an all-star cast in The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl. The 30th-anniversary concert celebration begins streaming February 7 on Disney+.
