Jaime Pressly is standing up for her Mom family. In an interview with E! News published Saturday, Oct. 17, the actress called her former co-stars “an incredible cast of women,” days after series creator Chuck Lorre wrote in his new memoir that his initial reluctance to cast Anna Faris had been proven “correct.”
Here is what Pressly said, what Lorre wrote, and how Faris answered.
What Jaime Pressly said about her Mom co-stars
Pressly, who played Jill Kendall on the CBS sitcom, spoke to E! News at the Alice + Olivia breast cancer fundraiser in Los Angeles on Oct. 16, an event raising proceeds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
“I was there for seven years, but there [were] eight seasons,” Pressly said. “I came on in the second season, but I had seven wonderful years of working with an incredible crew and an incredible cast of women, who were, all of us, just as beautifully flawed as our characters on the show were.”
“And I think I just really thoroughly enjoyed being able to go to work with girlfriends every day,” she added. “All of us of a certain age, it was nice. It was refreshing.”
Pressly joined Mom in its second season in 2014, playing a wealthy, self-absorbed divorcee in recovery, and was promoted to series regular from Season 3.
What Chuck Lorre wrote in his memoir Sitcom
Lorre’s memoir Sitcom, published Oct. 13 by Dey Street Books, revisits the casting of Faris as Christy Plunkett, the recovering alcoholic at the center of Mom.
“I initially said no. I wasn’t sure Anna would be appropriate for this kind of material,” Lorre wrote. “Then I thought about how badly I’d bungled my working relationship with Charlie Sheen.” After his very public falling out with Sheen on Two and a Half Men, Lorre recalled deciding that “someone’s personal life is none of my business. The mom in Mom would be, and should be, Anna Faris.”
Then came the line that started the week: “As the years went by, it became apparent that my initial reluctance to hire Anna was, in fact, correct. After six years, she left the show for mysterious reasons that were not mysterious to anyone on the show.”
Anna Faris answered on Instagram
Faris, who left Mom in 2020 ahead of its eighth and final season, responded Thursday, Oct. 15, in a post on her Instagram account.
“Yikes. Yes, I read a few things. I really didn’t see that coming. Of course it hurts,” she wrote. “Chuck gave me a job I loved, and for seven years I never took a day of it for granted. I’m proud of what we made together, and nothing changes how grateful I am for those people and those years.”
She also shared a personal update, writing that she has been “sober for a year and a half.” “I was on a show about recovery, and then I lived it. Now I’m healthy, I’m working, and I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time,” she continued. “If anyone reading this is where I was, I hope that’s useful. It gets better. I’m proof.”
When Faris exited the show in 2020, her public statement said she was leaving to pursue new opportunities. Lorre’s memoir is the first time someone from inside the production has publicly contradicted that framing. What Lorre meant by “mysterious reasons” remains his claim; Faris has not addressed that line directly.
Where the rest of the cast stands
As of Sunday, neither Allison Janney, who led the final season after Faris left, nor co-stars Mimi Kennedy, Beth Hall or Kristen Johnston had publicly commented on the memoir. Pressly is so far the only cast member besides Faris to weigh in.
Timeline: how the Mom story got here
September 2013:Mom premieres on CBS with Anna Faris and Allison Janney as daughter and mother, both in recovery.
2014: Jaime Pressly joins in Season 2 as Jill Kendall; she becomes a series regular from Season 3.
September 2020: Faris announces her exit after seven seasons, saying she is leaving to pursue new opportunities.
May 2021:Mom ends after eight seasons, with Janney as sole lead for the final year.
July 2025: The series arrives on Netflix in the US, introducing it to a new audience.
Oct. 13, 2026: Lorre’s memoir Sitcom is published.
Oct. 15: Faris responds on Instagram, confirming her sobriety.
Oct. 17: Pressly’s E! News interview is published, defending the cast as “beautifully flawed.”
Why Lorre’s words landed the way they did (analysis)
Two things made this more than a routine book excerpt. First, Lorre framed his Faris doubts through the Charlie Sheen saga, the ugliest chapter of his career, and then used her exit to argue he had been right all along. Second, the responses refused to take the bait. Faris answered with gratitude and turned the moment into a message about recovery. Pressly never mentioned Lorre at all; she simply described seven years of showing up to work with women she loved. In a week of unusually candid celebrity interviews, including Paul Bettany addressing his falling-out text exchange with Johnny Depp, the Mom women chose the same move: say something true about the work and leave the score-settling to the book.
What this means for readers and fans
Where to watch Mom: all eight seasons are streaming on Netflix in the US, and the series is also available on Hulu.
The book:Sitcom: A Memoir by Chuck Lorre is out now from Dey Street Books.
What Pressly is doing now: she appears in Ryan Murphy’s Hulu legal drama All’s Fair alongside Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts and Sarah Paulson, and told E! she “had the best time” working with them.
What to watch for: any response from Lorre, or from Janney, who has not yet commented.
