‘Mike and Molly’ and ‘American Housewife’ Star Katy Mixon On Working Like A Mother
Plus, learn all about the shocking scandal that rocked her household.
Mike and Molly and American Housewife star Katy Mixon hasn’t let success sour her. The mom of two is married to three-time Olympian Breaux (yes, like bro) Greer, has seven siblings, sprinkles her interviews with pet names in her Southern drawl, is on Kelly Ripa’s lockdown dream team and has a new Netflix movie coming up in the form of romantic comedy Hot Frosty.
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The early years of Katy Mixon
Born in Pensacola, Fla., on March 30, 1981, while in the 4th grade Mixon was inspired by watching Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, before moving onto the comedy of Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball.
“That’s what began it all for me,” Katy Mixon told TV Insider in 2017.
In 2018, she reflected to Paste Magazine, “I grew up watching Judy Garland and Debbie Reynolds and Barbra Streisand and it was everything. I loved performing and I loved singing and dancing and acting, and I knew I wanted to be versatile in everything. I didn’t want to go to a musical theater school. I wanted to go to an acting school and learn Shakespeare and Brecht and Molière — all of it.”
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Katy Mixon left Florida for Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and, soon after graduating from its Conservatory of Drama, moved to Los Angeles. “They train you there – I learned different dialects and you have coaches,” the actress told Louisiana lifestyle magazine inRegister in 2017. “That’s why you don’t hear that Southern accent all the time.”
Her first major gig was playing Calpurnia in Julius Caesar at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2001, she told Paste.
She’s had accolades throughout her career, including nominations for the Gotham Independent Film Awards, Behind the Voice Actors Awards (for voicing Looney Tunes’ Petunia Pig) and BTVA Awards.
Mixon got her start as an actress in the TV movie comedy Then Comes Marriage (2004), and would go on to appear in about a dozen films between 2005’s The Quiet and the aforementioned Hot Frosty.
“I had my very first job ever in a movie with Sandra Bullock,” Katy Mixon told TV Insider. “She gave me the role in All About Steve — it was with Bradley Cooper and Ken Jeong. I filmed it for six weeks, and she was heaven. It was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. But that was back in 2007. I’ve never been starstruck because we all put our pants on the same way — you feel me? — but it was magical. I was like, ‘What is happening right now?’”
On the small screen, she made a number of guest appearances, had a three-episode arc on Two and a Half Men (2009 to 2010) and was a series regular on Eastbound & Down (2009 to 2010), Mike & Molly (2010 to 2016) and American Housewife (2016 to 2021). In 2022 she appeared in the miniseries The Thing About Pam and George & Tammy.
In terms of theater, she served as a replacement for Liz in the original Broadway production High Fidelity in 2006.
The Mike and Molly era, 2010-2016
Mixon went from working actress to prime-time pal by playing Melissa McCarthy’s ditzy, marijuana-smoking funeral-home beautician sister on the LOL romantic comedy Mike & Molly.
Of her bond with McCarthy, she told Variety in 2017, “I got to see the world witness her and her divine destiny. It was one of the most amazing things to watch her live her dream and just have a ball doing it. She’s just unbelievably special to me.”
At the same time, she’ll never forget the long hours she worked on the hit sitcom. “That schedule is not to be trifled with,” she added in that Variety interview. “I did about eight scenes a day on average. I had to shoot the episodes in five days, averaging about 13-14 hours a day, and I’m in every scene, which I couldn’t be more grateful for.”
Kelly Ripa guest-starred as Mixon’s boss on the show, and during a 2020 interview on Live With Kelly and Ryan, Ripa told her, “You are so endlessly positive that I keep thinking to myself that if I were to be in lockdown with somebody, and I could choose my dream team, I would 1,000 percent choose you, because you would make such lemonade out of lemons.”
Mixon responded, “You’re just the kindest. You’re so special. I would adore to be in lockdown with you. I totally would. I feel like we would be having the time of our lives, I really do.”
Her mom agrees that Mixon is always looking up.
“Katy came into the world as an optimist,” mom Donna told inRegister. “She sees the bright side to every challenge. She was wired for acting; I really believe she was called to do it. Nothing frightens her. I believe in all my heart that a person’s passion is their purpose. And that’s Katy.”
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Finding love
Going from Mike & Molly to American Housewife didn’t slow her personal life — in 2014 she met future husband, retired three-time Olympian (2000, 2004, 2008) Breaux Greer, who holds the American record in the javelin throw.
“We met one day on a Saturday morning at 7:30,” she revealed on Live With Kelly and Ryan in 2017. “My trainer was going to leave for the month and he thought that he would be an incredible trainer for me.”
She continues, “He’s from Monroe, Louisiana, and my mom and dad are from Louisiana. We met, we locked eyes [and] I never saw the trainer again. It’s been unbelievable ever since. I’m a blessed girl.”
Three weeks after they met, they got matching tattoos of each other’s names on their ring fingers.
Babies time
The couple welcomed son Kingston in 2017, one year before daughter Elektra arrived. Irish twins!
“I was nursing, and the breast milk dried up,” she told Access Hollywood Live in 2017. “So it happened to be the situation that I’m pregnant again. [I] couldn’t be more shocked. I didn’t know it was possible.”
Greer welcomed the family addition. “He’s thrilled,” Mixon said. “He’s beside himself.”
As for Kingston? “I’m believing that he’s going to embrace it. He’s almost about to crawl. He’s gonna be the best big brother ever.”
After Elektra was born, Mixon returned to Access Daily in 2019 to give them an update. “It is just crazy,” she said. “He is the most amazing big brother, though. He gives her the sweetest kisses.”
She continued, “When he came to the hospital, he was the most precious. Then when we got home from the hospital, he just kind of rocked and rolled in his own way. He didn’t want to come to grips with [the fact] this little baby could just come back to the house.”
What is it like having a daughter as opposed to a son?
“She’s a firecracker,” Mixon said. “She’s real strong. They will have bath time and she will bat something out of his hand so quick. Her reflexes are insane. He doesn’t want to retaliate. He throws an eye and says ‘ahhh!’”
Family matters to Katy Mixon
For Mixon, raising a family in the midst of a booming career was a different experience after growing up with a stay-at-home mom who had a large brood.
“I grew up with a mommy that was like a hero,” she told Variety in 2016. “She was an unbelievable stay-at-home mom that raised seven children, so in my eyes it’s just the most incredible job. I grew up with six girls and one boy, so my innate instinct of who I am — I’m the third oldest, and I helped raise all of my younger sisters.”
The family even performed together in plays to rave reviews, inRegister reported.
A strong family background helped her tackle the demands of motherhood. “I’ve always wanted to be a mommy,” she told Variety. “I already know so much, coming from a large family. I helped my mom raise so many little sisters. At 11, I was helping get them ready for school, watching over them, putting them to sleep. It’s just naturally with me.”
And what happens when mommy stars on a sitcom? “I had two babies back-to-back,” she told Paste. “So it’s really wild when you’ve got to go to work and handle what you’ve got to handle and then you’ve got to make sure everything is happening back home.”
She continued, “It’s unreal what I’ve kind of been in the midst of these last two years, but it’s been quite magical. I have an incredible husband, who has just been an amazing daddy, and I have a team that helps me and it’s all getting handled one way or another.”
As to her secret to being focused both at work and at home, she explained to Paste, “The big thing I try to do, and it’s quite difficult sometimes, is to be present, and when I’m at work or at home, that’s what I’m trying to do.”
The American Housewife era: Weight matters, 2016-2021
Four days after Mike and Molly wrapped, Mixon began shooting her own sitcom in the form of American Housewife, which was originally called The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport.
She starred as Katie Otto, a plus-sized mom raising her three children in a wealthy town. “If I had the issues that Katie Otto had, I couldn’t play her,” she told Variety in 2016. “I would have to have a therapist on set with me.”
She continued, “I am who I am. I’ve been a size 4. I’ve been a size 12. I’ve been a size 8. I’ve been a size 2. I’m a big fan of celebrating who we are. There is no other person like you in this world, and for me, that’s the most powerful thing.”
What appealed to her about the role? “I was wanting something where she’s all covered up, she’s not showing the cleavage,” she told Paste. “What drew me to the character was she’s imperfect in a perfect town.”
Mixon was pregnant back-to-back while filming the show, and didn’t hold back on enjoying sweet and savory treats, listing her pantry favorites as Krispy Kreme, macaroni and cheese from Robbie Mac’s and Mexican Coke “because it’s got the real sugar” she pointed out to TV Insider.
“I was getting up at 4:30 in the morning and getting off at 7, and the schedule is wild,” she told Variety in 2017. “My baby is going to be the monster truck of babies.”
One way American Housewife prepped her for life is seeing how fast the children on the show grow. “All the kids came back from the summer break and, oh my God, sweet Daniel [DiMaggio], who plays my son Oliver, got so tall! It’s like, ‘Everyone stop growing!’” she told Paste, joking, “I’m literally telling them not to take the Flintstones vitamins. It’s wild.”
The Katy Mixon scandal
Scandal hit when her career was hot. In 2019, she sued her nanny for fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract for trying to extort her family, People reported. Later that year, the nanny, Laree Hammer, sued her husband, Greer, for sexual harassment.
The lawsuits were resolved in 2020 and allegations were dropped in both complaints.
Where is she now?
Nowadays, Mixon is focused on raising her children. “I want them to have an inner confidence, and for them to be able to go into any situation and handle it,” she told Hollywood Life in 2019. “I want them to succeed — succeeding in the sense of them marching to the beat of their own drum.”
She no longer courts public attention, making her Instagram private.
Expect more Mixon coming soon as she stars in the Netflix holiday romantic comedy Hot Frosty, alongside Lacey Chabert and Lauren Holly.
She offers advice to those who want to pursue acting as a career. “Dedication is the first important step,” she told inRegister. “I believe in God-given talent, but I’m a very firm believer that you have to march to the beat of your own drum and not look to the right or the left. You have to walk your life, you have to walk your journey. That journey is going to come with bumps in the road and mountains you have to climb. Dedication and the love for it is what you’ve got to have to fulfill that dream. But you’ve got to dream.”
Her commitment is strong. “I throw myself into any project 100%,” she told inRegister. “If I were going fishing, I’d buy all the poles and outfits that go with the sport!”
As for the superpower she most desires? Speaking with Variety in 2017, she said, “I’d zap something and have it go back to its proper place.”
Spoken like a true American Housewife.
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