Based on the worldwide best-selling book series by Karen Kingsbury, The Baxters is a riveting family drama that follows Elizabeth and John Baxter and their five adult children. Season One of The Baxters centers on Elizabeth and John’s daughter, Kari, who learns the shocking truth that her professor husband, Tim, has been secretly having an affair with one of his college students. As her relationship is tested, Kari must seek comfort in her faith and family to discover if love is truly a choice and if her marriage can be redeemed. In this deeply moving faith-based journey, The Baxters must come together as a family to work through the challenges of life.
We talked with real life mother-daughter duo Kathie Lee Gifford and Cassidy about everything from working on the same series, motherhood, prayer and more.
Interviewed for Family Entourage
Family Entourage: It’s so great to chat with you guys and nothing makes me more happy than seeing family together, pursuing dreams, and especially when those lines can intersect. So share about this opportunity where the two of you can work together.
Cassidy Gifford: It was really fun. I mean it’s something we dreamed of doing for so long. All the years of my mom taking me out to LA on school breaks over the summer, went to New York all the time to auditions. The amount of time she fought my schools, or my dad, about even letting me pursue it. It was just something we always talked about working together even though we’re not actually featured in the show together still, it was really fun to be on set together and in the hair and makeup room at crafty having lunch.
Kathie Lee Gifford: I just love seeing her doing what she loves to do and being so blessed to do it with people that she also admires and respects and treat her with the respect that she deserves. Nothing was put on a platter for Cass. She literally had to audition, get in line and do all of that for all these years. And so the good thing about that is once you worked hard and you’ve earned it, you appreciate it. And she saw me work hard my whole life, she saw her dad, and so I didn’t want to raise entitled children. They’re not entitled to anything. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. The Bible talks about how to whom much is given, much is required. And I taught them that their whole lives. I’ve been taught that from my parents.
FE: I love that and you can clearly see that in the representation of your children as adults, which is great. And Cassidy, I find myself smiling every time I see you come on screen because you are just this breath of fresh air and a relatively heavy series. So talk to me about where you draw your joy to inform your character, kind of getting into that mindset.
CG: Sweet. Thank you for saying that. I have to be honest, I felt very connected just to the character of Reagan. So it really wasn’t like a ton of work trying to get into the character’s mind, this and that. And Roma and Karen also very much afforded me and all the producers afforded me the ability to sort of bring I think elements of myself to it. Again, it is a heavy series and I do think you do need moments of levity even though it obviously is a show that ultimately is about hope. While you’re trying to get to the hope. You also do want some bright spots.
KLG: She’s sunshine in a bottle.
CG: I don’t about that, but it was fun. And also Josh Plasse who plays Luke, we became so close and we had so much fun together on set. Everybody had so much fun together on set, so was I just had a ball, I really did.
FE: The Baxters it’s all about family and we’re watching them navigate these ups and downs and I love that prayer is often the go-to for them when it comes to a situation. Kathie Lee, I’ve seen much of the life that you’ve shared with your family and your kids on screen. So talk to me about how you were able to make prayer central in your life and then ingrain that in your children.
KLG: I’ve always seen prayer as conversations with God, and it’s not something we’re supposed to do just in the morning and at night we’re supposed to, the Bible says in Him, we live and move and have our whole being, which means our life is a prayer. We’re supposed to live our life as if it’s a constant prayer to the Almighty. So it is the most natural thing in the world to me. And the more I’ve learned scripture and the more I’ve memorized it, it’s right there. I don’t have to look it up somewhere. It just comes out because it becomes part of your DNA. I mean, I know Cass feels the same way. She wakes up in the morning usually just to eh, but still it’s a personal…
CG: I don’t do that. My baby does that. [Laughter]
KLG: It’s a walk, it’s a personal walk. It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship. And I’m just so grateful they both Cody and Cass understood that early on in life and I didn’t want them to be a cookie cutter Christian of me. It needs to be personal and authentic to them. And so it is. Yeah, it is.
FE: Cassidy, you mentioned the little baby cry there. Congratulations on recently becoming a mom. And as you sit next to your mom, what is something that you will kind of carry on that stands out to you, that she’s placed in you, that you in turn will do with your child, and children, either now or in the future?
CG: That kindness is paramount to all. How you treat other people is what ultimately defines you as a person too. And that you treat everyone the same equally no matter who it is at any point in your life. It’s just be kind. It sounds so simple and it is, but there’s a reason that cliches are cliches. True.
FE: I love that this Baxter family that has been such a beloved book series for so long, it’s finally being able to be shared on the screen and that we can see a family that’s rooted in faith but still flawed, and it’s messy and they’re trying to figure things out. Maybe even down to the fact that, I love that each episode starts with a verse. Maybe just talk to me a little bit about what it means for each of you to be playing a role in sharing this story and content.
CG: I think it’s so important. I think people are so hungry for it. And I think the last couple of years has proven that why all of these faith-based shows or show the chosen is so powerful because there’s an audience for it. And even if it’s a quiet audience, sometimes that audience is getting loud. And I do think that demand needs to be met. And for so long, I think it was met with that cookie cutter type show where it was like no one wanted to watch that because it didn’t seem real at all. It just didn’t represent real life and real Christians and people that were struggling with their faith because so often that’s how people even come to faith is through the trials and tribulations that come at you every which way in life. And so I think people are really, really hungry for it. And I think Karen knows how to give it to ’em and Roma does too. So it’s a beautiful marriage of two really wonderful women who are so strong and steadfast in their faith, bringing you real content, real people that you can see and that you can resonate with and know that it’s okay. We all fail. And ultimately our relationship with the Lord is what is the most important thing in the world. There can be healing and hope.
FE: Kathie Lee, you’ve spent so much of your life on television and you’ve seen through the shows and talked to everyone under the sun that has been involved with them and in turn, taking your turn, directing and singing and doing all of these things. Do you feel that there’s been a time before now that we’ve been able to be so represented as people of faith on screen?
KLG: No, I think that if anything, what people say to me over all the years that I was there is that you were the first person I ever heard on national television be open about your faith. You had a boldness about saying, Jesus, or you know what the scripture says? And I always felt like it was God. That’s why God put me there. People when I was first in the industry, very young would say, how can you call yourself a Christian and be in show business? And I used to say all the time, how can I be in show business and not be a Christian, it’s brutal business? And I don’t want to hate people and I don’t want to sell my soul and I don’t want to. All those things. And the only way you can get through it is by clinging, literally clinging to the hand of God.
And I’ve made mistakes of course, and I’ll make ’em today as well. But in the big choices in life, God guides us. He will guide us. And when those things don’t happen to always go the way you want, he’ll also lead you through the disappointments. The heartbreak. It took me 13 years to get my Broadway show to New York or to Broadway, and it closed in three weeks because the hurricane, I mean, those are the kinds of things you take to God. And you go, why Lord? And I think what’s beautiful about The Baxters is they don’t run from those kinds of things, but they’re not singing the pity party thing. Why me? They’re seeking God’s purpose, deeper purpose in things, easier for me to say God’s purpose. Years ago, the Lord said, there’s something, Kathie, there are no crumbs on my table. I will use everything for my purposes if you let me. Even the hard stuff. And I think that’s one of the messages of The Baxters too. Totally. There’s a reason that we’re all going through this. Let’s seek the Lord on it. And there’s nothing more beautiful than to see people just pray together. You said it Kelli family coming together. Take it to God. Right.
FE: Love it. Well you guys, thank you so much for taking the time. Such a joy to talk to you. Thank you for being such a model and inspiration to others. I cannot wait for audiences to get to see this on Prime Video.
The Baxters streams on Prime Video March 28
