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Abbott Elementary's Sheryl Lee Ralph Says Gregory and Janine 'Need Therapy' Before They Give Romance a Shot
"Janine has mommy issues, and Gregory's got daddy issues," Ralph joked
Sheryl Lee Ralph has some tough truth for the pair at the heart of Abbott Elementary's will-they-won’t-they romance.
The Emmy winner, who plays veteran teacher Barbara Howard on the hit ABC sitcom, said she “used to” root for a relationship between Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams) and Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) — but now her perspective has changed.
“I know I’m in the show, but watching it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this [would make] such a great movie.’ And the love between them? I just wanted to shout, ‘Yes, man, go on and kiss the girl,’” Ralph, 66, told Deadline of Gregory and Janine’s almost-kiss in season 2's episode “Holiday Hookah.”
She continued, “But that is not what happened. It didn’t work out that way.”
According to Ralph, “I honestly feel that these are two young people who definitely need therapy. I don’t know what the writers have planned, but if they were real people, I would say, ‘Look, you two young people, you need some therapy. You’ve got some issues that you need to work out, and that’s what you need to do before you take any of this further.’”
Ralph also joked with a laugh: “Janine has mommy issues, and Gregory’s got daddy issues. Lord have mercy.”
Gregory and Janine have been a popular pairing among fans since the very beginning, but the their timing has yet to work out.
After much anticipation, the pair finally shared a kiss in season 2 episode “Teacher’s Conference.” For a while, it seemed like the ship was really about to sail, but Janine decided in the season 2 finale to take some time to work on herself and just be single.
Related: 'Abbott Elementary' Favorites Janine and Gregory Finally Kissed — and Fans Are Going Wild!
Williams, 30, has teased a possible relationship. "Hopefully their legacies are that we've found a unique way to tell a 'will they, won't they' even in the midst of television history being that for so long," he told BuzzFeed in January. "How many ways can you reinvent the wheel? Hopefully, we can find a way to enhance all of us."
Whatever is to come, Ralph just wants Janine to be healthy and happy. “It hurts my feelings when they hurt Janine or when anything happens to Janine because it’s like, I just want Janine to thrive,” she told Deadline. “And that’s why I need her to get into therapy before she takes this relationship with Gregory further.”
Last September, Ralph won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress for her turn on Abbott, making history as the second Black woman to win in that category after 227's Jackée Harry all the way back in 1987.
"To anyone who has ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn't wouldn't couldn't come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like," Ralph proclaimed in her rousing acceptance speech. "This is what striving looks like, and don't you ever, ever give up on you."
Though the 2023 Emmy nominations aren't until next month, Ralph did admit to Deadline that the thought of winning a second Emmy scares her a little bit.
“Everybody keeps asking me, ‘What are you going to do next?’" she said. "And I’m like, ‘Oh my God’ people, first of all, I was so frightened by the first one, I was speechless. I was shocked. I could not believe that it was happening to me. If it happened twice in a row ... I’d probably stand there looking like a fool.”
“I don’t know if anybody is experiencing what I’m experiencing because it’s amazing,” the 1981 Tony nominee said of her late-career resurgence thanks to Abbott Elementary. “Once, I got off of a plane and walked through a crowd of people also getting off of a plane [internationally], and these people, in all the ways they could, were putting their words together to stop and talk to me about my role on Abbott Elementary. I was like, 'What in the world is this?'"
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Abbott Elementary can be streamed in full on Hulu and the ABC app ahead of its as-yet-unannounced return for season 3.
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