Sherri Saum is one-half of our favorite pair of TV moms. As Lena Adams Foster, Sherri is a compassionate vice principal who cares about the well-being of students, but got into a little bit of a situation when the school’s new principal, Monte, kissed her at the end of Season 2. Lena has yet to fess up to wife Stef (Teri Polo) about the incident, and it’s putting some stress on the family, which is already full of drama considering they are moms to five teenagers.
We spoke with Sherri about the tension in the Adams Foster household and when everything will come to a head.
AfterEllen.com: There was a little bit of tension on this week’s episode with the plumber. When you first read the episode, were you worried jealousy was going to be an ongoing issue for Lena and Stef?
Sherri Saum: I just kind of feel like it wouldn’t have been an issue at all had I not had my own guilt about my own stuff. So it was a little bit of my own medicine that I was tasting and it didn’t taste very good. So hopefully that might propel me toward making a confession. We can’t have any real healing until that comes out.
AE: And people seem to really want to be wanting the confession to come out. Do you feel that way, too?
SS: Yeah, I mean, Lena’s had her secrets. I don’t know if you remember, but she changed Jude’s grade back in the beginning. It was a small thing, but you know, she kept that secret. Something like this can affectively ruin a marriage and erode the whole fabric of a marriage. It’s something that I really really hope comes out soon.
AE: Does that mean it is coming out soon?
SS: It’s coming out, sister. It’s coming out.
AE: What will the aftermath be like?
SS: It’s a painful and scary territory. Let’s just say that.
AE: Will it affect the rest of the family?
SS: I always say, as the moms go, so goes the house, so I feel like it can’t not. They obviously, they saw in the last episode, we may feel that there some things that may not even reach them but they see our struggles. They feel it; they know it. It’s really hard to hide that. So, yeah, we have to get it together, if no other reason than to hold our family together. But we love each other and we want this to work out.
AE: Peter Paige has given me confidence that Stef and Lena won’t ever not be able to work things out, but is there some more therapy involved? How do you work it out?
SS: Well, we did start therapy-they’ve only shown us going actually one time, but again, unless you’re completely bare-it-all honest in those sessions and with your spouse, it’s not going to really going anywhere, and Lena still hasn’t come clean with what she’s holding back. That can only work so much.
AE: Our Hot 100 is coming up–who would you say is the hottest woman?
SS: I just have a really crazy thing for Christiane Amanpour. She’s just such an inspiring, intelligent-I just love to listen to her speak on any subject. She’s been there. She’s been on the front lines. I just respect her a lot.
The Fosters airs Monday nights on ABC Family.
