Brenna Carver from Chasing Life, portrayed by Haley Ramm, has been through a lot in the show’s 17 episodes. We spoke to Haley about some of her character’s biggest challenges thus far, as well as what the future holds for Brenna.
Read on for our full interview with Haley Ramm!
Brenna and Greer have been reconnecting recently, and Brenna’s been trying to be a friend to her while she’s going through a tough time. Greer admitted that it’s hard for her to be around Brenna without being with her – do you think it’s the same for Brenna?
Yeah, I do think it’s the same for Brenna. I think that their feelings for each other have always been pretty mutual even in the beginning when Brenna was holding back and kind of avoiding her feelings for Greer, but it always has been mutual for them and it is hard for her, so it’s not the end of them. I think that they’ll continue to struggle being around each other and try to figure out what they should do about it and what they should make of themselves.
April seems worried about that, because she told Brenna she shouldn’t let herself be dragged into Greer’s situation, and Brenna said she wants to help because there was no one else. Brenna seems to be handling the situation OK right now, although it’s obviously taking a toll on her – will we see that change as the episodes go forward? Is there going to be a point where it’s going to get overwhelming?
Yeah, I think “overwhelming” is a good word to use. I think with Brenna being so young and living in this house with all these women, they all kind of protect her because she’s the baby and they have her best interests in mind, and seeing how the past has gone with Greer’s family, I think that’s why they feel so protective over her getting back into this relationship, so, yeah, I think there’s going to be a lot of pressure and stress that comes along with that. And she just wants to do the right thing – she just wants to be a good friend, if anything, and I think right now her family just doesn’t understand that.
Watching their conversation last week, I feel like that was very true to life and a lot of people, especially at that age, will try to be very supportive to people they don’t think have anyone else, and it’s not necessarily a healthy thing but they don’t want to abandon people.
Oh, exactly. I think it’s called [being] a “fixer.” I used to do that.
I still do that!
[laughs] Yeah, I think [Brenna] just loves [Greer] as a friend and maybe even more than a friend still, so she just wants to protect Greer but at the same time she’s being protected by her family.
Obviously Brenna has a lot more going on in her life than just Greer. There’s April going through cancer and now in remission, and at the end of last week’s episode, April thought her cancer was back. She told Dominic but she hasn’t yet approached anyone in her family about it because it had literally just happened at the office. Is it something she’s going to go to Brenna about because Brenna was the first person, obviously other than her uncle, who knew the first time around, or is she going to hold off on that? And how is Brenna going to react?
I think now since it’s more out in the open and she’s gone through the whole round of cancer, it’s not so much that Brenna is her confidante, and she does have other people that she can talk to about it now because they know, like Dominic. That was one of my favorite parts of the last episode, when she gives Dominic a hug and says “I think my cancer’s back.” I think that was so sweet because he was the one that she was avoiding early on and he just wanted her to tell him so bad, and now that she’s with Leo and he’s just standing there, it’s kind of sweet. It was like a re-do, for me watching it. There’s moments that I’m watching the show where I feel like I’m not a part of the show – I feel like I’m a fan of the show!
A couple of weeks ago, Brenna revealed a pretty shocking secret about having an abortion – is that going to be revisited at all?
Yes, that’s definitely going to be revisited. I actually don’t know when yet, so I wish that I could say!
Going forward through the rest of season 1, what would you say is going to be the biggest struggle for Brenna?
I think the biggest struggle for Brenna is going to be Greer and April and just everything that’s going on in their lives. I think that Brenna puts a lot of pressure on herself to take care of everyone and protect the people that she loves, and I think that that’s just kind of going to weigh down on her a little bit.
And lastly, congratulations on the season 2 renewal!
Thank you so much!
Don’t miss the next episode of Chasing Life, airing tonight at 9/8c on ABC Family! You can keep up with Haley by following her on Twitter and Instagram, and by liking her Facebook page!
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