Molly Ringwald Says ‘Secret Life of the American Teenager’ Was “Worst” Experience of Her Career

Molly Ringwald wasn’t too fond of her time working on The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

The Pretty in Pink actress was asked to rank her past projects during a Tuesday appearance on Watch What Happens Live based on her experience working on the films and television shows. When The Secret Life of the American Teenager popped up, Ringwald asked host Andy Cohen about the ranking system, “The worst is one? OK, that was it. The worst.”

“It was hard, I mean, OK, I love the cast,” she said. “I love Shailene [Woodley]. There’s so many people that I worked with that… There was one person that was really difficult. And I’m not gonna say who that one person is, [but] they brought it down to a one.” 

Ringwald appeared in all five seasons of The Secret Life of the American Teenager from 2008 through 2012 as the mother to Shailene Woodley’s character. Alongside the Big Little Lies actress, the show also starred India Eisley, Ken Baumann, Daren Kagasoff, Megan Park, Francia Raisa, Greg Finley and Mark Derwin, among others.

Ringwald did, however, rank Pretty in Pink as the best experience of her career. “That was pretty great. I’ll give that a 10,” she told Cohen. “It was written for me. [John Hughes] wrote the movie for me and, you know, I actually have a collage that I made myself that’s in the bedroom.” 

The actress starred in a number of prominent ’80s films written and directed by John Hughes, including Sixteen Candles (1984); The Breakfast Club (1985); and Pretty in Pink (1986).