Rosalee Mayeux on 'Model Mom' and Reinvention
- Liza Thika
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Before Rosalee Mayeux ever stepped onto a comedy stage, her life had already moved through the kind of chapters that feel almost cinematic: Louisiana roots, a modeling career that took her to New York and Paris, hundreds of commercials, screen roles, motherhood, reinvention, and the private work of learning how to tell her own story. With her comedy special Rosalee Mayeux: Model Mom, those pieces come together in a sharply personal hour about raising two teenage boys as a single mother, surviving life’s chaos, and finding humor in the places where control is often impossible.
For Mayeux, stand-up has become more than performance. It is a way of speaking in her own words after years of acting, parenting, starting over, and gathering stories worth sharing. In conversation with LO’AMMI, she reflects on the making of Model Mom, the lessons motherhood has brought into her comedy, her upcoming role in Lost in Regina, and why reinvention does not have to arrive early to arrive exactly on time.
Your new comedy special Rosalee Mayeux: Model Mom brings together so many different chapters of your life: modeling, motherhood, dating, survival, and all the chaos in between. When you were shaping the special, what felt most important for you to be honest about?
The best part of putting the special together was figuring out how to make it all work together. I had an award-winning short story, plus my first 5 years writing jokes about parenthood, and I had never recorded any of it. I knew that if I could somehow tell it all in one hour, people would really get a glimpse into what it’s like to be a model-turned parent.
Before comedy, your life already sounded like something out of a movie. Growing up in Louisiana, becoming a model in New York and Paris, appearing in hundreds of commercials, and moving through so many different worlds. When you look back at that younger version of yourself, what do you think she was really searching for?
Trying to fit in, trying on different identities, to find a place in myself where I could be comfortable in my own skin, was a journey. I was raised deeply spiritual, so I had that, but I also was adopted, and always felt I was different. I looked different, I thought different, I was a day dreamer, and too tall for my Cajun friends to date. Until my mom saw me on stage at a fashion show one day. Then she said, Oh! That’s who you are!
A lot of your comedy seems to come from taking experiences that could have been overwhelming or painful and turning them into something people can laugh with. How did humor become such a survival tool for you?
At holidays, with all my “tauntes" and cousins celebrating, I was the one who made everyone laugh. Performing for them came naturally and was of value. After all, my big brother was a legitimate genius. I had to be something else!
In Model Mom, you talk about the beautifully unfiltered chaos of raising two teenage boys as a single mom. What has motherhood taught you about comedy, timing, and surrendering control?
I think I learned love from my children. And that translates very well to all the love I feel for my fellow comedians. Just like in parenting you have to lead with your heart. Art follows.Timing comes naturally out of the pauses you experience in life. Joy, pain, cancer, fame. The years of acting under a director’s control was freeing because you were never in charge and you could experiment, if you trusted and respected them. Parenting is all about accepting little humans as they are, but controlling and maintaining safety guardrails for the sake of your children. So you become a director. Comedy is a weird mix of all of that: controlling your art form, while freeing yourself to explore and play. A return to your purpose.
You’ve had such a layered career on screen, from The Lawnmower Man and Blast from the Past to your recent indie comedy Love at First Spite. How has your relationship with acting changed now that you’re also telling your own stories through stand-up?
I am saying my own words for the first time. It started with short stories while I was going through a divorce and still had young children. Locked into nights alone, I began to develop a voice that I knew needed to be documented somehow. Discovering comedy was the best thing that ever could have happened. I feel like a poet of today, and it’s my job to talk about all of it! The fun of shooting movies and commercials, and the wild years of raising boys in Hollywood, the difference between generations, responsibilities, and complete failures ... all of it. It’s more fun to share, and seeing recognition on the audience’s faces is perfection.
You’re also part of Lost in Regina, a new Canadian series releasing this summer. What excited you about stepping into that world, and what can audiences expect from the show?
I loved shooting this project with the great writer/producer/actress Camille Solari, in Canada! The role was so fun, trying to master the native Quebecois accent, in below freezing temperatures and the most gorgeous snowfall. Audiences will enjoy this homage to Regina, and get a great dose of the life of a comedian, on tour pregnant, and hilarious, befriended by me, a whacky, lovable chocolatier.
Your story is also one of reinvention. Not in a polished, overnight way, but in a very lived-in, earned way. For anyone who feels like they’re starting over (or starting new) later than expected, what has your own journey taught you about timing, courage, and not being done yet?
I love your description of my journey. I don’t think I could have handled myself as a comic, with live audiences, the criticism, the judgement, and the demands it makes on your life when I was younger. Comedy is full frontal. Discovering stand-up, this unique way of telling my stories, is absolutely perfect for me now. Poetry on steroids. It also is giving back. We seem to be the only ones telling the truth right now. The world needs to hear from those who can be, have been, courageous. And we really really need to laugh! Come to a show. Go speak at your library. You will find eager ears to hear your stories. I love hearing stories from worlds I haven’t visited yet. And no, you’re not done yet. You have “miles to go before you sleep.”
Team Credits
Photographer: Storm Santos
Stylist: Anna Schilling
H&MU: Kimberly Bragalone
H&MU Assistant: Alysha Marcantonio
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