Patricia Heaton was born and raised in Bay Village, Ohio.
Heaton is of Irish descent and grew up Catholic, attending Catholic schools.[1] To this day, Heaton's faith is central in her life. She recounts a story of "trash talking" a little girl in her school, only to realize the little girl was there and heard her comments. She said:
I knew then that I was not a good person. This girl never did anything to me. I realized then I was a sinful person. I realized that's why Jesus died.[2]
Now, though Heaton still considers herself culturally Catholic,[3] she attends a Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles because she prefers "the way the Scriptures [are] taught in the Presbyterian Church."[4]
Heaton has admitted that her faith (and political views, which we'll get to later) has alienated her from the liberal, largely secular Hollywood culture and cost her jobs. She's very open about it, even discussing her faith publicly with noted atheists like Adam Corolla.[5] And it would seem that she trusts her faith, even in spite of the Hollywood backlash:
My feeling is all these things come from God and as long as I know I'm staying in line with Him, I don't have to worry if there is backlash. God will open any doors he wants to open and if He closes doors that's fine too.[6]
A lamb among wolves
Politically, Heaton is very conservative. And she's quite consistent in her defense of her views of "life." She's strongly anti-abortion and has been vocal about her opposition as well as participated in rallies and gatherings for the cause. She's also come out against the death penalty,[7] euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research. ((A Profile of Conservative Hollywood Actress Patricia Heaton. About.))
She fits in conservatives when it comes to foreign policy as well, and has condemned Palestine, the PLO, Hamas and Hezbollah while supporting Israel's policies toward those organizations.[8]
Her conservatism has translated to support of Republicans and their policies. She campaigned for McCain/Palin in 2008[9] as well as Romney/Ryan in 2012.[10] During her supporting roles, she hit many of the standard Republican talking points during speaking engagements at Romney/Ryan rallies, saying things like:
I live out in California, it's a beautiful state with a lot of beautiful resources and wonderful people but it's being run into the ground. The taxes are out of control in California, the jobs are going down, businesses are fleeing, and that's happening all around the country as you know.[11]
And when her team lost the 2012 elections, she turned to her faith for consolation, tweeting defeatedly:
Have to trust in God. He has never let me down. His hand is in this election. We journey on. God bless everyone. Tweet u in the morning.![12]
There is one issue where Heaton breaks the conservative mold–she's a supporter of gay marriage. ((Not Everybody Loves Patricia. NY Times.)) I don't know why, maybe she's into individual freedom, which would put her closer to libertarian. Ya'll be the judge.
This article written by Tom Kershaw and Nicola Rose.
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