Marcia Cross reveals why she's never watched the last episode of Desperate Housewives

Marcia Cross attends the violet carpet of the Series Mania Festival - day five on March 21, 2023 in Lille, France
(Image credit: Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)

Marcia Cross knows how Desperate Housewives ended, but she has never watched the last episode of the Marc Cherry series in which she played the iconic conservative housewife, Bree Van de Kamp. 

Speaking at Series Mania, the American actress admitted that by the end of the show, she was exhausted.

"I had worked all these years, I had given birth to twins and was a mother of very young girls, my husband had cancer for a little while... So I crawled to the finish line in terms of my physicality. But I realized I never watched the last episode and I still haven't and I still won't,” explained Cross.

To her, the ending of Desperate Housewives felt awful: "I remember that night, sitting with the girls and Marc. It was terrible."

Cross underlined her fondness towards the show and the people she worked with during the series’ eight seasons, and how much she would like to reunite with them all.

"It was a dream job," she continued. "I felt so lucky every single time I went to work."

Since Desperate Housewives, Cross has appeared in other shows like Quantico and You, but while she has not yet had another iconic role, she said she is ready for it.

"I always assumed that after Desperate Housewives ended there would be a third act. It has not happened yet.

"That’s the double-edged sword of being an 'icon.' Everybody thinks you are that character and by the time they forget about it, you are not on anybody’s list anymore."

The 60-year-old actor explained that in general, Hollywood doesn’t love to showcase older women on television.

"We were 40-year-old women doing Desperate Housewives and that was a big deal. So I'd love to see 60-year-old women," she said.

"As a woman you then play the grandmother but women at this age are deep, complex people," she added after explaining that she is hoping to play a complicated character next.

"I will leave it to the writers, to figure out something fabulous.”

All episodes of Desperate Housewives are available to stream on Disney Plus.

Marine Perot
Writer

Marine Perot is a freelance entertainment writer living in London. She has been writing about television for 10 years, which led us to work with various publications including Paste Magazine, Radio Times, Konbini, Giddy, and more. Her favorite shows include LostOutlanderGame of Thrones, and The Haunting of Hill House. When not writing, Marine enjoys going on adventures with her corgi and reading a good book.