The government doesn't really prosecute for polygamy anymore, but a lot of the arrests are of groups supporting themselves through welfare scams or for child abuse. So that was all I'd really heard about polygamists.

Finally, after a lot of searching and digging, it was simply the love of family that gave me a road into the character. Once I got into that, and we delved into what it would be like to survive cancer and the ability to see how precious life is, it became easier to play her.

Well, I think a lot of people only hear about the extreme, fundamentalist kind of polygamists, because they're always in the news being brought up on charges.

I'd really been wanting to do a television series. I was looking for a comedy.

You hear about these shows where there are all these women are supposedly always in a catfight, and then you find out in reality that they're all getting along fine.

The press seems to love pitting women against each other.

But we're all so different, we're different ages; we're not vying for the same roles. There's no competition, there's really kind of a sisterhood, on and off the set, you know?