Chessy and Meredith from ‘The Parent Trap’ Are Like ‘Family’ In Real Life
Who knew Meredith Blake (Elaine Hendrix) and Chessy (Lisa Anne Walter) would become friends in real life even though they played enemies on-screen in Disney’s 1998 remake of The Parent Trap?
Hendrix and Walter met a few years before they were cast in The Parent Trap together when they both attended an event hosted by the Television Critics Association, according to an interview they did with Vanity Fair, where they talked about their decades-long friendship.
Who did they play in ‘The Parent Trap’?
Before we talk about their interview, we’ve provided background on their characters for those who don’t remember specifics of the 1998 Disney film.
Hendrix played Meredith, a 26-year-old who became engaged to Nick Parker (Dennis Quaid) while his daughter, Hallie Parker (Lindsay Lohan) spent the summer at camp. At one point, she told a confidant she had plans to “send that two-faced little brat off to boarding school in Timbuktu.”
After being given an ultimatum by Meredith, Parker chooses “t-h-e-m,” or his daughters, over Meredith.
As for Walter, she played the lovable Chessy, the Parker family’s cook who made excellent chocolate chip pancakes. In stark contrast to Hendrix’s character, Chessy wore more casual clothing, such as denim shirts, and loved Hallie and Annie like they were her own.
In numerous scenes, Chessy makes fun of Meredith — “I would pay big money to see that woman climb a mountain” — making it known that she and Meredith don’t get along.
However, real life couldn’t be any more different.
Chessy and Meredith from ‘The Parent Trap’ are like ‘family’ in real life
Although filming their scenes for The Parent Trap only lasted four days, much of that time the women spent together as a result of Lohan having to shoot scenes twice because of her dual role.
“Elaine is family,” Walter told Vanity Fair. “She knows all my kids, and we don’t need anybody else. We have each other. Elaine’s my sister now; I adopted her.”
They attended the Tony Awards together this year and both wore red dresses. They regularly make appearances on each other’s Instagram account’s and the Tony Awards were no different.
Hendrix shared a picture of her and Walter on their way to the award show, captioning the post, “True glamour is going to @thetonyawards with your #BFF @lisaannwalter in a taxi wearing couture by @nataliafedner. New York City baby!” followed by a slew of red-colored emojis.
They ‘dress up’ and ‘have a lot of parties’
From the sounds of it, these women have a lot of fun together.
“I like to organize dinners and brunches, and I have a lot of parties. And so does Lisa,” Hendrix said. “We’ll dress up [in] ‘70s [clothes] and roller skate at my party, and we’ll dress up and reenact Game of Thrones at one Lisa’s parties,” she added.
Both women had a crush on Dennis Quaid
Walter and Hendrix both revealed they had crushes on their co-star, Quaid.
“He was one of my sex dreamboat idols,” Walter said. “Dennis—I had to pretend I didn’t have a crush on him, and I really did. When I first got around him, I blushed all the time. Then, on the last day, I made him say something pretty filthy to me from The Big Easy…He knew what it was.”
“You know what would happen?” Hendrix said, adding her own anecdote about Quaid. “He would be Mr. Melt-you-with-his-smile one minute—and then you’d go have lunch with him, and he’d walk away, and he’s had half his lunch on his shirt because he’s such a dude.” Although she did say it added to his charm.
Sadly, Walter and Hendrix don’t live near each other as they once did.
Hendrix recently moved from Los Angeles to New York.
But rest assured, the two women are as close as ever. “She’s got half of her belongings and boxes in my garage for when she comes back,” Walter said.
