Written by Duana T

All my friends know I’ve had a girl crush on Lauren Graham for awhile. Virturally all of them would say they don’t really get it.

To me, she’s smart, funny, her not-all-that-often clips in the media are thoughtful and reflect that she’s basically aware that she’s just an actress and not that big a deal, she makes a big point of talking about how awesome her single dad was at raising her, and her red carpet outings are always interesting, never straight-up attention whore-y.

Plus, she silenced all her critics – again. When she got the flaky mom role in Parenthood after Maura Tierney unfortunately backed out of the project, people said she was just playing Lorelei Gilmore again. And from those who didn’t like Lorelei the first time around, that was a pretty big indictment.

But the show is a critical success, at least 1/4 in part due to her (or maybe 1/5 – Mae Whitman is absolutely awesome as wayward daughter Amber) and she’s managed to do some really new and nuanced things with her performance – and I started to think maybe she could gain a real following. And she’s in that new movie, It’s Kind Of a Funny Story, and you’ll go see that, right? It has Zach Galafianakis!

But then she had to go and do this on the cover of Redbook. It’s the worst-kept ‘secret’ that she and onscreen brother Peter Krause are dating. Have been for some time. But since they’re not famewhores , since they didn’t go out courting the press, people didn’t officially know ‘til now. It’s like Lainey says, it’s easy to avoid the public eye if you want to.

I can hear all of ya’ll naysayers saying ‘they’re TV people! Nobody cares!’ but someone must, or she wouldn’t have made the cover. Right?

I’m worried because I know how much ladies love their Peter Krause. Think he’s adorable. Love that bearclaw of hair on the top of his head. And no matter how small and devoted a following a man has, people are never fans of the woman who won that man’s heart. Case in point – Jennifer Westfeldt. How many of you are going ‘what does he see in her?’ Or Elisabetta Canalis. Jessica Biel. Or the complete and total vilification of Kristen Stewart. A girl with a popular boyfriend can’t win.

So, despite the fact that I think Lauren Graham is fantastic, onscreen and off (read the quote about learning the difference between her problems and other peoples’), I know this won’t endear some of you to her. And I wish you would give her a chance.

So at least I can start here. Parenthood is GREAT. Like, incredible. Really, really smart and fun and well rounded because everyone who’s ever been a part of any kind of family can relate to the Bravermans. At least watch the show. If nothing else, you can get squicked out knowing she’s dating her onscreen brother. Hey, it worked for Dexter…right?

Click here to read the Redbook interview.