Sibling relationships are complicated and it seems that when you play siblings on a television series, they can be even more complicated in real life. Emma Kenney and Emmy Rossum played sisters on the hit Showtime series Shameless, and while Kenney says that they “100% felt like a family, and we still do,” there seem to be hints that she and Rossum were a bit at odds.
Kenney, who played Debbie Gallagher and is now 22, chatted on the Call Her Daddy podcast about her experiences on the recently wrapped series and her relationship with Rossum, who played her sister, Fiona Gallagher. Kenney reflected on their relationship by saying it was a siblingship “in good and bad ways” and that’s when she got a bit more detailed:
“We were both so young, I was obviously a lot younger. There were times where she would try to be a good influence and then there were times where she would be blatantly giving me…not the best advice. Maybe she was struggling with her own inner problems and taking it out on other people. But we all handle situations differently.”
Kenney went on to say, “Growing up I took note of, not just from her in particular, things I want to carry on my life and things I don’t want to carry on.” Kenney was then asked if she felt like she was living in Rossum’s shadow on the series and Kenney’s response was even more telling:
“I felt that dynamic for sure and I never understood it. I was 9 and she was over 10 years older than me, so I’m like, ‘Why is there a weird competition here when I’m not trying to compete?’ I don’t know if it was other people on set creating that, or if it was her creating it, but I know I wasn’t creating it.”
Rossum left Shameless in 2018 ahead of the show’s final season and Kenney says that when she left, “the set became a little more of a positive place.” She went on to say, “I remember pre-her leaving, I’d go to set some days and I’d be very anxious about having a scene with her because if she had a bad day, she made it a bad day for everybody.”
When Kenney was asked where the relationship stands today, the actress said they are not in touch. That being said, she expressed love for her former co-star by saying, “I have a lot of love for Emmy, I’ve known her for so long. We haven’t spoken in years…but that’s ok. I have a lot of love for her, and I hope she finds happiness.” As of this writing, Rossum has not commented about Kenney’s appearance on the podcast.
Shameless ran on Showtime from 2011-2021 and aired 140 episodes. The show was an adaptation of Paul Abbot’s British series of the same name and it followed the poor, dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy), a neglectful single father of six. The series also starred Justin Chatwin, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Jeremy Allen White, and Cameron Monaghan.
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