Image Source: Getty / Kevin Mazur
Amanda Peet, known for her extensive acting résumé, has balanced her career with being a mom to three children. The actor first made her film debut in 1995’s “Animal Room” and had supporting roles in various movies and television shows for the remainder of the 1990s, including projects like “One Fine Day,” “Playing by Heart,” “Law & Order” and “Seinfeld.” In 1999, she landed a lead role as Jacqueline Barrett on The CW’s “Jack & Jill,” which helped her rise to fame and star in “The Whole Nine Yards,” “Something’s Gotta Give,” “Syriana,” and more.
More recently, Peet created and produced the Netflix comedy series “The Chair” in 2021, and she stars in Paramount+’s new series “Fatal Attraction,” which hits the platform on April 30.
Outside of her film career, Peet shares parenting duties with her husband, “Game of Thrones” showrunner David Benioff, whom she married in 2006. Together, the couple have three children: Frances Pen Friedman, Molly June Friedman, and Henry Peet Friedman. Over the years, Peet has kept her children out of the spotlight but has shed light on her role as a mother in various interviews.
She spoke to Self (via People) in 2009 about her experience with motherhood, saying, “You have to put on your own oxygen mask before you put on others . . . It’s a good metaphor for parenting, but it’s really hard to do sometimes. A lot of women feel that if they’re exerting energy in different areas of their life . . . it’s automatically detrimental to the child. I think the exact opposite is true. Children need to have a role model who is able to identify her passions and go after them.”
Read on to learn more about Peet’s family!
Frances Pen Friedman
Peet welcomed her first child, Frances Pen Friedman, on Feb. 20, 2007, per CBS News. Peet has shared little details about Frances, but she did talk about being a new mother to People in April 2007. “In the beginning, it’s very, very hard because you’re so sleep-deprived . . . David’s letting me sleep right now – he’s actually doing the night-feeding. The hardest part is being so monumentally sleep-deprived,” she told the outlet.
In an April 2023 interview with Jimmy Kimmel on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the “Fatal Attraction” actor explained that her oldest is now a “full-on teenager” who jokingly asked Peet and Benioff, “Do you guys ever miss being young and attractive?,” upon accidentally seeing Peet come out of the shower.
Image Source: Getty / Michael Buckner
Molly June Friedman
Peet’s second child, Molly June Friedman, was born on April 19, 2010, per People. The “Something’s Gotta Give” actor explained in an interview with Us Weekly how she and Benioff landed on Molly’s name, telling the outlet, “David hid behind his back two crumpled up pieces of paper. We couldn’t leave the hospital because we couldn’t decide what her name should be. The car was downstairs and yeah, it was cutthroat. There were two, he wrote them down on a piece of paper, and then hid them behind his back. And that’s how she became Molly June.” Like Peet’s other child, Molly is kept out of the public eye.
Henry Peet Friedman
Peet and Benioff welcomed their third child, Henry Peet Friedman, on Dec. 7, 2014, per the Los Angeles Times. The actor kept her pregnancy under wraps and didn’t reveal the gender of her baby until October of that year. After Henry’s birth, Peet talked to People about life with a newborn, saying, “I’m definitely very tired . . . I’m 42 and it’s my third baby.” Nonetheless, she shared that everyone was excited about the new addition to the family. Along with his two younger sisters, Henry has a private personal life.
