couldn’t have been more surprised. “They were not at all what I had in my mind of what a Hollywood producer-type would be,” she says. “I think that was the first surprise. I’ve never worked in television and we don’t have a big TV community here. I think in my Oklahoma brain, I had a stereotype in mind. What I had in my head and who they turned out to be were the antithesis of each other. After that it moved really quickly.” Welch’s ex-husband, Josh, is also her costar on Sweet Home Oklahoma. He describes his ex-wife as his “baby mama and the love of my life.” “Lee is my sister-wife who I try to torture with love,” he says of Murphy, “and Pumps [Angie Sullivan] is my oldest friend from college and law school who shares my same absurd sense of humor.” Once a premier Oklahoma City attorney, Josh Welch has often struggled with addiction, which culminated in resignation from his law practice and the breakup of his family. Sober for one-and-a-half-years, he speaks frankly about his troubled past. “We know there will be criticism of the show, and social media can be really cruel at times,” he says. “We accept that, by putting ourselves out there, but want to make sure that people know how much we love our state and the people in it. We all have real-life problems, and I have dealt my entire life with addiction. The show is an honest portrayal of myself as a recovering drug addict, and I’m very honest about it. I always
of Oklahoma as a fly-over state with pastures and horses are misguided. OKC is a very sophisticated city with a lot of progressive, intelligent people who live here and we try to capture parts of that in the show.” Sullivan, agreeing whole-heartedly with the Welches, says that regardless of worldviews, Oklahomans are never divided. “I think people assume Oklahomans
are not cultured or are ‘redneck,’” she says. “That could not be further from the truth. Oklahomans are diverse in their thinking and ideas. I think what makes our state unique is the fact we have so many different philosophies, but people care about each other regardless of differences.” Murphy says: “Oklahomans are not ‘typical.’ We are strong and resilient. With the nature of our up-and-down
LEE MURPHY
say that the theme of the show is that we attack life Lee Murphy was born and raised in and all of us keep laughOklahoma City, but spent her 20s living, in part to keep from ing in San Francisco and Boston. crying.” She moved back to OKC after the Sullivan says she birth of her first son and works has “known Josh since in medical device sales. I was in law school. We weren’t in school together but traveled in the same social circles. Josh was using during that time, and when I would see him out he would kiss me on the cheek. Every time, there would be slobber all over my cheek. So my roommate and I dubbed him ‘slobbery mouth’ and would try to avoid running into him.” Sullivan says that when she was on the fence about participating in Sweet Home Oklahoma, her oldest child strongly encouraged her to do it. “He said, ‘Mom, 99 percent of the people in the world never get an opportunity like this. You did.’ I thought about that a lot and realized I would always wonder what might have happened if I passed on the opportunity.” Nevertheless, Sullivan says, her top priority is protecting her children and their privacy as the show commences. She describes her initial reaction to the show’s green light as shock, which led to excitement. “I hope the show exhibits the wonderful things about this state and the people who live here,” she says.
economy, people have had to develop that strength and grit. I think the people have developed a huge sense of humor. Our weather, our phenomenal Native American populations … people are always pleasantly surprised A native Oklahoman, Angie Sullivan when they is a University of Oklahoma graduate come here. who met Josh Welch while both were People are in law school. She practices marblown away riage and family law and shares by the kindness three children with her people have, and ex-husband. how fun we are.”
ANGIE “PUMPS” SULLIVAN
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