Tina Fey's popular NBC series 30 Rock welcomed a string of high-profile guest stars during its seven-season run from 2006 to 2013.
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| Cristin Milioti Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images |
Although Cristin Milioti wasn't as famous as movie stars like Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, or Salma Hayek, she delivered a standout performance in the episode “TGS Hates Women” as Abby Flynn, a rival to Fey’s character Liz Lemon.
Her portrayal made her a fan favorite, particularly for delivering lines like, “The whole sexy baby thing isn’t an act! I’m a verrry sexxxy baby.”
That line resurfaced in pop culture two years ago when Taylor Swift released “Anti-Hero” from her album Midnights. The track, which Swift described as one of her favorite songs, reached No. 1 and includes the lyric, “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby / And I’m a monster on the hill.” This sparked online fan theories about whether Swift’s lyric referenced Milioti’s 30 Rock line.
Milioti recently addressed the speculation.
In an interview on The Jess Cagle Show With Julia Cunningham on SiriusXM, where she was promoting her critically acclaimed role as Sofia Falcone in Max’s The Penguin alongside Colin Farrell, Milioti acknowledged the buzz around the lyric.
“When the album came out, my phone blew up with people asking about it, but I don’t know. In my wildest dreams, it would be a compliment. I’d love it to be true. But I have no confirmation,” she said.
However, if Swift really did binge-watch the show during the pandemic, as rumors suggest, Milioti says they’re kindred spirits. “That’s a show I rewatch when I’m on location or during a cold, dark winter. I watched it every week in real time and was obsessed.”
In “TGS Hates Women,” Milioti plays Abby Flynn, a guest writer hired by Liz Lemon to show that she doesn’t hate women. But Abby’s flirtatious behavior distracts the male staff members, including John Lutz’s Lutz and Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy.
Liz eventually uncovers Abby’s real identity as stand-up comedian Abby Grossman and confronts her, only to find out that Abby created the “sexy baby” persona to hide from an abusive ex-husband.
Milioti recalls being so excited to join 30 Rock as a fan that she "could barely speak." “I remember being on set, and Tina Fey, who was so kind to me, showed me around. She said, ‘This is Jack Donaghy’s office,’ and I was trying to stay calm and collected, but inside I was thinking, ‘Oh, the writers' room! Got it!’ I felt like I had won some contest.”
Milioti remains proud of her time on the show, calling it one of the highlights of her career. “[I was] basically in hot pants in New York on my favorite TV show, playing this character,” she reminisced about filming the “sexy baby” scene in the park with Fey.
“I loved doing the voice, wearing the crazy wig, and those outrageous costumes. It’s one of the things I’m most proud of. That show was such a dream come true.”
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