In an absolutely precious case of life imitating art, Molly Ringwald recently took to social media to announce that her mother forgot her birthday – just like the perpetually ignored character in Ringwald's comedy classic, “Sixteen Candles.”
When Ringwald turned 54 last week, she used an Instagram post to show the ironic proof that her mother did just what Ringwald’s “Sixteen Candles” character, Samantha Baker, feared throughout the whole beloved 1984 movie.
Captioning the post, "Actual conversation with my mom today,” she followed with an image of the text message exchange between her and her mother that occurred on her birthday, February 18.
Ringwald writes, "That's it? You don't have anything else to say to me today?"
Then mom replies sheepishly, "I didn't realize it was the 18th today. Happy birthday! I haven't got your present in the mail. Will do very soon."
"Life imitates art,” Ringwald concludes.
"How true,” says her mother. “It took me a few more years to forget.”
But don’t worry, Ringwald won’t be crying over the whole thing, like that lovable loser-turned-winner, Samantha. A laughing emoji reply to mom showed it’s all good between the two.
In another bit of charming coincidence, Ringwald’s birthday is also the same as late “Sixteen Candles” director John Hughes. He jump-started Ringwald’s initial fame when he cast her in his other ‘80s high school comedy classics, “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink.”
The soundtracks of Hughes’ films -- packed with new wave stars of the day -- are nearly as integral to the nostalgic longevity of those films as their stories. Ringwald offered another recent post as a knowing tribute.
Under a heart-warming, vintage black and white photo of her smiling up at Hughes, Ringwald captioned, “Thinking about John Hughes and this birthday we share. I like to imagine him somewhere making the best mixed tapes."
Those three films have defined Ringwald for a preponderance of her fanbase to this day, to the point that the actress moved to Paris and dropped out of acting for a short time in the early ‘90s after feeling typecast.
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As Yahoo Entertainment recalled, Ringwald spoke to Vogue last March, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of “Pretty in Pink,” and expressed that she was still a bit conflicted about the cemented status of those movies.
"I recognize that those films are so meaningful for generations of people,” said Ringwald. “I feel very protective of them, but at the same time I also have complicated feelings toward them. I definitely feel like they're flawed, and there are things I don't like about them – the lack of diversity in particular always bothers me.”
“I'm more conflicted about ‘The Breakfast Club’ and ‘Sixteen Candles’ than ‘Pretty in Pink,'" she explained, “which I feel is actually the least problematic of the three."
“But I would say overall," Ringwald concluded, "that I feel very loving and nostalgic towards the films I made with John. They occupy an important part of my life."
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