ATHLEISURE MAG #77 MAY ISSUE | IN THE AIR Brooklyn Decker

As most of us are enjoying warmer weather, it means we have so many options that are opening up to us! We caught up with model and star, Brooklyn Decker who plays Mallory Hanson of Netflix's Grace and Frankie to find out how she got into the industry starting as a model and continuing on as an actor. We talk about upcoming projects that she's working on, how she enjoys time with her husband, former #1 world champion and US Open tennis great Andy Roddick, as well as her children and how she is joining ZYRTEC and their ReLEAF Project in partnership with the American Forests.

This tree-planting initiative helps foster a better, healthier planet for all. Together, ZYRTEC® and American Forests are helping advance tree equity in historically excluded communities, so more individuals can reap the health and environmental benefits that trees can provide.

ATHLEISURE MAG: You started in the industry as a model and we remember your cover in Sports Illustrated in 2010 and have been in a number of films and TV series, what drew you to modeling and eventually transitioning into acting?

BROOKLYN DECKER: Gosh, I got so lucky! For modeling, I was actually in the mall and someone came up to me. She was another model that I thought that I knew and she thought that she recognized me from modeling and we got to talking and she suggested that I should do it. It turns out, that because we ran track in high school, that’s why we looked familiar to each other. But that’s how I got into it because someone told me that I should explore it. As a kid growing up in Matthews, North Carolina, I didn’t think that that was an option or a career path that one could pursue. But for me, it felt like an incredible way for me to be able to travel! I had never been on a plane, I didn’t have a passport so it was a really great way for me to be able to see the world and also potentially as a way to pay for college which I ended up not even doing or going to. But that’s how it started!

Then when I was modeling, as much as I loved it, in that time it was different. You modeled, but your name wasn’t printed in magazines, you didn’t have a voice and all of my friends were in college and I was at home. I just really wanted to be able to talk! I started talking and working with an acting teacher just to have something to read and work on. At that time online courses were super super new and you had to be a full time student to do that so online education wasn’t an option for me at the time. I studied acting kind of as a way just to have something to read, to do and to say. Then, I got really lucky and got my first gig and then I did a bunch of other gigs and got another gig and was rejected from many others and it’s kind of been a pattern for the last 17 years now!

AM: We just finished watching the final episode of Grace and Frankie! I’m so bummed as we know that this is the final season and there won’t be any other episodes and we're hoping that you guys will do a movie where you’ll pop in every now and then. What made you want to be part of this show? It’s such an incredible cast and it covers so many relevant topics that are shared in it.

BD: I was in Haiti. My manager and their friends were on the board of a non-profit so we were there doing some work. I didn’t have any wi-fi access and my agent reached out to us and said there was this new show on Netflix that was casting and this was like early days of Netflix. They had House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. This would have been their first half hour comedy. And then he told me that it was starring Jane Fonda (Monster-in-Law, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Book Club), Lily Tomlin (The West Wing, Desperate Housewives, Damages), Martin Sheen (The West Wing, The Departed, The Amazing Spider Man) and Sam Waterston (Law & Order, The Newsroom, The Dropout) and I said, I have to read for it!

Because there was no wi-fi, I couldn't read the script so I didn’t know what it was or what the part was. I just knew that they were in it, so it must be great. At the time, Netflix was really edgy and we were all so curious about what they were going to do next and what they would create next. So I had to read for it before I knew anything about the series. Once I left Haiti, I was on an airplane and I read the pilot and thought that it was hilarious. I just loved it. I loved the idea of this family comedy with a kind of heart and I hadn’t seen anything like that for a long time. It was a no brainer!

AM: We love it and now that the show has ended, what can we expect to see you in next or what are you tackling now at the moment?

BD: That’s a good question! During COVID, actually June Diane Raphael (Black Monday, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Cheaper by the Dozen), who plays Brianna on Grace and Frankie she and I and another writer Asha Michelle Wilson (Scream Queens, Feud: Bette and Joan, American Horror Story), are writing something together. So we are currently pitching that. It’s a very dark comedy and it’s nothing like Grace and Frankie at all. But we are pitching that as we speak. It’s something that we’ve worked on for the almost a year and a half. You may never hear about it again because it may never sell or you might hear that it’s sold and turning into a show. We’ll see!

AM: That sounds exciting and you’re a busy mom with children and a husband. When you’re not on set, what’s a typical day like for you?

BD: Ooo my husband and I try to alternate travel. So if I’m not on set, that means I'm home and I’m taking my kids to school. I recently started really exercising again so I fit in some weight lifting which is my favorite thing to do workout wise. I’ve invested in a lot of companies led by female founders and I have a few calls with founders every week that are sprinkled in regardless of filming so I will talk to a few founders about what is going on in their companies and how I can be helpful. Of course writing and I have to get outdoors at some point so there will be a neighborhood family walk or there is going to be an outdoor basketball game with the kids or a soccer game which my husband coaches my daughter’s team. So we’re always getting outdoors and a hearty glass of wine at the end of the night with a good show for whatever my husband and I are bingeing at the moment. That’s like my dream day whenever I’m not on set.

AM: Love that! You’ve been partnered with ZYRTEC for quite awhile and you’re helping them to get the word out on the importance of tree coverage and their partnership with American Forests, can you tell us more about that and then what the ReLEAF Project is?

BD: Yes so ZYRTEC partnered with the American Forests to create the ZYRTEC ReLEAF Project which is all about providing funds for research and planting trees in historically excluded communities. When you look at tree equity which is a term frankly that was new to me, I looked at it as environmental injustice, where because of discriminatory redlining, there are certain communities that don’t have access to parks; therefore, their air isn’t as clean. There are higher cases of asthma, heating and cooling is more challenging, erosion is a greater issue and a lot of that can be greatly helped simply with trees. What I love about ZYRTEC is I have been using it for years and my doctor has recommended it when I started getting allergies as an adult and my kids use it as well. So we love it as a family, but also it's nice to be able to partner with a company and they have a real mission and a give back component. What I love about Zyrtec is that they’re saying that they are trying to give people relief so that they can enjoy the outdoors and that also includes giving communities relief so that they can enjoy the benefits of trees and nature. So, they are really committed to it and they have already started planting trees where they have targeted 3 cities around the country and they’re going to continue to do that for the rest of the year.

AM: That’s a pretty big project and we didn’t realize the association between certain communities not having trees and what that means for them as well as the air that they’re breathing. That’s really exciting that they would do that initiative.

BD: I agree. Again, it was a term that I knew as environmental injustice and that it meant that there wasn’t a financial investment in parks, green areas and community gardens and all of that directly affects the health of its citizens. So it’s nice to see companies taking that seriously and making that their mission and responsibility.

IG @brooklyndecker

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 120 - 125 Netflix/Grace & Frankie | PG 126 Zyrtec |