Long story short, Leyla was trained as a doctor in Pakistan, but when she moved to the U.S., she couldn’t land a residency to get licensed to practice. Lauren takes her under her wing and gets her into an intern program at New Amsterdam. The two women fall in love, and on match day, when Lauren discovered that Leyla had matched 3,000 miles away on the West Coast for her residency, she paid a bribe to get her a position at New Amsterdam. But when Leyla discovered what Lauren had done, it was apparently the last straw for her, despite the fact that she had allowed Lauren to help her all along. “I think there were already problems that were brewing with how needy Lauren was being and Leyla was becoming like another addiction for her, which I find that part of it really interesting,” Montgomery told Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “Not that that negates the love that Lauren had for Leyla, but I don’t think Lauren knows how to have healthy relationships. I think she’s still in a process of learning, so thank God we’ve got more seasons. She’ll get there in the end hopefully.” Now Lauren has made this grand gesture for Leyla, possibly hoping to win her back, but Montgomery believes that it is also for Lauren’s mental health. “In the scene that I had with Sharpe (Freema Agyeman) where I say, ‘I want to leave this place,’ I need to leave,” Montgomery continues. “So much has happened and Lauren is tinkering on the edge knowing that her sobriety is being compromised. Lauren is dramatic and so I think that leaving the hospital, she wants to run. It’s an extreme reaction but I believe it’s entirely truthful for her. I just think that’s where hopefully her growth will come later.” So, what would it take to get her back? With Veronica Fuentes (Michelle Forbes) in charge now, things aren’t going to get better. Plus, Fuentes blackmailed Lauren for more money when she suspected that Lauren had paid for Leyla’s residency. “I think that coupled with the lies that Lauren told, she was backed into a corner in that situation,” Montgomery said. “What I love about the predicament Lauren finds herself in is she’s very ballsy as a person, but it all comes from the right place. Leyla did deserve to be there. It wasn’t right that the only reason she was overlooked was because she came from a hospital no one had ever heard of in Pakistan. She was super talented and should have been a resident, so I think that helps you understand the vigilante part of Lauren’s personality.” In tonight’s episode, Max (Ryan Eggold) plots with Karen Brantley (Debra Monk) in an attempt to get Fuentes removed as Medical Director and removed from the board, and that, short of Max’s return might be what it takes for Lauren to want to return to running the ED. “I think the problems at New Amsterdam run much deeper,” Montgomery said. “When Max and Sharpe returned for the funeral, Lauren was telling Max about how she’s being made to run the ED now by Veronica Fuentes. And I’m not sure, but I think there would have to be a management change at New Amsterdam for Lauren to return because she needs to be in safe hands in order to be able to do her job properly and keep herself sane.” Montgomery also discussed with Parade.com what she likes about the Lauren/Leyla relationship, Lauren’s trying to heal the relationship with her mother, Lauren’s crazy personal life, and more. When we first met Lauren, she was getting over a breakup with Floyd. How surprised was she that her next romantic relationship was with Leyla? I don’t think that Lauren and Floyd ever had a relationship. We picked up at a really interesting place in the pilot where they had a date and maybe some sexual encounters, but it hadn’t progressed to anything else yet. It was really at the beginning stages, and, obviously, Floyd nipped it in the bud for his reasoning [He planned to marry a Black woman]. And then I sort of replaced my addiction [by having sex] with the PT guy in Season 2, which felt like an addiction rather than a relationship. I was surprised when they brought Leyla onto the scene. But what really pleased me, and the thing I was worried about was that it was going to be [the story of] Bloom suddenly coming to terms with her sexuality and that was going to be my storyline. And I thought, “Ugh, that’s a bit dated and not particularly interesting.” So, what I did like is that that part of her wasn’t really discussed. She’s attracted to who she’s attracted to, and I think that feels very real to me to play a character who has fallen in love. I don’t think she met Leyla and saw someone she was attracted to and thought, “I’m going to store this girl in the closet of a hospital and help her because I can’t see her.” I think it was much more nuanced than that and I was really grateful that the writers let it play out slowly over the seasons. Check Out Our Complete Diagnosis for New Amsterdam Season 4! It’s crazy that Lauren is so good at being a doctor but her personal life is so messed up. Is that what makes the character interesting for you to play, all these different levels? Is that what’s crazy? I feel like that’s quite common for people. I mean, who has their s**t together in every aspect of their life? I think that, yes, it definitely makes it more interesting for me to play because I’m playing someone who’s living in the gray areas. I like that they let me do things wrong on this show, that they let Lauren make wrong choices. I specifically asked for there to be something about the police and how Lauren felt about the police, because I thought it would bring up a chance for Lauren to learn something from someone else. Because I hate it when characters on TV, everybody’s already learnt it all and everybody’s really woke, and they don’t mess up. It feels right to have a character like Lauren because she’s likable but she’s also getting it wrong a lot. Speaking of getting it wrong, her relationship with her mother is something that she got wrong. And thanks to Leyla, they’ve had a little bit of a reconnect. Talk about what that was like when Lauren found out that her mother actually did have a diagnosis. Complicated. I remember reading it and it read on the page, before we put nuances and things in, a little bit that I was like immediately, “Oh, I’m so sorry I got it wrong, mum.” But I think it was much more complicated than that for Lauren because it’s one of those where you are sorry that you got it wrong in that instant. But when you’ve been through so much disappointment with one person, you can’t help but expect the worst from them. I think that is going to be an ongoing relationship. I really hope so; Gina Gershon’s so great to work with. But the relationship Bloom has with her mother is similar to the relationship she has with herself with her closed off-ness with relationships and people. This is a drama so there’s a lot of drama, but Lauren’s had so much personal drama. Do you get tired of crying? I don’t get tired of crying, but it is sometimes difficult. What’s difficult for me is if it says, “Bloom starts crying,” I then feel a pressure to start crying. But sometimes it doesn’t work that way, you cry in a totally inopportune moment where the script doesn’t call for it. It’s like when you’re in the right place with someone, it brings up emotions. So, have you learned anything about being a doctor from playing a doctor? I think the best person to ask about that is Lisa Wing, who is our on-set medical technical advisor, to make sure I’m doing everything right. And she says that she thinks that I’m going to be ready for med school after this. So, I’m feeling pretty confident. I may transition from actor to doctor. I might be the first. New Amsterdam airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC before going on hiatus until April 19 while The Thing About Pam airs in its timeslot. Next, Get Ready for Midseason TV With Our 2021-2022 Schedule, Including the ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and The CW Lineup
