“I just burst into tears”: When ‘the Mother’ Cristin Milioti made her feelings known about How I Met Your Mother’s ending

After teasing her for years, How I Met Your Mother finally introduced ‘the Mother’, Tracy McConnell, in the Season 8 finale. Played by Cristin Milioti, the character became a regular in the final season, as her love story with Ted Mosby progressed and led to their eventual marriage.

However, then came the twist in the series finale that shattered several fans’ hearts: Tracy died in the series finale, and Ted later decided to move on with Robin. Cristin Milioti talked about the divisive ending in a 2014 interview with Vulture, revealing that she cried when she was told about her character’s fate in How I Met Your Mother:

“It was super sad. I just burst into tears as soon as they told me. I had to write an e-mail later that night to [co-creator] Craig [Thomas] being like, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry I cried all over you at the Christmas party.’”

Cristin Milioti once revealed how she cried after learning about Tracy’s death in How I Met Your Mother’s ending

Going with the title, Ted Mosby spent nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother telling his children the story of his first encounter with their mother. But when the mother, Tracy, finally arrived in the show, her character was short-lived, and in the finale, it was revealed that the story had always been about Ted and Robin.

In her interview, Cristin Milioti said that while she cried on learning about Tracy’s death, her co-star Josh Radnor, who played Ted, and series co-creator Craig Thomas ultimately explained to her the core theme of the series, which helped her in understanding the ending better:

“The way that he [Craig] and Josh explained it to me was, ‘Well, Ted has two loves, and basically what we’re trying to say is that life comes at you in ways you can never expect.’ Once they put it that way, I understood it more. I was like, that’s really involved and awesome.”

However, Milioti added that her initial expression was a mix of sadness and surprise, just like the audience, as she felt the show had always been about finding the mother:

“Yeah, at first I was like, ‘But wait, no, he finally found her.’ I had just caught up on all the seasons, so I said, ‘But this dude’s been looking for the mother of his kids forever.’ They were like, ‘No, they had a wonderful marriage together and they had these two beautiful children and it’s still super sad, but we want it to be lifelike.’”

The actress added that she finally realized how the show explored the themes of love and loss, and series creators also described how Ted and Robin were the endgame from the very beginning:

“That’s how this show’s always been. Marshall lost his dad. Robin finding out she can’t have kids. They explained it was their plan from the beginning, and then I was along for it, along for the ride.”

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The How I Met Your Mother ending is still considered one of the most divisive moments in television history. While some fans were happy about Ted and Robin ending up together, others questioned the motive of spending nine years telling a story about Tracy when she did not even matter at the end.

For more interesting updates on How I Met Your Mother, stay tuned to SoapCentral.

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