Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) of “Yellowstone” is a complicated character. Foul-mouthed and hot-headed, there’s nothing she wouldn’t do for her family and the people she loves. As Reilly put it in an interview with Esquire, “She finds it impossible to toe the line in that way, which is what makes her so ferocious, because she is willing to do something that I don’t think any other characters are willing to do, which is destroy herself.”
Beth is quick to show anger, damage property, and tell people off. However, there’s also a side to her that longs for something she’s unable to have: a child. A botched abortion led to a hysterectomy when she was young, and she is unable to have children. So when she and Rip (Cole Hauser) essentially adopt Carter (Finn Little), her maternal side that she’d been pushing off and repressing for most of her life comes to the surface. But one scene between Reilly and Little was almost too much for the actress to deal with emotionally.
Kelly Reilly had a tough time being so mean to Finn Little
When Beth Dutton first meets Carter outside the hospital where he’s visiting his addict father, the two connect, with Beth liking the young teen. Later when he’s arrested and lies that Beth is his guardian, she decides, “well, why not?” As the relationship between them builds and Rip and Beth become more like family to Carter, he relaxes, and one day casually says, “hey, mama” as he passes her. While her first instinct is to respond, “Hey baby,” she quickly turns on him. As he cries, she tells him, “I’m nobody’s mother, ever. You got it?”
Kelly Reilly recalled after the scene ended, Little was “just laughing and playing snowball fights and being a kid. And I’m distraught in the corner — the opposite of what we were both playing in the scene” (via Esquire). Reilly went on to explain how she looked at the scene, and that it wasn’t as cruel and black and white as many made it out to be, as she was planning to do some terrible things that she may not come back from. “She’s about to kill someone and ruin her life. She isn’t going to tell that kid, ‘I will be your mother,’ even if her heart wants that more than anything,” Reilly explained. In the future, maybe we’ll see Beth Dutton soften up towards Carter, but her unpredictability is part of what makes her such an appealing character to watch.