‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Aunt Tiffany on What It’s Like Being Mrs. Baby Billy

Walton Goggins’ cocaine-addled, naked water-skiing Uncle Baby Billy is arguably the most outrageous character on The Righteous Gemstones. Yet he wouldn’t be as funny — or sympathetic — without the presence of his loving wife Aunt Tiffany, played by Valyn Hall. 

Way back in Season One, the empty-headed, stained-and-crooked-toothed Tiffany Freeman is introduced to Jesse, Judy and Kelvin Gemstone as their new aunt who just happens to be younger than all of them. As time goes on, Tiffany gets pregnant by Baby Billy, which spooks him, causing him to abandon her. While the fast-talking huckster Baby Billy and the simple-minded “toilet baby” Aunt Tiffany were a reliable comic duo during Season One, their temporary estrangement only strengthened her character, especially after she moved in with Judy Gemstone (Edi Patterson) who taught her to be more assertive. 

In time, Tiffany and Baby Billy reunited and now boast two children and newfound riches thanks to a significant upswing in Baby Billy’s fame. The only problem is that Baby Billy is too busy trying to provide for his family to actually be there for his kids.

While it’s unclear how these circumstances will change come the finale of The Righteous Gemstones this coming Sunday, Hall was happy to talk via Zoom about Aunt Tiffany’s journey, including how she deals with being the spouse of a Gemstone and, of course, her thoughts on those terrible rotten teeth she wore during Season One.

How much did you hate those teeth during Season One?

The first teeth — the dirty teeth — were fine. They were very comfortable. Then she got those big teeth like Baby Billy has, and they were not comfortable. The dirty teeth were like a retainer, so they just fit in. The clean teeth were an overlay that you stick on top of the front of your teeth and they were extremely uncomfortable. You can’t eat with them. Every time we would do a scene where Tiffany’s supposed to be eating, I was shoving food back in the back of my mouth and gumming it — it was awful.

Then, heading into this season, Danny McBride asked me, “Do your teeth still fit?” We hadn’t shot since before the strikes so it had been a while and your teeth move, so they didn’t fit anymore. He was saying, “We’re going to have to get you impressions and get you new teeth.” I was like, “Danny, this is the last season, right? They cut our budget. Let’s just not do teeth.” He was like, “Make a Tiffany face.” I did and then he goes, “You don’t need the teeth.” We realized that new-money Tiffany has used her new money to fix stuff.

Once I knew that new-money Tiff was about to be doing new money things, I was like, “Oh, that’s where we’re going this season.” Tiffany and Baby Billy have gotten some new money, and we’re going to see what issues arise from that. All from a conversation about teeth.

What impresses me about your character is that she’s become someone you can really root for now.

I think so. She’s very present. She’s not looking for what she can get, and she’s not thinking about what she doesn’t have. She is living in the moment. So, as long as this moment is good, she’s good. Tiffany’s main drives are her family, her spirituality and snacks. As long as she has those things, she’s pretty good. She has a very good moral center, and if she does something bad, it’s usually because she was trying to help someone or fix something. Maybe it goes wrong, but it’s always well-intentioned, even with the body count she has.

How does it feel playing one of the few characters with a moral center on the show?

It’s really weird playing a straight man when you are a character actor. Tiffany is technically the straight man to Baby Billy, but she’s still such a character. So, you have to find where the line is. You can’t be like Baby Billy; you have to complement him. You have to find a way to be Tiffany at a certain level because you don’t want to step on Baby Billy’s toes. He’s this big, out-there guy, and Tiffany is just strange and a little quiet, but don’t underestimate her. She knows what she wants. She loves her family and Baby Billy and will put up with a lot in pursuit of her main drives.

But yeah, she’s amazing. When I got the character breakdown for Tiffany, they only gave me a few little things. They said she’s young, she has a blank expression on her face and that was kind of it — and she’s married to an older man. Then I just ran with it and made her as weird as I could. There are a lot of my family members in her because I’m from the South. I’m from Georgia. I live in Atlanta, but I have family all over the South. There’s my aunt in there, a lot of my cousins from the hills in there. The accent, for sure, is from the hills. I pulled from all those little resources that I had in my brain, and she just popped up.

Since she’s so close to your own roots, did anything about the depiction ever bother you? Like the teeth or that she was born as a “toilet baby,” as Baby Billy calls her?

No, because I don’t think they’re making fun of her teeth. The situations around the teeth are funny. It’s funny that Baby Billy loves Tiffany no matter how many cavities she has. And it’s funny that the second she finally gets them fixed, Judy punches her right in the mouth. It’s not funny that Tiffany grew up poor and couldn’t afford dental care. That’s not funny. The funny part is what happens trying to get better teeth. 

A lot of people forget that about comedy. It’s not about this thing — it’s the situation. It just didn’t feel like stupid comedy to me. It felt like smart comedy. It felt like perceptive comedy.

How do you think Tiffany handles the craziness of being married to a Gemstone, in contrast to say Amber or BJ?

Tiffany certainly spends a large amount of time not understanding the jokes that they’re making because they just wouldn’t occur to her. That’s one way I keep from breaking. I’m telling myself, “I don’t understand these jokes,” so I won’t break and ruin the scene.

She is very different from everybody else. Her, BJ and Keefe — even Martin, Amber and Gideon to an extent — they’re the family’s counterparts that keep them from going way too far. You need that. You need a little balance in order for things to actually be funny or it’s just about terrible people. And I don’t think they try to be terrible. They try to be good and then sometimes it doesn’t work out.

Also, Tiffany, because she’s so present, she’s like, “Oh, I won’t care about it in a few minutes.”

Tiffany has had to assert herself more in Season Four, trying to get Baby Billy to spend more time with his family and less time working. Has that been an interesting shift for you?

Yes, and I think Tiffany and Baby Billy have some really solid human moments in this season where they’re just not on the same page because they usually are. I think Baby Billy always cares. Sometimes, when he’s hungry, he tries to give our children away, but that’s okay. I think he’d go and get them after he got a snack. 

He really just wants to provide. That’s his main drive right now. Now that he has his family back, and he isn’t too insecure that he’s going to do something to hurt everyone like he was in Season Two. Now that he has that confidence, he’s like, “This is something I cannot mess up. I must take care of these people.” And, “What if I’m gone?” And, because Tiffany is so present, she’s like, “Why would you even bring that up? I don’t understand. Why would you ever be gone?” Like, when they’re sitting on the chair and he’s saying, “I won’t be around forever” and she says, “You’re going to live forever” because right now is forever to her.

How healthy do you think Baby Billy and Tiffany's relationship is?

It’s very healthy. It’s very strong. They have a very strong bond. Baby Billy can be a little self-involved sometimes, so he forgets how strong their bond is when he’s busy, but she knows he’ll come back. I think she’s only comfortable with that because he did come back. In Season Two, she was very confused about why he was gone. That did shake her confidence a little bit, but then he came back and that really solidified their bond.

Without ruining the finale, is there anything to say about the journey you’ve been on with Tiffany?

I’m going to miss her so much. She is such a sweet, beautiful soul. I feel like I gave Tiffany things that I don’t necessarily give myself. I watch the show and realize, Oh, I should be doing that for me. Like, the ability to be present, even. It’s so hard because you’re always thinking, What do I need to do next? What did I do last? Where am I at? What’s going on? But you’re not thinking about right now. Tiffany, that’s what she cares about the most: being with the people she cares about and maximizing that time.