‘Shameless’ Alum Emma Kenney Describes ‘Bad Days’ She Had With Emmy Rossum on Set

Shameless stars Emma Kenney and Emmy Rossum may have played sisters for TV, but Keeney reveals they weren’t always a big, happy family. The actress appeared for an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast where she admitted working with Rossum resembled the same ups and downs of a sisterlike relationship. 

“I was obviously a lot younger,” she said. “There were times when she would try to be a good influence and then there were times where she would be blatantly giving me bad…not the best advice.”

Kenney didn’t dive deep as to why she thought Rossum would tell her certain things, but she did hint at a possible conclusion. “Maybe she was struggling with her own inner problems and taking it out on other people,” she said. 

She went on to say at times, she felt that she was in some “weird competition” with the Phantom of the Opera actress, who is 13 years her senior. “I don’t know if it was other people on set creating that or if it was her creating that, but I know I wasn’t creating it.”

When Rossum finally left the series, Kenney shares the set had a more positive vibe to it. “It was weird at first, for sure, but the set became a little bit more of a positive place. I’m not gonna lie,” she said. “I remember, pre her leaving I’d go to set some days and I’d be very anxious about having a scene with her,” Emma explained, “because if she had a bad day, she made it a bad day for everyone.”

While they weren’t exactly the closest,  Kenney says she doesn’t have any bad feelings even though they “haven’t spoken in years.” “I hope that she finds her happiness and I heard she had a baby and that’s beautiful and I’m sure she’s going to be a lovely mother,” she said. A source close to Emmy shares with E! News that the actress was unaware of Kenney’s feelings toward her. “This is not how Emmy remembers their work relationship and friendship,” the source shared. “She’s really surprised and disappointed about this as it’s not the way she remembers her time spent on set and especially with Emma.”